Bench Marks – a leather stamping collection about making things by hand

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies on real-world logos.

A September study – Volume I-C.

Bench Marks is a small leather collection about the habit of making things by hand. Five stamps, five moments every maker knows, pressed into journals and keychains, tags and trays.

First, we threaded a needle and let it do the writing. The thread leaves the eye, loops once, and runs on as the line beneath BY HAND, ending in a small knot – the underline is the stitch. It runs lengthwise along the tag.

The black tag carries the thread in gold.

The By Hand needle-and-thread stamp plate for the Bench Marks leather collection about making things by hand.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with the By Hand needle-and-thread design from the Bench Marks collection.

A blush leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the By Hand needle-and-thread design from the Bench Marks collection.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the By Hand needle-and-thread design from the Bench Marks collection.

Next, we cut a tally for the keychain. Four strokes stand, and the fifth is caught mid-stroke – ONE MORE, already on its way.

On the black fob the tally strikes in gold.

The One More tally stamp plate for the Bench Marks leather collection about practice and persistence.

A poppy-red leather keychain blind-stamped with the One More tally design from the Bench Marks collection.

A black leather keychain stamped in gold with the One More tally design from the Bench Marks collection.

Then, we set a straight razor on its whetstone and wrote KEPT SHARP beneath – an edge stays useful because somebody keeps it that way. On the black bag over dark espresso, the press reads as a quiet shadow relief.

The Kept Sharp straight-razor stamp plate for the Bench Marks leather collection about useful craft.

Black and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with the Kept Sharp razor design from the Bench Marks collection.

For the tray, we ringed the base with small tools laid down for the evening and set DONE FOR TODAY in the middle – a catchall is where the day puts its things down. Looks absolutely gorgeous stamped into the golden tan.

The Done for Today ring-of-tools stamp plate for the Bench Marks leather collection about making by hand.

An Arizona tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the Done for Today tool-ring design from the Bench Marks collection.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Five freehand circles, one after another – the first wobbles, the fifth closes clean – and beneath them, THE HAND LEARNS. A journal is where that happens, page after page. It looks genuinely beautiful in the corner of the pale greige journal and the navy one.

The Hand Learns five-circle stamp plate for the Bench Marks leather collection about learning through practice.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-stamped with The Hand Learns five-circle design from the Bench Marks collection.

A blueberry leather journal blind-stamped with The Hand Learns five-circle design from the Bench Marks 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 any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.