CROSS CITY – a Corinth, Mississippi railroad leather collection – Waterfall Volume I-A

CROSS CITY – a leather collection for Corinth, Mississippi. Waterfall Volume I-A.

A September study.

Corinth, Mississippi exists because two railroads crossed there. The town was laid out in 1854 around a junction in what had been empty country, and its first name was Cross City. The crossover still sits in its 1850s place, the trains still pass, and this collection borrows that first name.

First, the crossing itself. We laid the two lines down the way they ran – Memphis to Charleston across, Mobile to the Ohio up and down – and set CORINTH in the ring where they meet. A compass rose made of track.

Black-and-white CROSS CITY rail crossroads die artwork for Corinth, Mississippi, ready for stamping into leather.

On black, the crossing goes down in gold – brass, the railroad's own metal.

A black leather luggage tag with a gold rail crossroads stamp from the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

A black leather keychain with a gold rail crossroads stamp from the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

And centered on the golden tan catchall tray at full size. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A golden tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with the rail crossroads from the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

Next, the depot the crossing built. Its floor plan is a V, one long side greeting each line, so we drew it inside the wedge of its own two tracks and wrote the plain truth underneath: THE TRAINS STILL PASS.

Black-and-white Corinth depot and active tracks die artwork for the CROSS CITY leather collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

On a luggage tag in the deep green of the depot's window trim. It looks genuinely beautiful.

A deep green leather luggage tag blind-stamped with Corinth's depot for the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

The toiletry bags stack warm mid-gray over chestnut – pale stucco over a brick wainscot, the depot's own elevation.

Warm gray and chestnut leather toiletry bags blind-stamped with Corinth's depot for the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

Then the red caboose beside the depot, the one everybody climbs aboard for a photograph. We drew it broadside, cupola up, and lettered its side with the only word it needs – CORINTH.

Black-and-white cupola caboose die artwork for the CROSS CITY leather collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

On warm red leather, the caboose rides its own color.

A warm red leather luggage tag blind-stamped with a cupola caboose for the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

Keychains in that same warm red look just awesome too.

A warm red leather keychain blind-stamped with a cupola caboose for the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

And finally, the journals. From this one diamond the rails reached the Ohio and the Gulf, the Mississippi Valley and the Atlantic – so we drew the compass the tracks made, four arms of rail and tie with the far waters named at the tips. A journal opens the same way, pointed somewhere.

It looks genuinely beautiful – in deep green and in honeyed russet.

Black-and-white rail compass die artwork naming four horizons for the CROSS CITY leather collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

A deep green leather journal blind-stamped with the rail compass from the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

A honeyed russet leather journal blind-stamped with the rail compass from the CROSS CITY collection of Corinth, Mississippi.

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.