Between the River and the Park – a Northside Williamsburg collection in stamped leather

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

An August study.

Between the River and the Park is a five-stamp collection for Northside Williamsburg, pressed into leather. The neighborhood runs from the East River up to McCarren Park, and the collection walks the same blocks.

First, the luggage tags. The L dips under the East River and surfaces at Bedford Avenue, so we drew four waving water lines and sent a single track arcing beneath them, coming up at a small circled L – FIRST STOP IN BROOKLYN written underneath.

We pressed it on river navy and on pale sea-blue. The black tag carries the stamp in gold – the lit windows of a night train under the water.

Black-and-white First Stop stamp artwork from the Between the River and the Park leather collection of Northside Williamsburg.

Three leather luggage tags carry the First Stop design from the Between the River and the Park collection of Northside Williamsburg.

Next, the keychains. Bedford Avenue station opened in 1924 and still spells its own name in little square tiles, so the fob carries a mosaic plaque of its own – BEDFORD AV over the year, inside a border of tesserae.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – pale greige for the old tile cream. On the black fob the plaque is pressed in gold.

Black-and-white Bedford 1924 mosaic stamp artwork from the Between the River and the Park leather collection of Northside Williamsburg.

Two leather keychains carry the Bedford 1924 mosaic design from the Between the River and the Park collection of Northside Williamsburg.

Then, the toiletry bags – McCarren Park before the day starts. One plane tree with a full canopy and MCCARREN PARK beneath it, blind-debossed into a stack of honeyed russet over chestnut. October in the park.

Black-and-white McCarren Park tree stamp artwork from the Between the River and the Park leather collection of Northside Williamsburg.

Two leather toiletry bags carry the McCarren Park tree design from the Between the River and the Park collection of Northside Williamsburg.

For the catchall tray, a ghost sign – the kind that still fades on Northside brick. We drew NORTHSIDE in shaded Victorian capitals over WILLIAMSBURG and pressed it at generous size into the golden tan base, where keys and coins land at the end of the day.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white Northside Williamsburg ghost-sign artwork from the Between the River and the Park leather collection.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray carries a Northside Williamsburg ghost-sign design from the Between the River and the Park collection.

And finally, the one we liked the most. The Northside writes itself in numbered lines, North 1st through North 14th – fourteen, the length of a sonnet. So the journal cover rules the page for you: fourteen street lines run off the river's wavy margin, and Bedford Avenue crosses them all. A small circled L marks North 7th, and the collection's name sits beneath the block.

On deep green and navy – the park at one end, the river at the other. Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white Fourteen Lines neighborhood map stamp artwork from the Between the River and the Park leather collection of Northside Williamsburg.

Forest-green and navy leather journals carry the Fourteen Lines map from the Between the River and the Park collection of Northside Williamsburg.

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.