The Queen City Collection – a leather stamping study for Staunton, Virginia

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

An August study.

Staunton, Virginia grew up around a railroad, and the Wharf District still keeps the proof in brick and rail. So we cut a small leather collection for the Queen City – luggage tags and journals, keychains and a catchall tray – and gave every piece a stamp of its own.

First, the luggage tags. We set a steam engine running at full throttle and hid a small constellation inside its cloud – FULL STEAM, for a city the Virginia Central reached in 1854. The black tag carries the stamp in gold foil, like brass on a boiler; the warm red and navy tags take a blind deboss.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The FULL STEAM black-and-white stamp design from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

Black, warm red and navy leather luggage tags stamped FULL STEAM, from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

Next, the toiletry bags. Staunton has worn the title Queen City of the Valley since its county-seat days, so we drew a crown whose peaks rise like the Blue Ridge, each summit jeweled with a star, and set QUEEN CITY OF THE VALLEY beneath it. The stamp sits small in the corner of each bag, navy over chestnut, pressed blind.

The QUEEN CITY OF THE VALLEY black-and-white stamp design from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

Navy and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped QUEEN CITY OF THE VALLEY, from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

Then, the keychains – a rail ticket with a star punched clean through it, ALL ABOARD running across the face. Gold on the black fob; a blind press on the warm red one.

Keychains with the star-punched ticket look just awesome too.

The ALL ABOARD black-and-white ticket stamp design from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

Black and warm red leather keychains stamped ALL ABOARD, from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

After that, the catchall tray, where pockets empty at the end of the day. At its center stands a toy wind-up key, and the ring around it reads PLAY IS SERIOUS WORK – STAUNTON VIRGINIA. We pressed it at a generous size into the golden tan.

The PLAY IS SERIOUS WORK black-and-white stamp design from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped PLAY IS SERIOUS WORK, from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

And finally, the one we liked the most. An open book whose gutter lets a pair of rails run straight off the page – ONE MORE STORY. Around the Wharf, stories and trains have always kept the same timetable. One journal in deep green, one in warm tan, the stamp low in the right corner of each.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The ONE MORE STORY black-and-white book and railway stamp design from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

Deep green and warm tan leather journals stamped ONE MORE STORY, from the Queen City Collection of Staunton, Virginia.

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.