The Rivermouth Collection - a Newburyport leather stamping study

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies on real-world logos.

An August study.

Newburyport has watched the Merrimack argue with the Atlantic since 1764, and nearly everything the city loves about itself stands somewhere along that meeting. We spent the month pressing five pieces of it into leather, and named the set the Rivermouth Collection.

First, the harbor range lights. Two towers stand a block apart on the waterfront; a sailor entering the river steers until their lights stack into one, and that line is the safe channel over the bar. We drew the towers at the moment of alignment and wrote the instruction underneath – TWO LIGHTS ONE WAY HOME.

The black-and-white Two Lights stamp artwork from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

It looks genuinely beautiful on the luggage tags. The black tag carries the stamp in gold foil; the pale sea-blue and pale greige tags take a blind press.

Three leather luggage tags carry the aligned harbor lights from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Next, the rivermouth itself. MERRIMACK stands at the head, the river winds down through two broad meanders, and at the mouth it breaks into open-water waves above ATLANTIC. We set it generously in the middle of a golden tan catchall tray, where keys and pocket change can spend the night.

The black-and-white Merrimack to Atlantic stamp artwork from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

A golden tan leather catchall tray carries the Merrimack rivermouth from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Then we borrowed the town's own shorthand. A Federal fanlight – the half-round window above the good doors of High Street – holds N B P T in its four panes, with NEWBURYPORT spelled along the sill for everyone from out of town.

The black-and-white NBPT fanlight stamp artwork from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Keychains with the fanlight stamp look just awesome – one pale sea-blue, one warm tan.

Two leather keychains carry the NBPT Federal fanlight from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

After that, a boast the city earned in 1790, when the first Revenue Cutter went into the water here and made Newburyport the birthplace of the Coast Guard. We put the little cutter under full sail beneath FIRST IN THE WATER, and pressed her into the corner of a navy and deep brown toiletry stack.

The black-and-white First in the Water cutter stamp artwork from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Two leather toiletry bags carry the 1790 revenue cutter from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Marsh grass arcs over a yellowlegs waiting out the ebb, and beneath them runs the promise – THE TIDE WILL TURN. On this coast it always does, twice a day, right on schedule.

The black-and-white Tide Will Turn shorebird stamp artwork from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Looks absolutely gorgeous in the lower corner of the journals, one deep green and one pale greige.

Two leather journals carry a salt-marsh shorebird from the Rivermouth Collection of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

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.