Take Care – a leather collection on the care of handmade things

From the Practice Log – Shops Waterfall, Volume II.

A September study.

Take Care is a small leather collection about looking after good things. It is made for people who already wash a wooden spoon by hand and oil it when it goes dry – the collection writes that devotion down. Five stamps, nine pieces of leather.

First, the label every well-made thing has earned. Where the shipping stencil puts its wineglass, we set a handmade bowl, and wrote HANDLE WITH CARE in stencil capitals beside it.

Black-and-white HANDLE WITH CARE stamp artwork with a handmade bowl in a freight-stencil plaque for the Take Care leather collection, Volume II.

It runs lengthwise along three tags, from pale greige through warm caramel tan to deep espresso brown. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A pale greige leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a bowl and HANDLE WITH CARE in the Take Care collection, Volume II.

A caramel leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a bowl and HANDLE WITH CARE in the Take Care collection, Volume II.

A dark-espresso leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a bowl and HANDLE WITH CARE in the Take Care collection, Volume II.

Next, we cut the care label loose from the collar and let it say what it always meant. HAND WASH. TOWEL DRY. OIL WHEN THIRSTY. REPEAT FOR LIFE.

Black-and-white care-label stamp artwork reading HAND WASH, TOWEL DRY, OIL WHEN THIRSTY, REPEAT FOR LIFE for the Take Care collection, Volume II.

It went on the toiletry kit, golden tan over chestnut – the one bag built for a person's own daily upkeep.

Golden-tan and chestnut leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with the OIL WHEN THIRSTY care label in the Take Care collection, Volume II.

Then, the whole ritual in one ring. We ran the verbs of upkeep in a circle – USE to WASH to DRY to OIL to WAX and around again – with a long wooden spoon standing at the center. The ring has no last step; that is how a thing gets old without wearing out.

Black-and-white stamp artwork circling USE, WASH, DRY, OIL and WAX around a wooden spoon for the Take Care collection, Volume II.

At full size on the golden tan tray it looks absolutely gorgeous.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the spoon-centered CARE CYCLE in the Take Care collection, Volume II.

Next, the test. Drop water on a well-oiled spoon and watch: if it beads, somebody has been paying attention. We drew the drop mid-test and set WATER STILL BEADS above it – a pass mark for the well kept. It went on the keychains, one chestnut and one warm gray, since keys get handled more than anything else a person owns.

Black-and-white WATER STILL BEADS stamp artwork with a highlighted water drop on wood for the Take Care collection, Volume II.

A chestnut leather keychain blind-stamped with a water drop and WATER STILL BEADS in the Take Care collection, Volume II.

A warm-gray leather keychain blind-stamped with a water drop and WATER STILL BEADS in the Take Care collection, Volume II.

And finally, the sign-off. TAKE CARE above an empty signature line – the way a good letter ends, waiting for a name. On a journal cover it is a blessing on the way out the door and an instruction for everything written inside. It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white TAKE CARE sign-off stamp artwork above an empty signature rule for the Take Care collection, Volume II.

A dark-espresso leather journal blind-stamped with TAKE CARE above an empty signature rule, Volume II.

A pale greige leather journal blind-stamped with TAKE CARE above an empty signature rule, Volume II.

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.