Golden Hour × Golden, Colorado – a leather stamping study

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of original leather stamping studies for real places. Volume I-A.

A September study.

For Golden, Colorado – where Clear Creek comes down out of its canyon and the whole town walks to the water. We designed an original collection for the town, called it Golden Hour, and pressed it into leather.

First, we borrowed the friendliest words in town – the ones the arch over Washington Avenue says to everyone who walks under it. HOWDY FOLKS rides a little arch of its own, lattice posts and all, with the sun coming up behind the crown.

The Golden Hour howdy design for Golden, Colorado leather accessories appears as a black and white stamping die.

The black tag carries the gold; golden tan and deep green take the blind press.

The Golden Hour howdy design is pressed into black leather luggage tags inspired by Golden, Colorado.

The Golden Hour howdy design is pressed into arizona leather luggage tags inspired by Golden, Colorado.

The Golden Hour howdy design is pressed into forest green leather luggage tags inspired by Golden, Colorado.

Next, the creek from straight above. An inner tube with the current still moving through the middle of it, and the whole summer plan in five words – MEET ME AT THE CREEK.

The Golden Hour tube design for Golden, Colorado leather accessories appears as a black and white stamping die.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – once in pale sea-blue, once in golden tan.

The Golden Hour tube design is pressed into turquoise leather keychains inspired by Golden, Colorado.

The Golden Hour tube design is pressed into arizona leather keychains inspired by Golden, Colorado.

Then a small one for the historians. There were orchard days here once, when the irrigation ditches ran to the apple trees – so we cut GOLDEN clean through a solid apple and pressed it into a red keychain.

The Golden Hour orchard design for Golden, Colorado leather accessories appears as a black and white stamping die.

The Golden Hour orchard design is pressed into poppy red leather keychains inspired by Golden, Colorado.

For the tray we drew the view every tuber knows by heart – the channel narrowing between the cottonwoods, the dry foothill standing broad behind it, GOLDEN COLORADO holding the ground.

The Golden Hour creek design for Golden, Colorado leather accessories appears as a black and white stamping die.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The Golden Hour creek design is pressed into arizona leather catchall trays inspired by Golden, Colorado.

And finally, our favorite local. The American dipper works this water all year – a round gray bird that bobs on a wet stone, then walks straight under the current to hunt. We set one mid-curtsy above the words CLEAR CREEK.

The Golden Hour dipper design for Golden, Colorado leather accessories appears as a black and white stamping die.

On the journals it sits in the lower right corner, in deep green and in warm caramel.

The Golden Hour dipper design is pressed into forest green leather leather journals inspired by Golden, Colorado.

The Golden Hour dipper design is pressed into caramel leather leather journals inspired by Golden, Colorado.

And in the corner of the toiletry bags – golden tan over chestnut.

The Golden Hour dipper design is pressed into arizona sicilian brown leather dopp kits inspired by Golden, Colorado.

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 in Golden and you'd like any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.

P.S.

The Golden Hour howdy design is pressed into arizona leather luggage tags inspired by Golden, Colorado.

The Golden Hour howdy design is pressed into forest green leather luggage tags inspired by Golden, Colorado.