The Same Rock Collection – leather studies of Lead, South Dakota
From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of original leather stamping studies.
A September study. Volume II.
Lead, South Dakota stands on the ledge of ore it was named for – a lead, in the old miners' vocabulary. This is the Same Rock Collection, five original designs pressed into leather, luggage tags through journals. The gold and the science both came out of this one rock; so did the name.
First, the word. We set the town's name out like a specimen label from a mineral cabinet – LEAD large, and beneath it the old meaning: AN OLD WORD FOR A VEIN OF ORE.
The black tag carries the label in gold foil – the right metal for this particular vein. The golden tan and navy tags take a blind press, the tan for the ore and the navy for the blue workwear that went down with every shift.
Next, the numbers. Under the grass the workings drop past 4850 – the level where instruments caught particles born in the core of the sun – and keep going toward eight thousand feet. We cut the whole descent into a pocket depth gauge, with a star at the science and the town's name holding the surface.
On the black fob the gauge is pressed in gold. The warm mid-gray fob takes it blind – a scale cut straight into rock.
Then, freight. Provisions went underground in stenciled wooden crates, and a toiletry bag runs the same errand in miniature – so we stamped its corner like a crate: DAILY SUPPLIES, LEAD S DAK.
One bag in warm tan and one in chestnut – crate timber, light and dark. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.
Then, the fact this collection is named for. From 1967 to 1994, the same rock worked two trades at once – miners bringing up gold while instruments deep in the workings read particles arriving from the core of the sun. We drew it as one cross section – an ore car riding above the seam, and under everything the sun.
Pressed at generous size into the golden tan tray, it looks genuinely beautiful.
And finally, the anniversary. The digging began in 1876; this year makes a hundred and fifty. The journal cover carries the whole span as strata – 1876 at the crown, 2026 at the foot, one line still boring down through every layer. The ore stopped coming up in 2001; the town kept digging, and STILL DIGGING felt like the honest motto for a book of blank pages.
One journal in the pine green that darkens these hills, one in deep espresso – the shade the tunnels keep. Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.
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 anything from the Same Rock Collection made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.
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