Desert Hours × Leatherius Woodman – a desert wildlife leather stamping study

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

A September study. Volume I-C.

We call this collection Desert Hours. Five desert creatures keep the hours of the day, and each one was pressed into its own piece of leather – the creature chosen for what the object actually does.

First, dawn. Javelina travel in family groups in the first light, so we set an adult and a yearling walking across the corner of the toiletry bags with MOVES AT DAWN underneath – the toiletry bag being the one product that also gets up that early.

The adult-and-yearling javelina die plate for the Desert Hours leather stamping study.

The pair presses into a stack of honeyed russet over deep brown, first light over mesquite shade.

Indian Summer and Dark Espresso leather dopp kits stamped with the Desert Hours javelina and Moves at Dawn.

Next, the morning sprint. A roadrunner's toes point two forward and two back, so its track is a perfect X – the bird never tells you which way it went. We put the sprint and its track line on the luggage tags with COMING OR GOING beneath, the honest label for any bag standing in an airport.

The running roadrunner and five ambiguous tracks die plate for the Desert Hours leather stamping study.

Golden tan and pale sea-blue take the blind deboss. The black tag carries the design in gold.

An Arizona leather luggage tag stamped with the Desert Hours roadrunner and Coming or Going.

A Turquoise leather luggage tag stamped with the Desert Hours roadrunner and Coming or Going.

A Black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with the Desert Hours roadrunner and Coming or Going.

Then, the stillest hour. A broad-billed hummingbird holds its body motionless in mid-air while the wings work faster than the eye can follow, so the journals carry STILL AT FULL SPEED in the corner – a fair patron for anyone who sits down to a blank page. One journal is deep green, the bird's own color; the other a pale warm greige, quiet as a gallery wall.

The hovering broad-billed hummingbird die plate for the Desert Hours leather stamping study.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A Forest Green leather journal stamped with the Desert Hours hummingbird and Still at Full Speed.

A Gray Sand leather journal stamped with the Desert Hours hummingbird and Still at Full Speed.

Then, the afternoon. Ravens pick up small bright things and hide them for later, so we handed ours a key and wrote FINDERS KEEPERS under the perch. On the black fob the raven presses in gold – exactly the kind of shiny it would steal. The second fob is pale sea-blue, blind debossed.

The raven holding a skeleton key die plate for the Desert Hours leather stamping study.

A Black leather keychain gold-stamped with the Desert Hours raven, key and Finders Keepers.

A Turquoise leather keychain blind-stamped with the Desert Hours raven, key and Finders Keepers.

And finally, dusk. Gambel's quail regroup into the covey at the end of the day, so the whole covey runs in a ring around the golden tan catchall tray, topknots forward, with ALL IN BY DUSK at the center – where the keys and the coins land when you come in too. It looks genuinely beautiful.

The seven-adult and two-chick Gambel's quail covey die plate for the Desert Hours leather stamping study.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with the Desert Hours quail covey and All In by Dusk.

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