The Assay Collection – mining and geology in stamped leather

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies.

A September study – Volume I-B.

The Assay Collection. An assay is the old test that tells what a rock is actually worth, and every piece here keeps that habit of close looking – things weighed, washed and labeled by hand.

First, the luggage tags. Gold is famously dense, so we hung one modest nugget on a pocket spring scale and let the needle swing all the way around – HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS, which is also the truest sentence ever said about a homecoming suitcase.

Black-and-white HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS spring-scale die artwork for a leather luggage tag in The Assay Collection.

Black carries the gold; the golden tan and deep espresso tags take a blind deboss.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with the HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS spring-scale design from The Assay Collection.

An Arizona leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS spring-scale design from The Assay Collection.

A dark espresso leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS spring-scale design from The Assay Collection.

Next, the keychains. We drew the pan from straight above, the last of the wash spiraling out over the rim and three flecks staying put at the bottom – PAY DIRT. A keychain is the right size for a find you keep in your pocket.

Black-and-white PAY DIRT gold-pan die artwork for a leather keychain in The Assay Collection.

Here too, black carries the gold. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A black leather keychain stamped in gold with the PAY DIRT gold-pan design from The Assay Collection.

A caramel leather keychain blind-stamped with the PAY DIRT gold-pan design from The Assay Collection.

Then the toiletry bags. Into the lower corner we pressed a dark stone with a bright vein forking through it, under the old prospectors' adage – GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT. The bags stack honeyed russet over deep espresso, old metal over old timber.

Black-and-white GOLD IS WHERE YOU FIND IT ore-vein die artwork for leather toiletry bags in The Assay Collection.

Indian Summer and dark espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with the ore-vein design from The Assay Collection.

A catchall tray is where the day's carry finally checks out, so we gave it a miner's round check tag – a hammer and drill crossed at the center, END OF SHIFT around the rim.

Black-and-white END OF SHIFT miner check-tag die artwork for a leather catchall tray in The Assay Collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful on the golden tan.

An Arizona leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the END OF SHIFT miner check-tag design from The Assay Collection.

And finally, the journals. Every specimen worth keeping gets a label, so the cover wears one in the lower corner – FIELD NOTES, with blank rules waiting for SPECIMEN and FOUND. One journal in pale warm greige, the color of specimen paper; one in deep espresso.

Black-and-white FIELD NOTES specimen-label die artwork for a leather journal in The Assay Collection.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-stamped with the FIELD NOTES specimen-label design from The Assay Collection.

A dark espresso leather journal blind-stamped with the FIELD NOTES specimen-label design from The Assay Collection.

We made this out of love. Leatherius Woodman is on a mission to create and share artifacts of beauty, craft and love – this study is one of them, and we hope the feeling is mutual. Every image is a render – how we prototype before cutting a die.

If you'd like these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.

P.S.

An alternate black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with the HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS design from The Assay Collection.

An alternate Arizona leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS design from The Assay Collection.

An alternate dark espresso leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the HEAVIER THAN IT LOOKS design from The Assay Collection.