The Long Run – a leather stamping study in long service and things worth keeping

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies on real-world logos.

A September study.

Volume I-C.

The Long Run is a small collection about long service – things that stay useful year after year, and the quiet satisfaction of keeping them that way. Three original designs, each pressed into leather that only gets handsomer with work.

First, we drew an old hand signal lantern with its light still burning, and set STILL IN SERVICE in an arc above it – praise an object can only earn by decades of work.

Black-and-white lantern die artwork with STILL IN SERVICE for leather stamping in The Long Run collection, Volume I-C.

The black luggage tag carries the design in gold foil, so the light reads as light.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with a lit lantern and STILL IN SERVICE from The Long Run collection.

We pressed the same lantern onto the navy keychain, and into the corner of the navy-over-deep-brown toiletry bags – a kit that expects to travel for years.

A blueberry leather keychain blind-stamped with a lit lantern and STILL IN SERVICE from The Long Run collection.

Blueberry and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with a lit lantern and STILL IN SERVICE from The Long Run collection.

Next, we planted a sprout inside a lightbulb and wired it in place of the filament – ALWAYS IN SEASON, for everything that keeps growing while the weather refuses to cooperate.

Black-and-white plant-filled lightbulb die artwork with ALWAYS IN SEASON for leather stamping in The Long Run collection, Volume I-C.

It went onto a deep green luggage tag, and onto a deep green journal – the one plot anyone tends all year.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

A forest-green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a plant-filled lightbulb and ALWAYS IN SEASON from The Long Run collection.

A forest-green leather journal blind-stamped with a plant-filled lightbulb and ALWAYS IN SEASON from The Long Run collection.

And finally, we drew a skeleton key over two plain words – WORTH KEEPING. The phrase fits whatever carries it, and whoever receives it.

Black-and-white skeleton-key die artwork with WORTH KEEPING for leather stamping in The Long Run collection, Volume I-C.

On the deep brown keychain, the key hangs beside the keys it describes.

A dark-espresso leather keychain blind-stamped with a skeleton key and WORTH KEEPING from The Long Run collection.

We centered it on the golden tan catchall tray, where the worth-keeping things land at the end of the day.

An Arizona-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with a skeleton key and WORTH KEEPING from The Long Run collection.

And it travels – on the golden tan luggage tag, and on the deep brown journal, where it quietly insists the notes inside qualify too.

An Arizona-tan leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a skeleton key and WORTH KEEPING from The Long Run collection.

A dark-espresso leather journal blind-stamped with a skeleton key and WORTH KEEPING from The Long Run collection.

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