Chosen Well – a leather gift collection in five designs, Volume I-D

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

A September study – Volume I-D.

This one is a gift study. We call the collection Chosen Well – five leather designs, from keychains to a full toiletry kit, each one built on something a giver actually knows about the person unwrapping it.

First, the keychain – a compass with GO FAR arched above and COME BACK below, and where south should be, a small house stands instead. Whichever way they head, the needle knows where the door is. For first keys, a new house, a new driver, a send-off.

Black-and-white GO FAR COME BACK compass-and-house stamp artwork for the Chosen Well leather gift collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful – here on chestnut, and on pale sea-blue.

A Sicilian-brown leather keychain blind-debossed with the GO FAR COME BACK compass-and-house design from Chosen Well.

A pale sea-blue leather keychain blind-debossed with the GO FAR COME BACK compass-and-house design from Chosen Well.

Next, the luggage tags. We set a dashed route line traveling across the tag, tied it into a gift bow at the midpoint, and let it carry on toward its arrow – WORTH THE TRIP written beneath. For the person who is always going somewhere, from whoever they keep going to see.

Black-and-white WORTH THE TRIP route-and-gift-bow stamp artwork for the Chosen Well leather gift collection.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather – in warm tan and in deep green.

A warm tan leather luggage tag blind-debossed with the WORTH THE TRIP route-and-bow design from Chosen Well.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-debossed with the WORTH THE TRIP route-and-bow design from Chosen Well.

The black tag carries the design in gold.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with the WORTH THE TRIP route-and-bow design from Chosen Well.

Then, PAGE ONE for the journals – an open book laid flat until its pages become a horizon, the sun coming up out of the fold, every page still blank. A gift for anyone standing at a beginning, which is most people more often than they admit.

Black-and-white PAGE ONE open-book-and-sun stamp artwork for the Chosen Well leather gift collection.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-debossed with the PAGE ONE open-book-and-sun design from Chosen Well.

A forest-green leather journal blind-debossed with the PAGE ONE open-book-and-sun design from Chosen Well.

Then the catchall tray, which simply gives the day's-end order: EMPTY YOUR POCKETS, ringed by what actually comes out of them – a key, a coin, a button, an acorn, a pocketknife, a ticket stub. The tray claims the entry table and the ritual comes with it.

Black-and-white EMPTY YOUR POCKETS pocket-object stamp artwork for the Chosen Well leather gift collection.

Looks great when stamped onto the golden tan.

An Arizona tan leather catchall tray blind-debossed with the EMPTY YOUR POCKETS pocket-object design from Chosen Well.

And finally, the toiletry kit. In the lower corner, under a small pocket comb, a private compliment in plain capitals: CLEANS UP NICELY. It is what a partner says at the door; now the bag says it too – here on the warm tan and chestnut stack.

Black-and-white CLEANS UP NICELY comb stamp artwork for the Chosen Well leather gift collection.

A warm tan and Sicilian-brown leather toiletry-bag stack blind-debossed with the CLEANS UP NICELY comb design from Chosen Well.

P.S. The second luggage-tag takes were too good to leave in the drawer.

A second warm tan leather luggage-tag take with the WORTH THE TRIP route-and-bow design from Chosen Well.

A second forest-green leather luggage-tag take with the WORTH THE TRIP route-and-bow design from Chosen Well.

A second black leather luggage-tag take gold-stamped with the WORTH THE TRIP route-and-bow design from Chosen Well.

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.