The Bay Side – a Brewster, Massachusetts leather collection

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

An August study.

Brewster keeps to the quiet bay side of Cape Cod – sea captains' houses along the Old King's Highway, a mile of open sand at low tide. We pressed the town into leather and called the collection The Bay Side.

First, the flats. At dead low the bay walks back the better part of two miles and leaves the sand ribbed like corduroy, so we drew the whole emptiness lengthwise – one small walker far out under LOW TIDE – and ran it along the luggage tags.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The Low Tide flats artwork from The Bay Side leather collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

Three leather luggage tags stamped with Low Tide from The Bay Side collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

Next, the herring. Every April they climb Stony Brook through the old gristmill run, the whole brook pushing one way and the fish going the other. The keychains carry one mid-leap over AGAINST THE CURRENT – navy for the water, warm red for the stubbornness.

The Against the Current herring artwork from The Bay Side leather collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

Two leather keychains stamped with Against the Current from The Bay Side collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

Then the Sea Captains' Town. Brewster earned the name house by house – white clapboard with a railing on the roof for reading the weather. We set one such house in a roundel under SEA CAPTAINS TOWN and pressed it small into the corner of the toiletry bags, navy stacked on dark espresso.

The Sea Captains Town artwork from The Bay Side leather collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with Sea Captains Town from The Bay Side collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

Inland sit the kettle ponds, round and spring-fed in Nickerson's pines. A catchall tray does the same quiet work – everything the day carried settles there – so we ringed the water with pines and set KETTLE POND along the shore of the golden tan tray.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The Kettle Pond pine artwork from The Bay Side leather collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped with Kettle Pond from The Bay Side collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

And finally, Old King's Highway. Route 6A has carried the town's comings and goings since before it had a number, and a journal does the same work for a life. The cover takes the slow bend of the road, with a 6A milestone at the turn, in deep pine green and warm tan.

The Old Kings Highway artwork from The Bay Side leather collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

Two leather journals stamped with Old Kings Highway from The Bay Side collection of Brewster, Massachusetts.

We made this out of love. Leatherius Woodman is on a mission to create and share artifacts of beauty, craft and love – this collection 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.