The Pocket Museum, Volume I-B – a leather collection of fossils and field finds

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies. Volume I-B.

A September study.

The Pocket Museum – five designs about finding things and keeping them, for the kind of pocket that comes home heavier than it left.

First, we made a pocket fossil. A trilobite – half a billion years old and still the best thing anyone ever pulled out of a rock – sits on the fob under its own plain label: POCKET FOSSIL.

Black-and-white die artwork of a trilobite between POCKET and FOSSIL for The Pocket Museum leather collection, Volume I-B.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather, in golden tan and in deep brown.

An Arizona leather keychain blind-stamped with a trilobite between POCKET and FOSSIL, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

A dark-espresso leather keychain blind-stamped with a trilobite between POCKET and FOSSIL, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

Next, the catchall tray. We cut a geode open on the die – rough crust outside, crystal teeth inside – and wrote EMPTY YOUR POCKETS underneath, since anyone who has ever walked a child past a rock cabinet knows exactly how those pockets come home. The golden tan tray is where the day's finds land.

Black-and-white die artwork of a split geode above EMPTY YOUR POCKETS for The Pocket Museum leather collection, Volume I-B.

An Arizona leather catchall tray blind-stamped with a split geode and EMPTY YOUR POCKETS, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

Then, the journals. In the corner of the cover we pressed a specimen label with its blanks left open – the last line reads KEPT BECAUSE, and the pages exist to hold the answer. One journal in deep green, one in dusty lavender, the color of amethyst.

Black-and-white die artwork of a FINDINGS specimen label for The Pocket Museum leather collection, Volume I-B.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with a FINDINGS specimen label, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

A lilac leather journal blind-stamped with a FINDINGS specimen label, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

Then, the toiletry bags. A geologist's hammer crossed with a toothbrush over the words EXPEDITION SUPPLIES – because every expedition, whatever it digs up, still has to brush its teeth at night. Stamped in the corner of the warm tan bag on its chestnut base.

Black-and-white die artwork of a rock hammer crossed with a toothbrush above EXPEDITION SUPPLIES for The Pocket Museum leather collection, Volume I-B.

Caramel and Sicilian-brown leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with crossed field tools and EXPEDITION SUPPLIES, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Archelon, the largest turtle ever known, swims across the luggage tag as a full skeleton above a single line – RUNNING 75 MILLION YEARS LATE. A patron saint for a certain kind of traveler.

The black tag carries the skeleton in gold foil. It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white die artwork of an Archelon skeleton above RUNNING 75 MILLION YEARS LATE for The Pocket Museum leather collection, Volume I-B.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with an Archelon skeleton and RUNNING 75 MILLION YEARS LATE, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

The other two tags run blind debossed, in warm stone gray and in honeyed russet.

A country-gray leather luggage tag blind-stamped with an Archelon skeleton and RUNNING 75 MILLION YEARS LATE, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

An Indian-summer leather luggage tag blind-stamped with an Archelon skeleton and RUNNING 75 MILLION YEARS LATE, from The Pocket Museum collection, Volume I-B.

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