Wool & Water – a leather stamping collection for Guild, New Hampshire

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

An August study – Volume I-C.

Wool & Water is a small leather collection for Guild, New Hampshire – the village where the Sugar River once turned wool into a living. Five original designs for the making life, pressed into leather, from luggage tags to the tray where the hooks land at day's end.

First, the design the collection is named for. We drew one wheel with two lives – mill paddles on the left, standing in the ruled water of the Sugar River, and spinning spokes on the right, paying a strand of yarn off the rim. WOOL & WATER is the whole story of Guild in three words.

The black-and-white Wool and Water wheel stamp artwork from the Wool and Water leather collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

We pressed it on deep wine and on navy, and once more on a pale wool greige.

A deep wine leather luggage tag stamped with the Wool and Water wheel design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

A navy leather luggage tag stamped with the Wool and Water wheel design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

A pale warm greige leather luggage tag stamped with the Wool and Water wheel design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

Next, the keychains. A hook mid-pull, one loop of wool standing taller than the finished row beneath it – ONE MORE LOOP is the truest sentence in rug hooking, and the whole craft fits inside it.

The black-and-white One More Loop rug-hook stamp artwork from the Wool and Water leather collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A warm tan leather keychain stamped with the One More Loop rug-hook design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

A deep wine leather keychain stamped with the One More Loop rug-hook design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

Then we hung a whole hank over the kettle and let the old idiom do the work – DYED IN THE WOOL, for the people it actually describes. It rides small in the corner of a two-bag stack, honeyed russet over deep espresso, as glad to carry tools as travel.

The black-and-white Dyed in the Wool kettle stamp artwork from the Wool and Water leather collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

Honeyed russet and deep espresso leather toiletry bags stamped with the Dyed in the Wool design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

For the tray, we coiled a braided rug begun at the center, the way every braided rug is begun, and set ROUND BY ROUND in the middle of it. The braid's tail tucks in at the edge, and the golden tan base holds whatever the day's work leaves behind.

The black-and-white Round by Round braided-rug stamp artwork from the Wool and Water leather collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped with the Round by Round braided-rug design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

And finally, the one for the journals, where patterns get drawn before any wool is cut. A sheep stopped mid-rug, hooked loops up front and bare pattern line behind – EVERY RUG BEGINS AS A LINE.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The black-and-white Every Rug Begins as a Line sheep stamp artwork from the Wool and Water leather collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

A pale warm greige leather journal stamped with the Every Rug Begins as a Line sheep design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

A deep green leather journal stamped with the Every Rug Begins as a Line sheep design from the Wool and Water collection of Guild, New Hampshire.

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.