The Long Weekend – a Minneapolis leather collection, Volume I-D

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

A September study – Volume I-D.

This is The Long Weekend – five original stamps for Minneapolis, the city where the road up north begins. We pressed them into leather made to age along with the habit, from the luggage tags that ride the drive to the journal that stays at the cabin.

First, a keychain for a first set of keys – a graduate's apartment or a first car. We set an eight-pointed star over a single pine and let its longest ray reach down to the treetop, with STAR OF THE NORTH arched above – the state motto, pointing home.

Black-and-white leather stamp artwork reading STAR OF THE NORTH above an eight-pointed star pointing to a pine tree, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

The black fob carries the star in gold.

A black leather keychain stamped in gold with the STAR OF THE NORTH design, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

A poppy-red leather keychain blind-stamped with the STAR OF THE NORTH design, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

Next, the toiletry bag. We drew a wagon with a canoe lashed to the roof and put the plain truth of cabin Fridays underneath: PACKED SINCE THURSDAY. It presses into the corner of a honeyed russet bag stacked over deep brown – a birthday answer for the one who loads the car before anyone else is awake.

Black-and-white leather stamp artwork showing a station wagon carrying a canoe above the words PACKED SINCE THURSDAY, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

Honeyed-russet and deep-brown leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with PACKED SINCE THURSDAY and a canoe-topped wagon, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

Then a catchall for the door. A wreath of pines circles one old key, and the house rule arcs inside: KEYS STAY HERE UNTIL SUNDAY. We pressed it at full size into the golden tan tray, so the rule reads from across the room.

Black-and-white circular leather stamp artwork reading KEYS STAY HERE UNTIL SUNDAY around a key and pine wreath, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray stamped with KEYS STAY HERE UNTIL SUNDAY around a key and ring of pines, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

Then the cabin's own book. We stood an A-frame and its pine on the shoreline and let the still water write them again upside down, with CABIN LOG beneath – a guest book or a fix-it record, whichever the place needs. One journal comes in deep pine green, the other in the warm gray of birchbark and shore stone.

Black-and-white leather stamp artwork of an A-frame cabin and pine reflected in water above the words CABIN LOG, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

A forest-green leather journal stamped with the CABIN LOG cabin-and-reflection design, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

A country-gray leather journal stamped with the CABIN LOG cabin-and-reflection design, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

And finally, the one we liked the most. A loon needs a long run of open water to get airborne, so we drew one mid-run – feet still slapping the lake, wake trailing behind – under the words HARD TO LEAVE. Anyone who has locked a cabin door on a Sunday afternoon knows exactly what the bird is going through.

It looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white leather stamp artwork reading HARD TO LEAVE beside a common loon running across the water to take flight, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

A blueberry leather luggage tag blind-stamped lengthwise with HARD TO LEAVE and a loon taking off from the lake, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag blind-stamped lengthwise with HARD TO LEAVE and a loon taking off from the lake, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

A caramel leather luggage tag blind-stamped lengthwise with HARD TO LEAVE and a loon taking off from the lake, from The Long Weekend collection for Minneapolis.

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.