The Kept Things × Leatherius Woodman – a leather gift stamping study

From the Practice Log – Volume I-D of an ongoing series of original leather stamping studies.

A September study.

The Kept Things – five designs about giving. Every good gift has a half that disappears by evening and a half that stays in a pocket for years; this collection is for the half that stays.

First, we drew one road that leaves a little house and returns to the same door, with GO FAR arched over the journey and COME HOME waiting beneath it – the tag a parent presses into a graduate's hand.

A black-and-white GO FAR COME HOME house-and-road die study for The Kept Things leather luggage tags.

The black tag carries the design in gold; blush and caramel take a blind press.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with the GO FAR COME HOME return-road design from The Kept Things.

A blush leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the GO FAR COME HOME return-road design from The Kept Things.

A caramel leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the GO FAR COME HOME return-road design from The Kept Things.

Next, we set a forget-me-not inside the words THINKING OF YOU. The flower says what the phrase says, and it rides on the one object a hand finds a dozen times a day.

A black-and-white THINKING OF YOU forget-me-not die study for The Kept Things leather keychains.

Keychains with the little flower look just lovely – in fuchsia and in pale sea-blue.

A fuchsia leather keychain blind-stamped with a THINKING OF YOU forget-me-not from The Kept Things.

A pale sea-blue leather keychain blind-stamped with a THINKING OF YOU forget-me-not from The Kept Things.

Then, for someone packing a bag of their own for the first time, we set a half-risen sun on the horizon over FIRST OF MANY MORNINGS, and pressed it low in the corner of the caramel and dark espresso stack.

A black-and-white FIRST OF MANY MORNINGS sunrise die study for The Kept Things leather dopp kits.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Caramel and dark espresso leather dopp kits blind-stamped with the FIRST OF MANY MORNINGS sunrise from The Kept Things.

After that, the tray. Pockets empty here at the end of the day, so we drew a key and a ring still mid-fall above THE DAY LANDS HERE – the real keys land exactly where the stamped ones are about to.

A black-and-white THE DAY LANDS HERE falling-key die study for The Kept Things leather catchall tray.

An arizona tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the falling key and ring from The Kept Things.

And finally, the journal, for the one who keeps everybody's small emergencies handled. We put a single safety pin under YOU THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING, so the thing everyone already says to them is stamped where they will see it daily – in sangria, a deep wine, and in pale gray sand.

A black-and-white YOU THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING safety-pin die study for The Kept Things leather journals.

A sangria leather journal blind-stamped with YOU THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING and a safety pin from The Kept Things.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-stamped with YOU THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING and a safety pin from The Kept Things.

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.