Brick & Honey – a Medina, Ohio leather stamping study, Volume I-C

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of independent stamping studies. Volume I-C.

An August study.

For Medina, Ohio – five stamps we call Brick & Honey.

First, the gazebo. Medina has met at the bandstand in Uptown Park since 1879, so we drew it post by post and set it between MEDINA and OHIO, running the whole length of the luggage tag. Wherever the bag ends up, the tag says where it comes home to.

The gazebo stamp plate for the Brick & Honey leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

It comes in deep park green and in warm brick red. Black carries the gold – the way gilt lettering once sat on the Square's storefronts.

A forest-green leather luggage tag stamped with Medina's gazebo for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

A warm red leather luggage tag stamped with Medina's gazebo for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with Medina's gazebo for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

Next, the bee. In 1869 a swarm crossed the Square, somebody followed it, and Medina became a bee town for good. We set a single honeybee over MEDINA in the corner of the toiletry bag.

The Medina honeybee stamp plate for the Brick & Honey leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

Honeyed russet over deep espresso – the colors of the harvest. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with the Medina honeybee for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

Then, BRICK BY BRICK. The Square burned in 1848 and again in 1870, and Medina answered with a decade of masonry that still stands. We set the words into a little wall of running bond, one course at a time – for keys, which build a home the same way.

The Brick by Brick stamp plate for the Brick & Honey leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

One keychain in chestnut, one in mortar gray. Brick and mortar, literally.

A chestnut leather keychain stamped Brick by Brick for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

A warm gray leather keychain stamped Brick by Brick for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

After that, the catchall. Everything in Medina gathers on the Square sooner or later, so we drew the green from above, walks crossing at the gazebo, and ringed it with MEET ME ON THE SQUARE. Everything in your pockets gathers here the same way.

The Meet Me on the Square stamp plate for the Brick & Honey leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

It looks genuinely beautiful pressed into the golden tan.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray stamped with Medina's Square for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

And finally, the one we liked the most. In 1967 Medina's neighbors began pulling the false fronts off the Square and found the 1870s brick underneath, whole. The town was ALREADY THERE. On the journal, a blank panel peels at the corner to show the brick – a page turns the same way.

The Already There stamp plate for the Brick & Honey leather collection of Medina, Ohio.

Bound in pale greige and in warm caramel. Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

A pale greige leather journal stamped Already There for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

A caramel leather journal stamped Already There for the Brick & Honey collection of Medina, Ohio.

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 these belong in your Medina, or you'd like anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.