The Water Stair – an Ithaca leather collection

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies in place and pattern.

An August study.

Ithaca is where water comes downstairs. Creeks step down through shale, ledge by ledge, until they find the level of Cayuga Lake – and this small leather collection, The Water Stair, presses that descent into the things a person carries.

First, the stair itself. We drew a creek coming down the way it actually comes down here – over flat shale ledges, fifteen of them, into a pool – and set ITHACA beneath the pool. On the toiletry bags it sits small in the lower corner, country gray stone over dark espresso.

The Water Stair cascade stamp design for the Ithaca leather collection.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with an Ithaca waterfall from The Water Stair collection.

Next, Cayuga. We drew the longest of the Finger Lakes at its true shape, long and narrow, tapering to the southern point where the town sits, with its name coming down beside it letter by letter. A keychain fob turned out to be exactly the right proportion: nearly forty miles of lake on two inches of leather. The duo is deep blueberry navy and pale sea-blue – the lake at depth and in the shallows.

Keychains with the whole of Cayuga on them look just awesome.

The Cayuga Lake stamp design for The Water Stair leather collection of Ithaca.

Two leather keychains stamped with Cayuga Lake in The Water Stair collection of Ithaca.

Then, WATER FINDS ITS LEVEL. A small fall enters at the top of the ring and settles into level ripples below the waterline. We gave it to the golden tan catchall tray – the dish where whatever your pockets carried all day settles to its level each evening.

The Water Finds Its Level stamp design for The Water Stair leather collection of Ithaca.

An arizona leather catchall tray stamped Water Finds Its Level for The Water Stair collection of Ithaca.

Then, TAKE THE GORGE ROUTE. Between downtown and the hill there is always a plain way and a beautiful one; the stamp is a switchback path climbing between shale walls to a little stone bridge. We pressed it on the corner of the journals, deep hemlock green and honeyed russet – the gorge in June and in October.

The Take the Gorge Route stamp design for The Water Stair leather collection of Ithaca.

Forest green and honeyed russet leather journals stamped Take the Gorge Route for The Water Stair collection of Ithaca.

And finally, the three travelers together on the luggage tags. The stair rides on country gray stone; Cayuga takes blueberry, and the gorge route goes hemlock green. Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

Three leather luggage tags shaped by waterfall, lake and gorge designs in The Water Stair collection of Ithaca.

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.