Gathered Here – a leather stamping collection for Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

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

An August study.

For Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania – five original designs pressed in leather. We call the set Gathered Here.

First, the creeks. Three of them meet at Stroudsburg on their way to the Water Gap, and we drew them the way this town has always handled its lengths of anything – as flat ribbon, plaited into one band, with THREE CREEKS beneath the braid. The trio of tags borrows its palette from a shelf of stacked ribbon.

Black-and-white Three Creeks stamp art from the Gathered Here leather collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Red, forest green and navy leather luggage tags stamped with the Three Creeks design from the Gathered Here collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Next, where the water goes. Below town the band slips between two mountains at the Delaware Water Gap, so we folded a ribbon down through the notch and set THROUGH THE GAP beneath the hills. It sits in the lower right corner of each bag, navy over chestnut.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white Through the Gap stamp art from the Gathered Here leather collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Navy and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped with Through the Gap from the Gathered Here collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Then, a square knot tied in flat ribbon – the knot that holds while you work – with HOLD above and FAST below. A keyring makes the same promise. One fob in warm red, one in pale greige.

Black-and-white Hold Fast knot stamp art from the Gathered Here leather collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Red and pale greige leather keychains stamped with Hold Fast from the Gathered Here collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

After that, the namesake. A catchall does for a pocket what Stroudsburg does for its creeks, so we tied a ribbon into a ring around the words GATHERED HERE and pressed it at the center of the golden tan tray.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white Gathered Here ribbon-ring stamp art from the Gathered Here leather collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped with Gathered Here for the leather collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

And finally, the one we liked the most. The silk mill on Ann Street began in 1913 with fourteen looms; once it learned to dye its own ribbon, it ran a hundred and thirty two. So the journals carry fourteen shuttles over the words FOURTEEN LOOMS – because a journal begins the same way, a few lines that grow into the whole cloth. One in deep green, one in warm tan.

Black-and-white Fourteen Looms stamp art from the Gathered Here leather collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

Forest green and caramel leather journals stamped with Fourteen Looms from the Gathered Here collection of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.

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.