Where the Lakes Meet – a leather collection from the Straits of Mackinac

From the Practice Log – Volume I-A, an independent stamping study.

A September study.

The Straits of Mackinac pinch two Great Lakes into one narrow channel, and the north woods walk right down to the water on shelves of pale limestone. We designed a small leather collection from that meeting – stone and water, root and bone.

First, we let the two lakes introduce themselves. Michigan's waves roll in from the west and Huron's from the east, and at the center the two lead crests hook into each other like clasped hands – WHERE MICHIGAN MEETS HURON. The band runs lengthwise along the luggage tags: one in deep cedar green for the woods, one in pale sea-blue for the open water, and the third in pale warm greige, the color of the limestone shore.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

Black-and-white stamp artwork of meeting lake waves above WHERE MICHIGAN MEETS HURON for the Where the Lakes Meet leather collection.

A deep cedar-green leather luggage tag blind-debossed with meeting waves and WHERE MICHIGAN MEETS HURON.

A pale sea-blue leather luggage tag blind-debossed with meeting waves and WHERE MICHIGAN MEETS HURON.

A pale warm greige leather luggage tag blind-debossed with meeting waves and WHERE MICHIGAN MEETS HURON.

Next, Arch Rock. We drew it the way the old engravers drew the Straits – the arch standing 146 feet over the water, with the strait itself showing through the opening – and pressed it at full size into the golden tan of a catchall tray, where keys and beach stones will land on it every evening.

Black-and-white engraved stamp artwork of Arch Rock above ARCH ROCK and 146 FEET ABOVE THE STRAITS.

A golden-tan leather catchall tray blind-debossed with Arch Rock and the Straits visible through its opening.

Then the cedars. Around the Straits the soil can run out inches above the bedrock, so the trees fork their roots over bare limestone and hold on. We put one such cedar in the corner of the journal covers, roots gripped into the stone, over two short lines – THIN SOIL, DEEP ROOTS. The journals come in deep green and in pale warm greige; the same press sits in the corner of the toiletry-bag stack, warm stone gray over chestnut.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

Black-and-white stamp artwork of a windswept cedar rooted in limestone above THIN SOIL DEEP ROOTS.

A deep green leather journal blind-debossed with a cedar rooted in limestone and THIN SOIL DEEP ROOTS.

A pale warm greige leather journal blind-debossed with a cedar rooted in limestone and THIN SOIL DEEP ROOTS.

Warm stone-gray and chestnut leather toiletry bags blind-debossed with a cedar rooted in limestone and THIN SOIL DEEP ROOTS.

And finally, the oldest thing on the beach. The limestone under the Straits set in the Devonian, long before the Great Lakes were even a rumor of ice, and in 2024 a fossilized fin-spine turned up in it on the Lake Huron shore. We set its ribbed blade on the keychains above four words that happen to be true – OLDER THAN THE LAKES. One fob wears chestnut, close to the rust-brown of the bone; the other wears pale warm greige, the stone that held it.

Keychains with the fin-spine stamp look just awesome too.

Black-and-white stamp artwork of a ribbed Devonian fossil blade above OLDER THAN THE LAKES.

A chestnut leather keychain blind-debossed with a ribbed fossil blade and OLDER THAN THE LAKES.

A pale warm greige leather keychain blind-debossed with a ribbed fossil blade and OLDER THAN THE LAKES.

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.