Springs in the Dale × Leatherius Woodman – a leather collection for Springdale, Arkansas

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

An August study.

Springdale, Arkansas, is named for the springs in its dale – and a town that keeps its own history this well deserves to carry some of it in leather. We cut a small collection for it and called it Springs in the Dale.

First, the name. Arkansas already had a Shiloh when this town went looking for a post office, so it renamed itself for the springs in its dale, and in 1878 the name stuck. We arched SPRINGS IN THE DALE over two hills and let the spring rise between them in rings, with the year underneath.

It looks genuinely beautiful. The tags come in golden tan and deep green, with a true black third. The black tag carries the design in gold.

The black and white Wellspring die from the Springs in the Dale leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Golden tan, deep green, and black leather luggage tags stamped with the Wellspring design from the Springs in the Dale collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

The same spring settles into the golden tan catchall tray at a generous size – a dale for whatever lands in it at the end of the day.

A golden tan leather catchall tray stamped with the Wellspring design from the Springs in the Dale collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Next, the strawberry. In spring, berry trucks and buyers once filled Emma Avenue, and whole harvests left town by rail. We drew a fruit-crate label for it – EMMA AVENUE over one proud berry – and pressed it onto keychains in warm red and pale greige.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The black and white Emma Avenue strawberry die from the Springs in the Dale leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Warm red and pale greige leather keychains stamped with the Emma Avenue strawberry design from the Springs in the Dale collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Then, Spring Creek. Downtown buried its creek for decades, and when the town finally opened it back up to daylight, a flooding problem became a park. So on this die the water breaks out of a brick arch and runs free. It sits in the corner of the toiletry bags – navy over deep brown, water over riverbed.

The black and white Spring Creek die from the Springs in the Dale leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Navy and deep brown leather toiletry bags stamped with the Spring Creek design from the Springs in the Dale collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

And finally, the one we liked the most. Before it was Springdale, the town was Shiloh – and then the name got edited. The journal cover carries SHILOH struck through with one clean rule and SPRINGDALE beneath it in full caps: the best line-edit in town history, on the front of the book where the next ones get written down. One journal in true black, one in pale greige.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The black and white Formerly Shiloh die from the Springs in the Dale leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Black and pale greige leather journals stamped with the Formerly Shiloh design from the Springs in the Dale collection of Springdale, 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.