The Warm Side of Winter – a leather collection from Stowe, Vermont

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

An August study. Volume I-A.

The Warm Side of Winter is a small leather collection rooted in Stowe, Vermont – five stamps for the hour when the day outside ends and the door shuts behind you. Luggage tags, journals and their kin, each pressed with one small piece of a mountain winter.

First, the sign every skier makes without thinking. We planted a pair of antique skis upright in a snowbank – tips leaning together, day over – and wrote LAST RUN beneath the drift.

The black-and-white LAST RUN stamp plate for The Warm Side of Winter leather collection from Stowe, Vermont.

Pressed into the corner of a toiletry bag, warm gray snow over old chestnut, it holds the whole evening in one stamp.

Country gray and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped LAST RUN for The Warm Side of Winter collection from Stowe, Vermont.

Next, the keychain – the thing already in your hand for the last hundred yards. We drew a small cabin with one window lit and snow coming down, and set ALMOST HOME under it.

The black-and-white ALMOST HOME stamp plate for The Warm Side of Winter leather collection from Stowe, Vermont.

The black fob carries the window light in gold. The honeyed russet one is blind debossed, warm as the window itself.

A black leather keychain with the gold ALMOST HOME cabin stamp from The Warm Side of Winter collection in Stowe, Vermont.

A honeyed russet leather keychain blind stamped ALMOST HOME for The Warm Side of Winter collection in Stowe, Vermont.

Then the catchall tray, because pockets get emptied the moment the door shuts. We ringed a fire in round hearthstones, sealed PULL UP A CHAIR around the top and closed the circle with STOWE VERMONT.

The black-and-white PULL UP A CHAIR hearth stamp plate for The Warm Side of Winter leather collection from Stowe, Vermont.

It looks genuinely beautiful on the golden tan.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped with a Stowe hearth seal for The Warm Side of Winter collection.

After that, the luggage tags. Stowe's five miles of rec path were paid for by neighbors who bought the path an inch at a time – so we drew it as a winding ruler crossing its arched bridge, and stamped SOLD BY THE INCH along the rise.

The black-and-white SOLD BY THE INCH path stamp plate for The Warm Side of Winter leather collection from Stowe, Vermont.

Run lengthwise along the tag, it reads like a stretch of the path itself.

A navy leather luggage tag stamped SOLD BY THE INCH for The Warm Side of Winter collection from Stowe, Vermont.

A forest green leather luggage tag stamped SOLD BY THE INCH for The Warm Side of Winter collection from Stowe, Vermont.

A caramel leather luggage tag stamped SOLD BY THE INCH for The Warm Side of Winter collection from Stowe, Vermont.

And finally, the journals. Across the meadow from the busy path, Stowe keeps a second one in grass, reserved for walkers. That felt like the truest sign for a journal – so we drew the path wandering off thin into the distance and wrote THE QUIET PATH, WALKERS ONLY.

The black-and-white THE QUIET PATH stamp plate for The Warm Side of Winter leather collection from Stowe, Vermont.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A pale warm leather journal stamped THE QUIET PATH for The Warm Side of Winter collection from Stowe, Vermont.

A forest green leather journal stamped THE QUIET PATH for The Warm Side of Winter collection from Stowe, Vermont.

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.