The Calistoga Cabinet, Volume I-A -- a leather stamping study from Calistoga, California

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

A September study. Volume I-A.

Calistoga sits where the old rail line into the Napa Valley stops for good, under Mount Saint Helena, in a town that still tells its visitors to take the waters. We drew five small designs out of that world and stamped them into leather, from luggage tags to a catchall tray, and called the set The Calistoga Cabinet.

First, the luggage tags. Calistoga was the terminus of the Napa Valley Railroad, so we ran the rails up the tag to a buffer stop beneath the mountain and lettered it END OF THE LINE -- the mark for luggage that has finally arrived somewhere worth stopping.

The black-and-white end of the line stamp plate from The Calistoga Cabinet leather collection of Calistoga, California.

The black tag carries the design in gold. Forest green and gray sand take a blind deboss.

A black leather luggage tags stamped with the end of the line design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

A forest green leather luggage tags stamped with the end of the line design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

A gray sand leather luggage tags stamped with the end of the line design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

Next, the toiletry kit -- the bag a person packs for the baths. We set three bubbles rising through a waterline and gave them the town's oldest instruction: TAKE THE WATERS. It sits small in the corner of a country gray kit stacked over dark espresso, ash over volcanic earth.

The black-and-white take the waters stamp plate from The Calistoga Cabinet leather collection of Calistoga, California.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

A country gray leather dopp kits stamped with the take the waters design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

Then the keychains. A keychain already hangs and swings like a pendulum, so we let it divine -- a faceted bob on its chain, YES to one side, NO to the other. Ask it where the keys went.

The black-and-white pendulum stamp plate from The Calistoga Cabinet leather collection of Calistoga, California.

The black fob takes the design in gold; the lilac one carries a blind deboss.

A black leather keychains stamped with the pendulum design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

A lilac leather keychains stamped with the pendulum design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

After that, the journals. A journal fills after dark, so we put a moth under a sliver of moon above the words NIGHT BLOOMS -- for everything that opens at night and gets written down before morning.

The black-and-white night blooms stamp plate from The Calistoga Cabinet leather collection of Calistoga, California.

A forest green leather leather journals stamped with the night blooms design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

A black leather leather journals stamped with the night blooms design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A catchall tray is a cabinet of curiosities with the lid off, so we engraved it a proper museum plate -- nine specimens of the upper valley, from the acorn to the pendulum, each ruled into its own cell beneath the collection's name.

The black-and-white the cabinet stamp plate from The Calistoga Cabinet leather collection of Calistoga, California.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

A arizona leather catchall tray stamped with the the cabinet design from The Calistoga Cabinet collection of Calistoga, California.

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.