Water & Main – a Warren, Rhode Island leather collection

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

An August study.

We spent August pressing Warren, Rhode Island into leather – luggage tags and journals, keychains and dopp kits, and one golden catchall tray. The set is called Water & Main, after the two streets that carry the town.

First, we drew the ride every visitor already knows – Providence at one end, Newport at the other – and set the star where a local would put it. Navy and warm red take a blind press; the black tag carries the star in gold.

The black and white Between stamp design for the Water & Main leather collection of Warren, Rhode Island.

Black, navy and red leather luggage tags stamped with the Between route design from Water & Main in Warren, Rhode Island.

Next, the quahog. A shell writes its age in rings, so we lettered WARREN RHODE ISLAND into one of them and let the ring carry on – pressed into a stack of warm gray over chestnut.

The black and white quahog growth-ring stamp design for the Water & Main leather collection of Warren, Rhode Island.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Gray and chestnut leather toiletry bags stamped with a quahog growth ring from Water & Main in Warren, Rhode Island.

Then the East Bay Bike Path, which was a railroad first. We put a bicycle on the old line and kept the sleepers under its wheels – keychains in deep green and warm tan.

The black and white East Bay rail-line bicycle stamp design for the Water & Main leather collection of Warren, Rhode Island.

Green and caramel leather keychains stamped with the East Bay Bike Path design from Water & Main in Warren, Rhode Island.

A catchall tray is where an evening turns out its pockets, so we cut it a ticket – ADMIT ONE, good this evening only – and pressed it deep into golden tan.

The black and white Admit One ticket stamp design for the Water & Main leather collection of Warren, Rhode Island.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with the Admit One ticket from Water & Main in Warren, Rhode Island.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Shipwrights say a vessel is laid down the day her keel meets the blocks, and a journal works the same way. A hull in frame lines above the words LAID DOWN – navy for the bay, chestnut for the shipyard timber.

The black and white Laid Down shipwright stamp design for the Water & Main leather collection of Warren, Rhode Island.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Navy and chestnut leather journals stamped with shipwright frame lines from Water & Main in Warren, Rhode Island.

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.