The Steeping Hour – a leather collection for the time tea takes

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

A September study.

The Steeping Hour is a small leather collection about the time tea takes. A cup asks for five minutes; a simmer pot asks for an afternoon. These designs belong to the people who give that time gladly.

First, we set an hourglass running on tea – the sand is whole loose leaf, caught mid-fall, under the words GOOD THINGS TAKE FIVE MINUTES.

GOOD THINGS TAKE FIVE MINUTES stamp artwork with a loose-leaf hourglass from The Steeping Hour collection.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A caramel leather luggage tag stamped GOOD THINGS TAKE FIVE MINUTES with a loose-leaf hourglass from The Steeping Hour collection.

A forest-green leather luggage tag stamped GOOD THINGS TAKE FIVE MINUTES with a loose-leaf hourglass from The Steeping Hour collection.

A sangria leather luggage tag stamped GOOD THINGS TAKE FIVE MINUTES with a loose-leaf hourglass from The Steeping Hour collection.

The same stamp sits low in the corner of the toiletry bags – honeyed russet over dark espresso.

Indian Summer and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags stamped GOOD THINGS TAKE FIVE MINUTES with a loose-leaf hourglass from The Steeping Hour collection.

Next, a keychain for the morning – the sun comes up straight out of the cup, and FIRST CUP says when.

FIRST CUP stamp artwork with a teacup and rising sun from The Steeping Hour collection.

An Arizona leather keychain stamped FIRST CUP with a teacup and rising sun from The Steeping Hour collection.

Its evening twin trades the sun for a moon resting in the rim – LAST CUP, and the day is allowed to end.

LAST CUP stamp artwork with a teacup, crescent moon, and two stars from The Steeping Hour collection.

A dark-espresso leather keychain stamped LAST CUP with a teacup, crescent moon, and two stars from The Steeping Hour collection.

Then the simmer pot. One line of steam climbs off the flame and draws the whole roofline, chimney included, before it lets go – THE WHOLE HOUSE KNOWS. We gave it the floor of the catchall tray, where pockets empty at the end of the day.

THE WHOLE HOUSE KNOWS stamp artwork with a simmer pot and steam becoming a roofline from The Steeping Hour collection.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped THE WHOLE HOUSE KNOWS with a simmer pot and house-shaped steam from The Steeping Hour collection.

And finally, the journal. Steam rises off a cup and settles into a single ruled line – WHILE IT STEEPS is when the writing gets done. The stamp keeps to the lower corner, in gray sand and in deep forest green.

WHILE IT STEEPS stamp artwork with a teacup and steam becoming a writing line from The Steeping Hour collection.

A gray-sand leather journal stamped WHILE IT STEEPS with a teacup and writing line from The Steeping Hour collection.

A forest-green leather journal stamped WHILE IT STEEPS with a teacup and writing line from The Steeping Hour collection.

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.