Robin Gilmore × Leatherius Woodman – a leather stamping study

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

An August study.

For Robin Gilmore.

First, the reason this study exists. You once wrote, for Road Affair, a guide to the ten best luggage tags for a suitcase. We drew the eleventh – a luggage tag stamped onto a luggage tag, filed one past the end of the list. The black tag carries the number in gold.

The black-and-white ELEVEN OF TEN stamp artwork created for Robin Gilmore's leather luggage-tag collection.

A black and caramel leather luggage-tag duo stamped ELEVEN OF TEN for Robin Gilmore's travel-writing collection.

Next, we borrowed the oldest formula a tag knows – IF FOUND, then a line for the address – and filled the line in the way a travel writer would. It reads STILL EXPLORING. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The black-and-white STILL EXPLORING baggage-label stamp artwork created for Robin Gilmore's leather luggage-tag collection.

Caramel, red and blueberry leather luggage tags stamped STILL EXPLORING for Robin Gilmore's travel-writing collection.

Then we sided with the river. One stream wanders the full length of the tag, a small boat midstream, TAKE THE RIVER set into the corner. The trio shades from deep water out to the sandbank, pale sea-blue in between.

The black-and-white TAKE THE RIVER map stamp artwork created for Robin Gilmore's leather luggage-tag collection.

Blueberry, pale sea-blue and gray-sand leather luggage tags stamped TAKE THE RIVER for Robin Gilmore's travel-writing collection.

After that, a fork in the woods. The wide road runs straight off the edge of the die; the narrow one bends behind the pines and keeps going. The stamp takes a side. It looks genuinely beautiful.

The black-and-white forest-road stamp artwork created for Robin Gilmore's leather luggage-tag collection.

Forest green, Arizona and dark espresso leather luggage tags stamped THE ONE LESS TRAVELED for Robin Gilmore's travel-writing collection.

Next to last, we tied a luggage tag to a feather – the lightest bag we could find – and pressed PACK LIGHT beneath it, on the two palest leathers we keep.

The black-and-white PACK LIGHT feather stamp artwork created for Robin Gilmore's leather luggage-tag collection.

A gray-sand and blush leather luggage-tag duo stamped PACK LIGHT for Robin Gilmore's travel-writing collection.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A robin flies a few thousand miles a year and still finds the same garden again, which is more or less a luggage tag's whole job. So we perched one on a suitcase and gave it your name. The leathers are the bird's own – honeyed russet for the breast, warm gray for the back.

The black-and-white ROBIN bird and suitcase stamp artwork created for Robin Gilmore's leather luggage-tag collection.

A honeyed-russet and warm-gray leather luggage-tag duo stamped ROBIN for Robin Gilmore's travel-writing collection.

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 Robin Gilmore and you'd like these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.