Springs in the Dale – a Springdale leather collection, Volume II

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

An August study.

Springs in the Dale – a leather collection for Springdale, Arkansas. Volume II, after The White Way.

First, we went to the quilt fair, on paper at least. There is a traditional pieced block called Arkansas Traveler – four points wheeling around a center – and a luggage tag is the best-traveled thing a person owns. We cut the block as a stamp, seams and all, and ran it on three different leathers, because a quilt never comes from one bolt.

It looks genuinely beautiful.

The black-and-white Arkansas Traveler quilt-block stamp plate from the Springs in the Dale Volume II leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Three leather luggage tags stamped with the Arkansas Traveler quilt block from the Springs in the Dale Volume II collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Next, Spring Creek, the water the whole town is named for. A spring boils up in rings, so we drew the rings breaking outward and set SPRING CREEK beneath them, then pressed it low in the corner of the wash bags – the one product that meets water every morning. The stack runs navy over chestnut, creek over creekbed.

The black-and-white Spring Creek water-ring stamp plate from the Springs in the Dale Volume II leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Two leather toiletry bags stamped with Spring Creek rings from the Springs in the Dale Volume II collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Then we dressed a millstone. The Springdale Burr Mills stood on Spring Creek, and the same building answered to Little Red Mill, so the furrowed face carries one name around the top and the other around the bottom. A catchall tray takes whatever the day grinds out of your pockets; this one wears the stone in golden tan.

Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

The black-and-white Springdale Burr Mills millstone stamp plate from the Springs in the Dale Volume II leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

An Arizona leather catchall tray stamped with the Burr Mills millstone from the Springs in the Dale Volume II collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Then the Shiloh Meeting Hall, on Spring Creek since 1871. A Masonic lodge kept its evenings under that belfry, and so did the Women's Civic Club – the building was the town's standing invitation. We drew its gable front, belfry and all, wrote MEET ME AT SHILOH beneath, and put it on the thing that opens doors. One fob in pale greige for the clapboard, one in true black, where the blind press reads as a quiet shadow relief.

The black-and-white Shiloh Meeting Hall stamp plate from the Springs in the Dale Volume II leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Two leather keychains stamped with Shiloh Meeting Hall from the Springs in the Dale Volume II collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

And finally, the name itself. In 1872 the town had to let go of Shiloh – another Arkansas post office already had it – and the new name came from the springs in the dale. We lettered the phrase over the dale it describes, a spring rising at the low point, and pressed it into the corner of the journals, where new words go. One in deep pine green, one in warm tan.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

The black-and-white Springs in the Dale namesake stamp plate from the Volume II leather collection of Springdale, Arkansas.

Two leather journals stamped with the Springs in the Dale namesake design from the Volume II 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 any of these made real, or anything here changed – say hello through our contact page.