The Desert Mint – a St. George, Utah leather stamping collection

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

An August study.

The Desert Mint is a small leather collection rooted in St. George, Utah, struck across keychains, luggage tags, journals, toiletry bags and a catchall tray.

First, we invented a mint. THE DESERT MINT never existed, so we struck its only token – a sun coming up behind a stepped butte, ST GEORGE UTAH around the rim – and pressed it on the keychain fobs, where a coin belongs. The black fob carries the token in gold, with a pale desert greige beside it.

The Desert Mint coin artwork for the St. George, Utah leather collection.

Black and pale gray leather keychains stamped with The Desert Mint coin from the St. George, Utah collection.

Next, the cottonwoods along the Virgin River, which turn to money every fall. We drew one leaf as a coin, its toothed edge milled like a mint's, above the words GOLD EVERY OCTOBER. The tag trio runs golden tan and honeyed russet, and the black tag takes the leaf in gold foil.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Gold Every October cottonwood artwork for The Desert Mint leather collection of St. George, Utah.

Three leather luggage tags stamped with Gold Every October from The Desert Mint collection of St. George, Utah.

Then we balanced the books. A sun in one pan and a stone in the other, the beam dead level – FULL WEIGHT, the assayer's verdict on this desert. The toiletry stack wears the same geology, honeyed russet over deep espresso, red rock over old lava.

Full Weight assayer balance artwork for The Desert Mint leather collection of St. George, Utah.

Warm amber and dark espresso leather toiletry bags stamped Full Weight for The Desert Mint collection of St. George, Utah.

Then the catchall tray, which plays the gold pan. EMPTY YOUR POCKETS around the top of the swirl, COLOR IN THE PAN around the bottom; whatever the day carried settles in the middle, which is exactly what a catchall is for. Looks great stamped deep into the golden tan.

Color in the Pan artwork for The Desert Mint leather collection of St. George, Utah.

An arizona leather catchall tray stamped Color in the Pan for The Desert Mint collection of St. George, Utah.

And finally, the one we liked the most. The cliffs above town keep their accounts in strata, so the journal's corner carries a small block of banded stone ruled like entries – THE OLDEST LEDGER. Yours continues inside. The duo comes in warm stone gray and deep espresso.

The Oldest Ledger strata artwork for The Desert Mint leather collection of St. George, Utah.

Warm gray and dark espresso leather journals stamped The Oldest Ledger for The Desert Mint collection of St. George, Utah.

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 these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.