Old Town Findings – a leather stamping study for Old Town Alexandria, Volume I-B
From the Practice Log, Volume I-B – an ongoing series of original leather stamping studies.
A September study.
We call this small collection Old Town Findings – four original stamps drawn for Old Town Alexandria, for the people who hunt its shelves and walk its brick sidewalks. In jewelry, a finding is the small piece that holds the whole thing together; the name felt right.
First, we drew an oyster fallen open like a locket, left one circle of the leather untouched inside it for the pearl, and arched FINDERS KEEPERS overhead – the first rule of treasure hunting, sized for a keychain.
The black fob carries the pearl in gold foil; the blush one presses blind.
Next, we borrowed a jar from the apothecary shelf on South Fairfax – mushroom stopper, gilded label with clipped corners – and wrote FINDINGS where the Latin used to go. Pressed into the base of the tray, the jar does its old job: rings and earrings drop in and are found again.
It looks genuinely beautiful.
The same jar sits in the corner of a deep green journal, holding a different kind of powder – blank pages.
Then we set a square-rigged merchant ship on a single waterline, letterspaced UP THE POTOMAC beneath it, and ran the whole design lengthwise along the luggage tags – this town has always been the place the river brings things back to.
The black tag takes the ship in gold foil; blueberry and caramel press blind.
And finally, a ghost sign. We laid five courses of running-bond brick and reserved MEET ME IN OLD TOWN in the bricks themselves, the way old walls here still keep their painted words.
Looks great when stamped onto the leather.
And the same wall again, on a dusty rose journal.
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.
