Sage & Neon – a Reno leather stamping study

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

An August study.

Reno began where a bridge crossed the Truckee, and it has been reinventing itself ever since. We pressed that city into leather – a small traveling collection we call Sage & Neon, from the luggage tags down to the journal on the desk.

First, the origin. Before there was a city there was a bridge over the Truckee, so we drew the iron truss with the current running beneath the deck, and set THE CROSSING CAME FIRST along the top – worth remembering on a tag that does its own crossing.

The Crossing bridge and river stamp design from the Sage & Neon leather collection of Reno, Nevada.

The trio runs pale sea-blue for the river and caramel for warm wood, with a black third. The black tag carries the design in gold.

Three leather luggage tags stamped with The Crossing design from the Sage & Neon collection of Reno, Nevada.

Next, the desert's perfume. Out here rain announces itself through sagebrush, and every leaf of Artemisia tridentata ends in three small teeth. We drew one sprig true to that anatomy and set AFTER THE RAIN beneath it, on keychains in forest green and gray sand.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The After the Rain sagebrush stamp design from the Sage & Neon leather collection of Reno, Nevada.

Two leather keychains stamped with After the Rain from the Sage & Neon collection of Reno, Nevada.

Then the Reno that hums after dark. We bent OPEN ALL NIGHT from solid neon tubing, sign border and all, and pressed it into the corner of a toiletry bag in black over dark espresso – the one piece of luggage that actually keeps those hours.

The Open All Night stamp design from the Sage & Neon leather collection of Reno, Nevada.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped Open All Night from the Sage & Neon collection of Reno, Nevada.

The catchall tray had its line waiting for it. EMPTY YOUR POCKETS arches over a pair of thrown dice showing seven, pressed into the base of a golden tan tray – that is what a catchall does every evening, said the way this town says things.

The Empty Your Pockets dice stamp design from the Sage & Neon leather collection of Reno, Nevada.

A leather catchall tray stamped Empty Your Pockets from the Sage & Neon collection of Reno, Nevada.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Every drop of the Truckee began as Sierra snow, the way every finished thing begins as a blank page, so the journal cover carries a peak with a thread of meltwater widening into current, and IT STARTS AS SNOW beneath. The pair runs gray sand and blueberry – snowfield and river.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The It Starts as Snow mountain and river stamp design from the Sage & Neon leather collection of Reno, Nevada.

Two leather journals stamped It Starts as Snow from the Sage & Neon collection of Reno, Nevada.

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 Sage & Neon should exist in Reno for real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.