The Bare Cove Collection - Hingham, Massachusetts, in stamped leather

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

An August study.

Hingham had another name first – before the town incorporated in 1635, the settlement at the harbor was Bare Cove. We spent August pressing that cove's world into leather, and the five stamps below are the result.

First, the name. We drew the inner harbor as one unbroken shoreline stroke, with ruled dead-calm water inside and the open bay's chop breaking just past the mouth; BARE COVE arcs over the top, 1635 sits beneath. That flat water was the whole argument for settling here.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The black-and-white Bare Cove 1635 stamp artwork from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

Three leather luggage tags carry the Bare Cove 1635 harbor design from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

Next, the commute. Steamboats ran Hingham to Boston and back through the nineteenth century, so the keychain stamp became a ticket – a sidewheeler under BOSTON AND BACK, scalloped and punched like the real thing. The black fob carries the gold; the navy one presses blind.

The black-and-white Boston and Back steamboat ticket stamp artwork from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

Two leather keychains carry the Boston and Back steamboat ticket from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

Then the toiletry bags. Hingham rigged its shipyards with cordage and tackle, and the oldest order in that trade is HOLD FAST – we hung the words over a double block, rope still rove through the sheaves. A dopp kit answers the same order.

The black-and-white Hold Fast block-and-tackle stamp artwork from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

Two leather toiletry bags carry the Hold Fast rigging design from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

After that, the salt works that once lined the shore, where wide shallow pans of seawater were left for the sun to finish. THE SUN DOES THE WORK arcs over a pan going to crystal. A catchall tray keeps the same evening economy – pockets empty out, and what matters settles.

The black-and-white Salt Works stamp artwork from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

A golden tan leather catchall tray carries the Salt Works design from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

And finally, the one we like most. Old Ship Church has stood since 1681, its roof framed by ship's carpenters like a hull turned over the congregation, and it has been in use every year since. We set the meetinghouse under OLD SHIP with the date beneath, for the journals – a journal keeps the same promise, one page at a time.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The black-and-white Old Ship 1681 stamp artwork from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

Two leather journals carry the Old Ship 1681 meetinghouse design from the Bare Cove Collection of Hingham, Massachusetts.

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 any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.