Finished by Hand – a leather collection from the gem cutter's bench

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

A September study.

A gemstone lives twice – a long age underground, then an afternoon at the cutter's bench. Finished by Hand is a small leather collection about that second life, and about what each stone was quietly carrying all along.

First, the whole story on one stone. We laid a long crystal along the luggage tag, rough at the left end and step-cut at the right, and labeled each half with its maker – GROWN BY EARTH under the striations, FINISHED BY HAND under the facets.

Black-and-white stamp artwork of one long gemstone changing from a rough crystal into a step-cut gem, labeled GROWN BY EARTH and FINISHED BY HAND, for the Finished by Hand leather collection, Volume II.

The black tag carries the design in gold foil. Pale sea-blue and pale rose carry it blind.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with a crystal that changes from rough to step-cut and the words GROWN BY EARTH and FINISHED BY HAND, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag blind stamped with a crystal changing from rough to step-cut, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

A pale rose leather luggage tag blind stamped with GROWN BY EARTH and FINISHED BY HAND beneath a rough-to-cut gemstone, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

Next, we cut a gem halfway out of its rough for the keychains – crown faceted and finished, base still raw stone – and wrote WORK IN PROGRESS beneath. Anyone mid-polish may carry it, which is everyone we know.

Black-and-white WORK IN PROGRESS stamp artwork of a gemstone whose crown is faceted while its base remains rough, for the Finished by Hand leather collection, Volume II.

It looks genuinely beautiful – warm mid-gray keeps the stone's own color. The black fob takes the press in gold.

A warm mid-gray leather keychain blind stamped with a half-finished gemstone and WORK IN PROGRESS, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

A black leather keychain stamped in gold with a half-finished gemstone and WORK IN PROGRESS, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

The same stamp sits low in the corner of the toiletry bags, warm tan over deep espresso brown – the bag where the daily polishing happens.

Caramel and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind stamped with a half-finished gemstone and WORK IN PROGRESS, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

Then, the journals. Inside a single stone we set rows of needle-fine inclusions like lines of handwriting – gemologists read those marks to learn where a gem has been – and beneath it the oldest guarantee there is: WRITTEN IN STONE.

Black-and-white WRITTEN IN STONE stamp artwork of a cushion-cut gemstone holding rows of inclusion marks like handwriting, for the Finished by Hand leather collection, Volume II.

One journal in pale warm greige, the color of old record paper; the other in deep green.

A pale warm greige leather journal blind stamped with a cushion-cut inclusion design and WRITTEN IN STONE, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

A forest-green leather journal blind stamped with rows of gemstone inclusions and WRITTEN IN STONE, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Across the golden tan catchall tray, six stones stand in two rows, each drawn with a different interior – a garden of needles in one, a small crystal grown inside another – and the last left perfectly empty, because clarity is a character too. Beneath them, NO TWO ALIKE. Under the microscope no gem ever repeats another; a tray of keepsakes works the same way.

Black-and-white NO TWO ALIKE stamp artwork showing six gemstones with six different interiors, for the Finished by Hand leather collection, Volume II.

An Arizona tan leather catchall tray blind stamped with six individually patterned gemstones and NO TWO ALIKE, from the Finished by Hand collection, Volume II.

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.