Future Heirlooms – a leather stamping collection about objects that age well (Volume II)

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

A September study.

Future Heirlooms is a small leather collection about the age a new object has still to earn. Every antique in a glass case was new once; somebody carried it first and let the years do the finishing. Five stamps for leather at the start of that road.

First, HEIRLOOM IN PROGRESS. We set the words behind an hourglass that has only just been turned – the top bulb still full, the first grains falling – and ran the design lengthwise along the luggage tags, because a tag starts collecting its evidence on day one.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The black tag carries the words in gold, the way an old trunk carries its brass plaque; the caramel and the pale sea-blue tags take a blind press.

Black-and-white HEIRLOOM IN PROGRESS hourglass stamp artwork for the Future Heirlooms leather collection.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with an hourglass and HEIRLOOM IN PROGRESS from the Future Heirlooms collection.

A caramel leather luggage tag blind-debossed with an hourglass and HEIRLOOM IN PROGRESS from the Future Heirlooms collection.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag blind-debossed with an hourglass and HEIRLOOM IN PROGRESS from the Future Heirlooms collection.

Next, the acorn. We drew one with its first root just out of the shell and set it over the only advice an acorn has ever needed – GIVE IT TIME. A keychain spends ten thousand days in a pocket, so the fob takes the same instruction: one in chestnut, one in golden tan.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white sprouting-acorn and GIVE IT TIME stamp artwork for the Future Heirlooms leather collection.

A chestnut leather keychain blind-debossed with a sprouting acorn and GIVE IT TIME from the Future Heirlooms collection.

A golden-tan leather keychain blind-debossed with a sprouting acorn and GIVE IT TIME from the Future Heirlooms collection.

Then we gave the toiletry bags a barbershop emblem – a shaving brush crossed with a straight razor over BETTER WITH AGE – pressed small into the corner of a deep brown bag stacked on a chestnut one. The bag means it about itself, and it is generally understood to be a compliment to its owner as well.

Black-and-white crossed shaving-brush and razor stamp artwork reading BETTER WITH AGE for the Future Heirlooms leather collection.

Deep brown and chestnut leather toiletry bags blind-debossed with crossed grooming tools and BETTER WITH AGE from the Future Heirlooms collection.

For the journals, we remembered what a historian calls an old diary – a primary source. So the corner carries a quill finishing its first ruled line under the words FUTURE PRIMARY SOURCE: one journal in deep wine, one in pale greige.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white quill and FUTURE PRIMARY SOURCE stamp artwork for the Future Heirlooms leather collection.

A deep-wine leather journal blind-debossed with a quill and FUTURE PRIMARY SOURCE from the Future Heirlooms collection.

A pale-greige leather journal blind-debossed with a quill and FUTURE PRIMARY SOURCE from the Future Heirlooms collection.

And finally, the one we liked the most. The whole collection closes in one circle: an oak's growth rings pressed at full size into the golden tan tray, a small acorn sitting where the heartwood should be, GREAT OAKS arched above and FROM LITTLE ACORNS below. The tray will hold keys and coins on a dresser long after everyone has stopped counting the rings.

Black-and-white oak growth-ring stamp artwork reading GREAT OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS for the Future Heirlooms leather collection.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray blind-debossed with oak rings, an acorn, and GREAT OAKS FROM LITTLE ACORNS from the Future Heirlooms 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'd like any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.