Common Thread – a Greenville leather collection, Volume I-D

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

An August study.

Greenville wove itself out of thread and river water, and both still run through the middle of town. We drew five designs from that place and stamped them into leather. The collection is called Common Thread – Volume I-D in our series of studies.

First, the rabbit that named the trail. The old rail bed along the Reedy carries bicycles now, and our rabbit clears the rails at full stretch, still a length ahead of everything on the line. We set it upright on a luggage tag, so the bag says where home is before the name card does.

The black-and-white Swamp Rabbit stamp artwork for the Common Thread leather collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

We stamped it in deep green, in warm tan and in black. The black tag carries the design in gold.

A forest-green leather luggage tag stamped with a leaping Swamp Rabbit for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

A caramel leather luggage tag stamped with a leaping Swamp Rabbit for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with a leaping Swamp Rabbit for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

Next, we let a spool unwind into the river. Greenville spun thread for a century, and here the thread runs off its spool and widens into the Reedy's current – a keychain-sized piece of town history, for pockets that keep leaving and coming back.

The black-and-white spool and river stamp artwork for the Common Thread leather collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

Pressed into pale sea-blue and into deep brown.

A pale sea-blue leather keychain stamped with a spool becoming a river for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

A dark espresso leather keychain stamped with a spool becoming a river for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

Then, the sentence every Greenville plan begins with. MEET ME AT THE FALLS arcs over the water breaking across the stone ledge, and sits in the lower corner of a journal – the book those plans get written in.

The black-and-white Meet Me at the Falls stamp artwork for the Common Thread leather collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – in deep green, and in a pale warm greige the color of the falls' own stone.

A forest-green leather journal stamped with Meet Me at the Falls for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

A gray-sand leather journal stamped with Meet Me at the Falls for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

After that, a tray for the end of the evening. We wove the border the way the looms did, over and under, and set LINGER A LITTLE at its center – downtown's standing invitation, holding keys and corkscrews by the door.

The black-and-white Linger a Little woven-ring stamp artwork for the Common Thread leather collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

It looks genuinely beautiful in golden tan.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with a woven Linger a Little ring for the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

And finally, one for the friend who keeps coming back. A small moon hangs over the words THE OVERNIGHT GUEST, pressed into the corner of a toiletry bag in warm tan over deep brown – the gift that says the door stays open.

The black-and-white Overnight Guest moon stamp artwork for the Common Thread leather collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

Caramel and dark espresso leather toiletry bags stamped for the Overnight Guest in the Common Thread collection of Greenville, South Carolina.

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