First Light – a leather collection for Aurora, New York

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

An August study.

Aurora, New York was named for the dawn and built facing the sunset – the village stands on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake and watches the sun go down over the longest water in the Finger Lakes. We spent the month pressing that geography into leather, from luggage tags to a catchall tray, and called the collection First Light.

First, the namesake. A toiletry bag is what a morning reaches for before it is fully awake, so it takes the sunrise – a half sun lifting off the waterline, with FIRST LIGHT set beneath. We pressed it into the corner of the dopp kits, honeyed russet over dark espresso, the colors of early light on old brick.

The black-and-white DAYBREAK stamp artwork from the First Light leather collection of Aurora, New York.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with DAYBREAK from the First Light collection of Aurora, New York.

Next, the luggage tags. We drew Cayuga the way the map draws it – one long slender ribbon of water – and set a star on the shore where Aurora stands. The lake is the longest of the Finger Lakes, so the design runs the full length of the tag, on water-deep navy and on the pale greige of village limestone. The black tag of the trio carries the lake in gold.

The black-and-white LONG WATER stamp artwork from the First Light leather collection of Aurora, New York.

Three leather luggage tags stamped with Cayuga Lake from the First Light collection of Aurora, New York.

Then the keychains. A key is how you tie yourself to a place, so the fob carries a dock cleat with its line hitched in a figure eight, and the old waterfront order split above and below – HOLD FAST. On the black fob the words go down in gold.

The black-and-white HOLD FAST stamp artwork from the First Light leather collection of Aurora, New York.

Two leather keychains stamped with a dock cleat from the First Light collection of Aurora, New York.

An orchard is planted the way a journal is written – row by row. The shore of Cayuga has carried fruit trees for centuries, so the journal corner takes two rows running back to the horizon with ROW BY ROW set beneath, pressed into forest green and dusty rose – leaf and blossom.

The black-and-white ROW BY ROW stamp artwork from the First Light leather collection of Aurora, New York.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Two leather journals stamped with orchard rows from the First Light collection of Aurora, New York.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A catchall tray is where the day ends up, so it takes the other end of the arc – LAST LIGHT, a low sun sinking into the lake, its reflection breaking beneath. We pressed it at full size into the golden tan of the tray.

The black-and-white LAST LIGHT stamp artwork from the First Light leather collection of Aurora, New York.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with LAST LIGHT from the First Light collection of Aurora, New York.

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