The Valley Line – a North Conway leather collection

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From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of leather stamping studies.

A August study.

The Valley Line is a small leather collection rooted in North Conway, New Hampshire. Five designs drawn from the village and the mountains around it, pressed into luggage tags and journals, keychains and a catchall tray.

First, the baggage check. The railroad reached the village in 1874 and its station still anchors the center; we drew the old trunk ticket again and wrote THE VALLEY across it, the name locals actually use. It runs lengthwise along the luggage tags – spruce green and honeyed russet, joined by a black third. The black tag carries the ticket in gold.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The Valley Ticket stamp design from The Valley Line leather collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Forest green, black and Indian Summer leather luggage tags stamped with Valley Ticket, from The Valley Line collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Next, the snow train. Winter crowds once rode the rails up from the cities to ski these hills; we drew the locomotive with its smoke curling back into a single snowflake, and set it in the corner of the toiletry bags – the one piece of luggage that still makes the trip. A warm stone gray stacked on dark espresso.

The Snow Train stamp design from The Valley Line leather collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Country gray and dark espresso leather dopp kits stamped with Snow Train, from The Valley Line collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Then First Bridge, where the village meets the Saco. We arched the words over the arch of the bridge, the river running beneath. One fob in river navy, one in caramel.

Keychains with the First Bridge stamp look just awesome.

The First Bridge stamp design from The Valley Line leather collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Blueberry and caramel leather keychains stamped with First Bridge, from The Valley Line collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Then the drawer label. Old shop drawers wore small pasted labels with swashed ampersands, and a catchall tray does the same daily work, so we lettered ODDS & ENDS inside one and set NORTH CONWAY small beneath, pressed deep into the golden tan tray.

The Odds and Ends stamp design from The Valley Line leather collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with Odds and Ends, from The Valley Line collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

And finally, the one we liked the most. The painters of the White Mountain school set their easels around this village long before the skiers came; we drew Kearsarge North inside a carved frame, the fire tower still on its summit, and hung PAINTED FROM LIFE on the plaque below – a journal is where a view gets painted from life. One cover in deep pine green, one in pale sand.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The Painted from Life stamp design from The Valley Line leather collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Forest green and gray sand leather journals stamped with Painted from Life, from The Valley Line collection of North Conway, New Hampshire.

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 in the Valley and you'd like these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.