Worth Keeping – a leather gift collection for the people who keep things

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

A September study.

Worth Keeping is a small collection for the people who keep things – the friend who writes names on the backs of photographs, the neighbor who just became an old house's next keeper. Four original stamps, each one a gift that explains itself in a single breath.

First, for the traveler who comes home with a better story than the souvenir. We drew a suitcase with the fore-edge of a book – pages showing at the side, a ribbon bookmark slipping out from under the lid – and set PACKED WITH STORIES beside it.

Black-and-white die artwork of a book-edged suitcase and PACKED WITH STORIES for the Worth Keeping leather gift collection, Volume I-D.

It runs lengthwise along the tags. We pressed it into deep wine and navy, and once more into warm tan.

A sangria leather luggage tag blind-debossed with PACKED WITH STORIES for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

A blueberry leather luggage tag blind-debossed with PACKED WITH STORIES for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

A caramel leather luggage tag blind-debossed with PACKED WITH STORIES for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

On the toiletry bags – warm tan over chestnut – the same mark sits small in the lower corner, quiet as a maker's stamp.

A caramel and sicilian-brown leather dopp-kit stack blind-debossed with PACKED WITH STORIES for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

Next, we cut the bit of an old key into the shape of a little house, and set THE NEXT KEEPER beneath it. A housewarming gift that says the place was looked after before you, and is in good hands again.

Black-and-white die artwork of a house-bit key and THE NEXT KEEPER for the Worth Keeping leather gift collection, Volume I-D.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather – here in deep brown and in warm tan.

A dark-espresso leather keychain blind-debossed with THE NEXT KEEPER for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

A caramel leather keychain blind-debossed with THE NEXT KEEPER for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

Then, the evening ritual. We ringed BACK WHERE IT BELONGS around a single key lying at rest – already home – and pressed it into the golden tan tray that holds everything else.

Black-and-white circular key die artwork reading BACK WHERE IT BELONGS for the Worth Keeping leather gift collection, Volume I-D.

An arizona leather catchall tray blind-debossed with BACK WHERE IT BELONGS for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

And finally, the one we liked the most. The back of a photograph, held in four album corners. Two lines ruled and waiting, with NAMES ON THE BACK beneath them – for the person in the family who makes sure nobody ever has to guess.

Black-and-white photographic-back die artwork reading NAMES ON THE BACK for the Worth Keeping leather gift collection, Volume I-D.

It looks genuinely beautiful – in deep wine, and in pale warm greige the color of an old album page.

A sangria leather journal blind-debossed with NAMES ON THE BACK for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

A gray-sand leather journal blind-debossed with NAMES ON THE BACK for the Worth Keeping collection, Volume I-D.

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.