The Wool & Water Collection – a leather stamping study from Guild, New Hampshire
From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies.
An August study.
Guild, New Hampshire is a village on the Sugar River, and for over a century the river's falling water turned its wool into cloth. We designed five stamps for the people who still work in wool, pressed them into leather from luggage tags to journals, and called the set the Wool & Water Collection.
First, the name of the place. Guild says its name with a long I, so we drew the I a head taller than its neighbors – the word now carries its own pronunciation.
It looks genuinely beautiful – in navy, and in honeyed russet.
Next, the maker's creed. We drew a hook pulling one wool loop up through the backing and arched ONE LOOP AT A TIME over it – every rug ever finished was finished exactly this way.
Keychains in deep wine and pale greige – the colors of a wool basket.
Then, the power source. The Sugar River drops all the way through Guild, and the falling water once turned the looms – so we set a waterwheel in the current and arched SUGAR RIVER above it. Pressed into the corner of the toiletry bags, navy stacked on chestnut.
The tray carries the loom's grammar. WARP runs down, WEFT runs across, and the two words share their W the way two threads share a crossing. We pressed it at generous size into the golden tan tray, where a day's small hardware lands.
And finally, the lamb. A street in Guild is named for the Newport editor credited with the most famous lamb in American verse, and that fleece was white as snow – so we stamped everything except the fleece and let the leather stay bare where the wool goes. A journal is where verses get written down.
Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather – deep green and warm tan.
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.
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