The Lake Road – a Minnesota up-north leather collection, Volume I-A

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

A September study. Volume I-A.

The Lake Road is a small collection about Minnesota's up-north weekend – the turn off the highway onto the two-lane, and the slow Sunday goodbye to the water. Every design here is original, drawn for the people who make that drive.

First, the loon. A common loon takes off the long way – a running start of a few hundred feet across open water before it flies. We drew ours mid-run, wings out, feet still splashing the lake, ahead of the words SLOW TO LEAVE, and ran the design lengthwise along the luggage tags. Anyone who has packed the car on a Sunday afternoon knows the pose.

The black tag carries the loon in gold.

The black-and-white running loon stamp artwork for The Lake Road leather collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A black leather luggage tag with a gold running loon and Slow to Leave stamp from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A blueberry leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a running loon and Slow to Leave from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a running loon and Slow to Leave from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Next, the toiletry bags. The weekend is short and everyone up there knows it, so the bag stands ready days ahead – we set a small leaning pine over the words PACKED SINCE TUESDAY, stamped in the corner of each bag. The stack pairs navy over chestnut, lake over shoreline.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The black-and-white leaning pine and Packed Since Tuesday stamp artwork for The Lake Road leather collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Blueberry and Sicilian-brown leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with a leaning pine and Packed Since Tuesday from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Then the keychains, the piece that lives on the cabin key ring. We stood a single canoe paddle upright like a signpost and split UP NORTH across its shaft – on warm paddle-wood tan and on deep pine green.

The black-and-white canoe paddle and Up North stamp artwork for The Lake Road leather collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A caramel leather keychain blind-stamped with a canoe paddle and Up North from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A forest-green leather keychain blind-stamped with a canoe paddle and Up North from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Then the catchall tray, where the weekend officially begins once the keys land. We redrew a real chain of backcountry lakes from the Voyageurs country map, joined them with portage dashes, and set a star on one shoreline above the words YOU ARE HERE. The tray comes in golden tan.

The black-and-white Chain of Lakes and You Are Here stamp artwork for The Lake Road leather collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

An arizona-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the Chain of Lakes and You Are Here from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A journal at the cabin always turns into the cabin log – who came, and what the weather did. So the cover says it plainly: a sawn log end with rings counting the summers, and CABIN LOG beneath. In chestnut and in deep green.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The black-and-white tree-ring and Cabin Log stamp artwork for The Lake Road leather collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A Sicilian-brown leather journal blind-stamped with tree rings and Cabin Log from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with tree rings and Cabin Log from The Lake Road collection of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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 anything here made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.