Finders Keepers – a leather stamping study for lovers of the find

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

Volume I-B. A September study.

Finders Keepers is a small leather collection about the oldest law of the hunt: whoever spots it, keeps it. Four stamps, each cut for the object it lives on, from a keychain fob to a catchall tray.

First, the anchor. We borrowed the pointing hand from old print – the printer's fist that marked the passage worth reading – and turned it to point straight down at FINDERS KEEPERS.

Black-and-white Finders Keepers pointing-hand leather stamp artwork.

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

Sicilian brown leather keychain stamped Finders Keepers.

Blueberry leather keychain stamped Finders Keepers.

The same hand presses into the corner of the toiletry bag, blind into honeyed russet over chestnut.

Indian summer and Sicilian brown leather dopp kits stamped Finders Keepers.

Next, we drew an empty portrait frame and hung ONE OF ONE where the portrait should be. On a carousel of look-alike bags, the tag simply states a fact.

Black-and-white One of One ornate-frame leather stamp artwork.

The black tag carries the frame in gold.

Black leather luggage tag stamped One of One in gold.

It travels in deep wine and golden tan as well, pressed blind.

Sangria leather luggage tag blind-stamped One of One.

Arizona leather luggage tag blind-stamped One of One.

Then the journals. We laid a skeleton key over WORTH KEEPING – a journal is where the things worth keeping get written down before they scatter.

Black-and-white Worth Keeping skeleton-key leather stamp artwork.

One in deep wine, one in deep green.

Sangria leather journal blind-stamped Worth Keeping.

Forest green leather journal blind-stamped Worth Keeping.

And finally, the catchall tray in golden tan. Inside a rope ring we set EMPTY YOUR POCKETS, with a small key and an old coin already engraved at the bottom, waiting for company.

Black-and-white Empty Your Pockets catchall leather stamp artwork.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Arizona leather catchall tray blind-stamped Empty Your Pockets.

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.