The Lapidary Line – a leather stamping study of crystals and cut stones

From the Practice Log – Waterfall Volume I-A.

A September study.

The Lapidary Line – a small collection of original stamps about stones and the people who choose them, pressed into leather. It begins with a strand of beads and ends inside a geode.

First, the strand. We drew nine beads on one cord, no two alike, running the whole length of the luggage tag – and under them the only way a strand ever gets made: ONE BY ONE. It travels in dusty lavender and in pale rose. The true black tag carries the beads in gold.

The ONE BY ONE bead-strand stamp artwork from The Lapidary Line, Waterfall Volume I-A.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A black leather luggage tag stamped in gold with a varied bead strand and ONE BY ONE, from The Lapidary Line.

A lilac leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a varied bead strand and ONE BY ONE, from The Lapidary Line.

A blush leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a varied bead strand and ONE BY ONE, from The Lapidary Line.

Next, we drew a stone in profile for the keychains – crown above the girdle, pavilion tapering to a point below, every facet a plane with a job – and wrote the reason for all that geometry underneath: CUT TO CATCH THE LIGHT. On the true black fob the stamp goes down in gold, and the gold does the catching. The second fob is pale sea-blue.

The CUT TO CATCH THE LIGHT faceted-stone stamp artwork from The Lapidary Line, Waterfall Volume I-A.

A black leather keychain stamped in gold with a faceted stone and CUT TO CATCH THE LIGHT, from The Lapidary Line.

A pale sea-blue leather keychain blind-stamped with a faceted stone and CUT TO CATCH THE LIGHT, from The Lapidary Line.

Then, onto the stacked toiletry bags, a quartz cluster – six points of different heights leaning out of one rough base, the way quartz actually grows – with GROWN TOGETHER beneath. We pressed it blind into the corner of a navy bag resting on a deep brown one: stone over dark matrix.

The GROWN TOGETHER quartz-cluster stamp artwork from The Lapidary Line, Waterfall Volume I-A.

Blueberry-blue and dark espresso leather dopp kits blind-stamped with a quartz cluster and GROWN TOGETHER, from The Lapidary Line.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A geode cut in half – rough rind, a smooth band, then crystals pointing in at an open center – and the words sit exactly where the crystals point: THE GOOD PART IS INSIDE. On the golden tan tray it takes the base at full size; a geode is a hollow that holds treasure, and now the tray is too.

The THE GOOD PART IS INSIDE geode stamp artwork from The Lapidary Line, Waterfall Volume I-A.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

An Arizona-brown leather catchall tray blind-stamped with an open geode and THE GOOD PART IS INSIDE, from The Lapidary Line.

On the journals the stamp keeps to its corner and the sentence comes true a second time – the good part is the pages. One journal in dusty lavender, one in deep brown, the rough shell of the pair.

A lilac leather journal blind-stamped with an open geode and THE GOOD PART IS INSIDE, from The Lapidary Line.

A dark espresso leather journal blind-stamped with an open geode and THE GOOD PART IS INSIDE, from The Lapidary Line.

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.