City of Trees – a leather stamping collection from Colorado Springs, Colorado

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

An August study.

City of Trees is a small leather collection for Colorado Springs, Colorado – a city that was planted on purpose. Five stamped designs, each cut for its own object: luggage tags, toiletry bags, keychains, a catchall tray and leather journals.

First, the founding story. The Fountain Colony advertised for five thousand rooted cottonwoods to turn a bare prairie into a city of trees, and the trees took. We planted a row of them along the length of a luggage tag, under the words of the original order. Deep green and golden tan carry the row best; a pale greige tag completes the trio.

The FIVE THOUSAND COTTONWOODS black-and-white stamp design from the City of Trees leather collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Deep green, golden tan and pale greige leather luggage tags stamped FIVE THOUSAND COTTONWOODS, from the City of Trees collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Next, the gardener's weather report. Beds along the Front Range live high and dry – six thousand feet up, waiting on rain – so we set a full sun over a yarrow that blooms anyway. Pressed into the corner of a toiletry bag, golden tan over chestnut, the phrase keeps a second and drier promise.

The HIGH AND DRY sun and yarrow stamp design from the City of Trees leather collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Golden tan and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped HIGH AND DRY, from the City of Trees collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Then a seal for the pocket. Whatever grows at this elevation must root as deep as it rises, so we drew the seedling whole – shoot above the ground line, taproot below – and ringed it with ROOT AND RISE. The keychains, one deep green and one warm tan, look just awesome.

The ROOT AND RISE seedling seal stamp design from the City of Trees leather collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Deep green and warm tan leather keychains stamped ROOT AND RISE, from the City of Trees collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

After that, the tray took the horizon itself. Pikes Peak holds the left edge and the line runs east until it flattens into grass – the seam the whole city is built on. Everything that comes out of your pockets lands somewhere between the mountains and the plains.

The WHERE THE MOUNTAINS MEET THE PLAINS stamp design from the City of Trees leather collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped WHERE THE MOUNTAINS MEET THE PLAINS, from the City of Trees collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A penstemon stem stands beside ONE MORE GROWING SEASON – the vow a Colorado gardener makes in October and keeps in April. A journal is where that season gets planned, so we stamped the corner of two: dusty lavender and deep green, penstemon colors both. It looks genuinely beautiful.

The ONE MORE GROWING SEASON penstemon stamp design from the City of Trees leather collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Dusty lavender and deep green leather journals stamped ONE MORE GROWING SEASON, from the City of Trees collection of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

We made this out of love. Leatherius Woodman is on a mission to create and share artifacts of beauty, craft and love – this collection 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 anything here made real, or anything changed – say hello through our contact page.