The Aurora Ledger – an Aurora, New York leather stamping study, Volume II
From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies.
An August study. Volume II of the Aurora series.
Aurora, New York wrote itself down as it went – a miller's notice, a wheat receipt, a regatta program, a gazetteer's count of gables. We pressed five of those records into leather, luggage tags to catchall tray, and bound them as THE AURORA LEDGER.
First, 1817. A three-story stone mill on the shore ran what local history calls the first steam flour mill west of the Hudson, and the miller answered the village's worry with an open door – the machinery was in motion, and anyone was welcome to view it for themselves. We cut the flywheel mid spin, kept his words, and set it in the corner of the toiletry bags – a true black bag over a deep brown one.
Next, 1832. A lake boat tied up at that same mill for 1,750 bushels of wheat, and the young expressman who signed the receipt at the threshold went on from this landing to move parcels across a continent. We set the receipt on the luggage tags – golden tan and navy, with a black third in the trio.
The black tag carries the receipt in gold.
Then, 1847. The first regatta on Cayuga Lake started off Aurora at half past three on a June afternoon, under a club rule that banned betting in favor of good fellowship. The wind never came, and the day ended with every crew at the oars. We crossed two oars under the year and gave the motto to the keychains, in navy and warm tan.
Looks great when stamped onto the leather.
Then, 1867. A county gazetteer, plainly charmed, counted fourteen gables on the seminary building above the bay and noted a view of the lake from nearly every window. We drew the whole roofline, one window to a gable, and centered it on the catchall tray in golden tan.
And finally, the one we liked the most. The Thursday Club of Aurora has kept its minutes since 1896, and the village archive chose those books as its first project – a hundred and thirty years of showing up. We filled in every Thursday on the calendar and pressed STILL MEETING on the journals, in deep wine and pale warm greige.
It looks genuinely beautiful.
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.
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