In Good Time, Volume II – a leather collection on pear ripeness

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

A September study. Shops Waterfall, Volume II.

In Good Time is a small collection about the pear's best-kept secret. A pear is picked firm and does its ripening afterward, from the inside out; the skin keeps a straight face the whole time. So you learn to trust time, and to know where to press.

First, the traveler's stamp. A pear finishes ripening on the road, so we hung a little parcel tag from one pear's stem and set the trade's quiet fact underneath – RIPENS IN TRANSIT. A generous thing to say about anyone with luggage.

Black-and-white RIPENS IN TRANSIT pear and parcel-tag die artwork for the In Good Time leather collection, Volume II.

The tags stand upright – deep green for the fruit just off the tree, golden tan for the fruit arriving sweet. The black tag carries the design in gold foil.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a tagged pear and RIPENS IN TRANSIT, from In Good Time, Volume II.

An Arizona golden-tan leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a tagged pear and RIPENS IN TRANSIT, from In Good Time, Volume II.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with a tagged pear and RIPENS IN TRANSIT, from In Good Time, Volume II.

The same stamp presses small into the corner of the toiletry bags, warm tan over deep espresso – the bag that does most of its own ripening in transit.

Caramel and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with a tagged pear and RIPENS IN TRANSIT, from In Good Time, Volume II.

Next, the keychains. A pear hides its readiness in the middle; the honest place is the neck, where a gentle thumb near the stem learns the truth first. We put the thumbprint exactly there and wrote PRESS GENTLY beneath – good handling advice for fruit, and for most things.

Black-and-white PRESS GENTLY pear and thumbprint die artwork for the In Good Time leather collection, Volume II.

It looks genuinely beautiful. One fob in pale rose, the blush a gentle press leaves, and one in deep green.

A blush leather keychain blind-stamped with a thumbprint pear and PRESS GENTLY, from In Good Time, Volume II.

A forest-green leather keychain blind-stamped with a thumbprint pear and PRESS GENTLY, from In Good Time, Volume II.

Then the tray took the thesis at full width. Three pears wait on a sill while sweetness fills them from within – the first still an outline, the last gone solid black – and outside, the skin stays exactly as it was. IN GOOD TIME runs beneath.

Black-and-white three-stage pear-ripening die artwork reading IN GOOD TIME for the In Good Time leather collection, Volume II.

Looks great when stamped onto the golden tan tray – the dish where a day's pocket things also wait until morning.

An Arizona golden-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with three ripening pears and IN GOOD TIME, Volume II.

And finally, the journals. A pear ripens from the inside out; a person does too, and a journal is where that work gets written. We halved the fruit down to its two seeds and set the fact beneath – FROM THE INSIDE OUT.

Black-and-white halved pear and FROM THE INSIDE OUT die artwork for the In Good Time leather collection, Volume II.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather – one journal in the skin's deep green, one in the pale warm greige of the flesh.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with a halved pear and FROM THE INSIDE OUT, from In Good Time, Volume II.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-stamped with a halved pear and FROM THE INSIDE OUT, from In Good Time, Volume II.

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 this collection belongs on your shelves, or you'd like anything here made real or changed – say hello through our contact page.