Kept – an Old Town Alexandria leather stamping collection, Volume II
From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of original leather stamping studies.
A September study. Volume II.
We call this collection Kept – four original stamps for Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, a town with a talent for keeping things. Its gaslight still burns, and its first wharf still holds the ground up under the streets. We pressed the four across luggage tags and keychains, journals and a golden catchall tray.
First, the seven-foot house on Queen Street – built to close an alley, the story goes, and standing its ground ever since. We drew the blue facade shutter for shutter, cornice and all, and set ROOM ENOUGH beneath it: the little house's answer to its big neighbors, and a fair motto for a packed bag.
The navy tag wears the house's own painted blue; the warm red one, the brick it leans on.
The black tag carries the house in gold.
Next, evening on Captains Row. The wall lanterns over the cobbles of Prince Street still burn gas, so we drew one on its scrolled iron bracket, flame lit, and wrote OLD FLAME beneath it – this one, at least, still burning.
On the black fob the flame presses in gold.
The deep green fob takes a blind press, the color of the street's own tree canopy.
Keychains with the little lantern look just awesome.
Then, the ground itself. The blocks nearest the Potomac stand on made land, and the City's archaeologists have uncovered what holds it: a wharf of upright planks bound by one heavy timber, driven at the water's edge and still at work under Lee Street. We drew the palisade plank for plank and wrote HOLD FAST above it – the old waterfront order, and good advice for a blank page.
It presses into the corner of the journals – one deep brown like the wharf timber, one pale greige like the paving laid over it.
Looks great when stamped onto the leather.
And into the corner of a navy toiletry bag, whose whole job is holding fast to your things.
And finally, the one we liked the most. Alexandria was laid out in 1749 above a crescent bay, so we drew the crescent back and set a ring riding at anchor inside it, under the words SAFE HARBOR. It presses at generous size into the golden tan catchall tray – the harbor where rings come in for the night.
Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.
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.
P.S.
