The Crooked Creek Collection – a leather study from Harrison, Arkansas

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of stamping studies on real-world places.

An August study.

Harrison, Arkansas was laid out along Crooked Creek in 1869 and now calls itself the Gateway City to the Buffalo National River. We spent August pressing the town into leather – five stamps, and together they are the Crooked Creek Collection.

First, the luggage tags. The Buffalo was America's first national river, and Harrison is where you turn off the highway for it – so we drew the gate: two limestone bluffs standing open, the water running through.

The GATEWAY TO THE BUFFALO limestone-and-river stamp design from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

The trio wears pale sea-blue for the river and a warm limestone gray. The black tag carries the design in gold.

Three leather luggage tags stamped GATEWAY TO THE BUFFALO, from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

Next, the toiletry bags. Elk country begins near Ponca, and the herds are grazing long before the first alarm goes off. UP BEFORE THE ELK – a bull bugling at first light, for the bag that opens at dawn.

The UP BEFORE THE ELK dawn stamp design from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

The stack runs honeyed russet over dark espresso. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with a bugling elk at first light, from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

Then, the keychains. The town survey puts Harrison at 1,359 feet, and a key ring only ever has one real job – so the fob reads HOME AT 1359 FT beneath an Ozark ridgeline. One in deep pine green, one in golden tan.

The HOME AT 1359 FT Ozark benchmark stamp design from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

Two leather keychains stamped HOME AT 1359 FT, from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

After that, the catchall tray. All summer Harrison hangs flower baskets over the courthouse square, and a cut flower gets about a week. We gave the tray a coneflower with a longer warranty – THIS ONE KEEPS.

The THIS ONE KEEPS coneflower stamp design from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

Looks absolutely gorgeous pressed into the golden tan.

An arizona leather catchall tray stamped with a coneflower and THIS ONE KEEPS, from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Crooked Creek loops all over Boone County and still finds Lake Harrison every time – which is also how a good journal works. RUNS CROOKED, RUNS TRUE, in the lower corner of the cover.

The RUNS CROOKED RUNS TRUE creek stamp design from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

It looks genuinely beautiful – one journal in navy, one in warm tan.

Two leather journals stamped RUNS CROOKED RUNS TRUE, from the Crooked Creek Collection of Harrison, Arkansas.

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.