The object I decided to describe is a single, pointe shoe that was a part of my very first pair. I got these on October 22, 2017, and wore these for about two years.

The shoe is wrapped in a smooth champagne pink satin. When the light hits the shoe it shimmers. One can see the diminutive fibers and threading when it is held up to the light. If one scratches their nail on the material of the pointe shoe, it creates a zipper-like sound.

The shoe is about  7 ½ inches tall. It is shaped like a bowling pin, small at the top, pinched at the sides, round and thick, and then tapered at the base.  The pointe shoe is wrapped in this traditional storage way creating a “y” shape at the top. The top of the pointe shoe is about an inch to an inch and a half in thickness. In the middle, between where the two lines of the “y” meet is a rectangle reinforcement strip that covers where the two sides of the shoe are sewn. This rectangle is tall and about one inch thick with a single stitch on either side. The satin on the very top and down the reinforcement strip of the shoe is lightly dusted with a gray tarnish. It is squeezed with a light pink satin ribbon about  7/8th of an inch in thickness. It appears that the ribbon is wrapped six times on top of each other, around the neck of the shoe. It looks as if the ribbon is acting like a corset containing and shaping the pointe shoe to this particular shape. The wrapping of the ribbon causes a ripple of creases to occur. Just below the ribbon, the shoe has a teardrop opening where a foot may go when it is unwrapped and unfolded. This teardrop shape is outlined with a 5/16th of an inch smooth material that is the same color as the ribbon, sewn together with a single line stitch. The teardrop outlined encases two thin, cylinder, ribbed elastic strings that are the same color as the outlined material. The elastic string is about 5 ½ inches long and knotted at the base. The remaining elastic string is pushed inside the pointe shoe. 

The inside of the teardrop hole has a worn, hard, canvas material with grey fibers. There is also a small metal circle that appears nailed into the canvas near the middle top of the opening. 

The toe box of the pointe shoe is harder than any other part of the shoe and makes a knocking sound when hit. 

The bottom of the toe box is sideways oval-shaped, worn with light gray tarnish similar to the top of the pointe shoe. The side of the oval closer to the back of the shoe has a little less than a one-inch sideways rectangle that is curved at bottom of the shoe. This rectangle shows many parallel strings that were once satin. 

The rectangle from the top of the pointe shoe wraps around the back of the shoe and escapes under an upside side down egg-shaped leather sole. The leather is a milk chocolate brown color with single white stitching around the perimeter. The leather is also tarnished with a grey dusting and has six upward-facing curve designs pressed into the leather. Below the last curve is the number “4 ½” pressed into the leather of the shoe. Below that, are two capital “X’s” again pressed into the leather. The tip of the upside-down egg-shaped leather is cut off by the ribbons that wrap around the pointe shoe. The ribbons are crossed over each other making a small “y” pattern.  It seems that the outer layer of ribbon that is on the front of the shoe is tucked under another piece of ribbon in the back. A small piece of the ribbon escapes the tuck and dangles outside this fold. The tip of the escaped piece of ribbon is folded and clumsily sewn with a cotton candy-colored string. The small piece of freed ribbon is frayed at the bottom and has pulls near the stitching. Below this, at the center base, is another leather sole that is in the shape of a candy corn that is the same color as the other sole with a  darker grey tarnish dusting. The top of the sole has what looks to be a little metal staple puncturing the leather. Below this metal piece is the numbers  “50172.” pressed into the leather. Under this is the word “BLOCH” in all capitals and the letters look slightly stretched, pressed into the leather. Under this is seven downward-facing curve designs pressed into the leather that becomes more faded at the bottom. Tucked underneath this leather sole are ten satin folds from the satin that wraps around the entire shoe. The middle folds are dusted in grey and again one sees the worn strings that appear to be the remains of satin.