The Turning Sky – a zodiac collection in stamped leather

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies. Volume I-A.

A September study.

The Turning Sky is a small leather collection built on the twelve signs of the zodiac and the sky they turn through. Five designs, five everyday objects; each began as a black-and-white die drawn for the press.

First, the wheel itself. We set all twelve glyphs in a ring around an old engraver's sun – Aries through Pisces, the whole year in one turn. It presses at generous size into the base of the golden tan catchall tray, where rings and keys land at the end of the day, under the entire zodiac at once.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white twelve-sign zodiac wheel and radiant sun die artwork for The Turning Sky leather collection.

An Arizona-tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the twelve-sign wheel from The Turning Sky collection.

Next, the journals. A moon fills in five phases – new to full – above the word BECOMING. A journal fills the same way, a page each night. The stamp sits in the lower corner of the front panel, on deep navy and on pale greige.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white five-phase moon and BECOMING die artwork for The Turning Sky leather collection.

A blueberry-blue leather journal blind-stamped with five moon phases and BECOMING.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-stamped with five moon phases and BECOMING.

Then the luggage tags. Among the constellations there is a real arrow – Sagitta – so we drew an arrow of stars, joined star to star by fine lines, flying lengthwise along the tag over the phrase WRITTEN IN THE STARS. It presses blind into deep wine and into navy.

The black tag carries the arrow in gold foil.

Black-and-white seven-star arrow and WRITTEN IN THE STARS die artwork for The Turning Sky leather collection.

A black leather luggage tag gold-stamped with the seven-star arrow and WRITTEN IN THE STARS.

A sangria leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the seven-star arrow and WRITTEN IN THE STARS.

A blueberry-blue leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the seven-star arrow and WRITTEN IN THE STARS.

Then the keychains. A crescent moon holds a star the way a keyring holds keys, over the word KEEPER – the talisman that keeps you, riding the ring that keeps everything else. It presses blind into a dusty lavender fob.

The black fob carries the keeper in gold foil.

Keychains with the little keeper stamp look just awesome too.

Black-and-white crescent, eight-pointed star, and KEEPER die artwork for The Turning Sky leather collection.

A black leather keychain gold-stamped with the KEEPER crescent-and-star design.

A lilac leather keychain blind-stamped with the KEEPER crescent-and-star design.

And finally, the toiletry bag. Venus is the morning star and the evening star – the same light opens the day and closes it, and a toiletry kit is the first thing reached for and the last thing zipped. We set an eight-pointed star between a rising sun and a crescent moon, over the words MORNING AND EVENING, in the lower corner of a navy bag over deep brown.

Black-and-white sun, Venus, crescent, and MORNING AND EVENING die artwork for The Turning Sky leather collection.

Blueberry and dark-espresso leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with MORNING AND EVENING celestial marks.

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.