Field Marks – an original leather collection for birders and nature journalers (Shops Waterfall, Volume I-B)

From the Shops Waterfall – Volume I-B, an independent study of original designs.

A September study.

A field mark is the small telling detail that separates one bird from its lookalike – a wing bar, an eye ring. We borrowed the term for this collection, because a stamp pressed into leather works the same way: one small sure mark, and you know it anywhere.

First, we drew a pair of field glasses head-on and hung the old shop-door sign across them – GONE BIRDING. Look through the lenses: the left one still holds the bird, the right one just the twig it left.

Black-and-white die artwork of binoculars with a bird in one lens and GONE BIRDING for the Field Marks leather collection, Volume I-B.

It looks genuinely beautiful on the deep pine green and the golden tan tags.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with binoculars and GONE BIRDING, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

An Arizona leather luggage tag blind-stamped with binoculars and GONE BIRDING, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

The black tag carries the gold, the way field glasses once carried their brass.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with binoculars and GONE BIRDING, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

And the same design sits at the bottom of a golden tan catchall tray, so the day's pocketfuls have somewhere to land.

An Arizona leather catchall tray blind-stamped with binoculars and GONE BIRDING, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

Next, the keychain keeps score. Four tally strokes stand waiting, and the fifth – the one that would close the count – is already a bird flying off. ONE MORE underneath, because that is what every birder says when the light starts going.

Black-and-white die artwork of four tally bars crossed by a bird above ONE MORE for the Field Marks leather collection, Volume I-B.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – in chestnut and in navy.

A Sicilian-brown leather keychain blind-stamped with four tally bars, a crossing bird, and ONE MORE, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

A blueberry leather keychain blind-stamped with four tally bars, a crossing bird, and ONE MORE, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

Then, for the toiletry bag, a hand lens with a fern fiddlehead curled inside the glass and LOOK CLOSER around the rim. We pressed it small and low in the corner of the honeyed russet front, over the chestnut base – so the stamp itself makes you do what it says.

Black-and-white die artwork of a magnifying glass around a coiled fern with LOOK CLOSER for the Field Marks leather collection, Volume I-B.

Indian-summer and Sicilian-brown leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with a magnifying glass, coiled fern, and LOOK CLOSER, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

And finally, the one we liked the most. LIFE LIST over three ruled entry lines, and the first line is already taken – a wren, pressed in before the journal ever left the bench. Every list starts with one bird; this journal arrives with its first.

Black-and-white die artwork of LIFE LIST above a wren and three ruled lines for the Field Marks leather collection, Volume I-B.

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

A caramel leather journal blind-stamped with LIFE LIST, a wren, and three ruled lines, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with LIFE LIST, a wren, and three ruled lines, from the Field Marks collection, Volume I-B.

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.