Slow Water – a Pittsford, New York leather stamping collection – Volume I-A

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies, here as an original collection for a real place.

A September study – Volume I-A.

Slow Water is a small collection of stamped leather about Pittsford, New York – the village that grew up beside the Erie Canal and kept the canal's unhurried pace. Every design in it starts at the water.

First, the packet boat. We drew it long and low, the way its descendant still slides past Schoen Place, set PITTSFORD over the waterline and 1822 beneath it – the year the canal reached the village, and the village followed.

We pressed it lengthwise along tags in deep green and pale sea-blue. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white artwork for a leather stamp in the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York, showing a packet boat.

A forest green leather luggage tag stamped with the packet boat from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag stamped with the packet boat from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

The black tag carries the boat in gold.

A black leather luggage tag stamped with the packet boat from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

Next, the horse. Every packet was pulled from the towpath at a horse's walk, so we set the tow horse inside a ring, with the rope drawn taut through the border – the boat it pulls is somewhere outside the frame. AT A WALKING PACE, the ring says, and the village still agrees.

We pressed it on keychains in warm tan and deep wine.

Black-and-white artwork for a leather stamp in the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York, showing a tow horse.

A caramel leather keychain stamped with the tow horse roundel from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

A sangria leather keychain stamped with the tow horse roundel from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

The same stamp sits low in the corner of the toiletry bags, honeyed russet over chestnut.

A honeyed russet sicilian leather toiletry bag stack stamped with the tow horse roundel from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

And finally, the Great Embankment, where the canal is carried high over the valley and a boat rides above the treetops. We drew exactly that, plainly, and gave it the flat panels – the golden tan tray, and journals in deep green and pale greige. It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white artwork for a leather stamp in the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York, showing the Great Embankment interpretation.

A arizona leather catchall tray stamped with the Great Embankment interpretation from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

A forest green leather journal stamped with the Great Embankment interpretation from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

A gray sand leather journal stamped with the Great Embankment interpretation from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

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.

A forest green leather luggage tag stamped with the packet boat from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag stamped with the packet boat from the Slow Water collection of Pittsford, New York.