The Mermaid's Purse – a leather collection of the sea's own belongings

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies. Volume II, The Mermaid's Purse.

A September study.

Naturalists and beachcombers have been cataloguing a mermaid's belongings for centuries. The leathery egg case of a skate is a mermaid's purse; a branching sponge is her glove. We took the inventory at its word and pressed her things into leather – her purse, in leather, at last.

First, the purse itself. A skate seals her egg in a tough little case that rides the open sea unaccompanied and comes ashore whole. We drew the case with its tendrils streaming the length of the tag and stamped our verdict under the name: SEAWORTHY. Luggage should travel half as well.

Black-and-white die artwork of a four-tendril skate egg case above MERMAID'S PURSE and SEAWORTHY for The Mermaid's Purse leather collection, Volume II.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – on pale sea-blue, and on a deep espresso brown, the color of the found case itself.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the MERMAID'S PURSE egg case and SEAWORTHY from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

A dark-espresso leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the MERMAID'S PURSE egg case and SEAWORTHY from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

The black tag carries the gold – a purse ought to have some gold in it.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with the MERMAID'S PURSE egg case and SEAWORTHY from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

Next, her money. Folklore counts the sand dollar as mermaid currency, so the smallest piece on the bench takes SMALL CHANGE – the five-petaled coin at pocket scale, riding where keys and change already live. One in pale warm greige, like a coin bleached on the beach, and one in navy.

Black-and-white sand-dollar die artwork reading SMALL CHANGE for The Mermaid's Purse leather collection, Volume II.

A gray-sand leather keychain blind-stamped with a sand dollar and SMALL CHANGE from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

A blueberry leather keychain blind-stamped with a sand dollar and SMALL CHANGE from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

Then the toiletry bags. There is a branching sea sponge that naturalists call the mermaid's glove, and a sponge belongs in a wash bag – so hers goes small into the lower right corner, honeyed russet over chestnut.

Black-and-white five-branch sponge die artwork reading MERMAID'S GLOVE for The Mermaid's Purse leather collection, Volume II.

Indian-summer and Sicilian-brown leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with MERMAID'S GLOVE from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

Then the tray. A whelk strings her egg cases into one long spiraling strand, and when it washes up, beachcombers call it a mermaid's necklace. We laid the strand down in a loose coil – exactly the way a necklace lands in a tray at the end of the day.

Black-and-white coiled whelk egg-case die artwork reading MERMAID'S NECKLACE for The Mermaid's Purse leather collection, Volume II.

It looks genuinely beautiful pressed into the golden tan.

An Arizona golden-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the MERMAID'S NECKLACE egg-case coil from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Inside the purse a small skate grows in the dark until it is ready for open water – so we opened a window in the case and drew her curled up inside, with UNTIL IT'S READY beneath. A journal makes the same promise to whatever gets written in it.

Black-and-white skate embryo inside a four-horned egg case above UNTIL IT'S READY for The Mermaid's Purse leather collection, Volume II.

Pressed in deep green, the kelp the real cases anchor to, and in navy.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with a skate embryo and UNTIL IT'S READY from The Mermaid's Purse, Volume II.

A blueberry leather journal blind-stamped with a skate embryo and UNTIL IT'S READY from The Mermaid's Purse, 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 you'd like anything here made real, or anything changed – say hello through our contact page.