Begin The Adventure Travel × Leatherius Woodman – a leather stamping study
From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies on real-world marks.
A July study.
Begin The Adventure Travel is Matthew Nilsson's adventure-travel practice in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he means the name as an invitation. He earned the right to extend it. Over more than twenty years he traveled on his own account across six continents and upward of fifty countries; he has stood in all fifty states, too. He has skied the Andes and pulled king salmon out of Alaskan water, and now he plans that kind of trip for other people – personalized ski itineraries and Alaska fishing packages, with mountain rail journeys alongside – under the plain promise on his site: “Let me help you plan your next unforgettable experience.”
The mark is why we stopped. One circle holds three angular peaks under a crescent moon, with short rounded dashes standing in for sky; the tallest peak carries a zigzag snow edge, and the whole drawing sits in a single charcoal gray above a sturdy serif. Monochrome badges of this discipline press almost by themselves. Our only worry was the sky – those small dashes sit close to the rim, where a die forgives least – and we watched them through every render before we trusted them.
The mark, as found
Pressed
Country gray answers the granite the mark was drawn in, and blueberry restores the midnight field his site sets behind it. Black carries the gold foil. On each tag the circle rides portrait above BEGIN THE ADVENTURE TRAVEL in the same sturdy serif.
Andes to Alaska
Matthew's two proven stories sit a hemisphere apart, so we joined them with a single stroke. The line drops in as a ski slope in the Andes and runs lengthwise through the words ANDES TO ALASKA. At its far end it bends into a fishing hook, and a king salmon turns toward it. The stroke stays unbroken end to end.
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're Begin The Adventure Travel and you'd like these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.