The Mint in the Air – a Lyons, New York leather stamping study

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

An August study.

Lyons, New York was once the peppermint-oil capital of the world, and canal boatmen said they could smell the town before they saw it. We pressed that story into leather and named the collection THE MINT IN THE AIR.

First, the line that named the collection. We drew the air itself – a long canal breeze shedding peppermint leaves over a packet boat – and set THE MINT IN THE AIR above it, running lengthwise along the luggage tags. Two of the leathers come straight from the town, a deep peppermint green and a pale sea-blue for the canal water.

The third tag is black, and carries the design in gold.

The Mint in the Air stamp design from the namesake leather collection of Lyons, New York.

Forest green, pale canal blue and black leather luggage tags stamped with The Mint in the Air, from the Lyons, New York collection.

Next, the keychains. The Erie Canal steps past downtown at Lock 27, and a lock riding on a ring of keys seemed like the right kind of joke – the miter gates close their chevron under the number, with the pooled water waiting below. Blind deboss on warm stone gray.

On the black fob, the gates go gold. The keychains look just awesome.

The Lock 27 stamp design from The Mint in the Air leather collection of Lyons, New York.

Black and country gray leather keychains stamped with Lock 27, from The Mint in the Air collection of Lyons, New York.

Then, the village after dark. We cut a row of old Water Street facades in solid black and left every window white, so the buildings read as lit from inside – EVERY WINDOW LIT. It sits small in the corner of the toiletry bags, village-night navy stacked over dark espresso.

The Every Window Lit stamp design from The Mint in the Air leather collection of Lyons, New York.

Navy and dark brown leather toiletry bags stamped Every Window Lit, from The Mint in the Air collection of Lyons, New York.

Before it was Lyons, the settlement was called The Forks, for the two waters that meet downtown and leave as the Clyde. A catchall tray is a household's own confluence – everything ends up in it – so THE FORKS went onto the golden tan tray, two rivers joining into one.

The Forks stamp design from The Mint in the Air leather collection of Lyons, New York.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped The Forks, from The Mint in the Air collection of Lyons, New York.

And finally, the one we like the most. The old peppermint works distilled whole fields down to drops of oil and shipped them out in cobalt and amber glass. A journal does the same thing to a day. So the cover carries a single drop holding a sprig of mint, with ONE DROP AT A TIME beneath – pressed on two journals, one navy and one golden tan, the two colors the oil left town in.

It looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The One Drop at a Time stamp design from The Mint in the Air leather collection of Lyons, New York.

Navy and warm tan leather journals stamped One Drop at a Time, from The Mint in the Air collection of Lyons, New York.

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're the Lyons shop these belong to and you'd like them made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.