The Green Thread – a leather wildlife collection for Tubac and the Santa Cruz River
Volume I-A – an independent study. A September study.
The Santa Cruz River threads green through the dry country at Tubac – cottonwood and willow over running water, a corridor traveled by the birds of half a continent. We drew the animals that live along it and stamped them into leather. The collection is called The Green Thread.
First, we set the greater roadrunner at full sprint down the luggage tag, the word TUBAC trailing on a broken line behind it – out here, the town is simply the last thing it passed.
It looks genuinely beautiful. The black tag carries the gold; golden tan and deep pine green press blind.
Next, we hovered a broad-billed hummingbird on the keychain fob, bill aimed straight up at the rivet the way it noses up to a bloom, with SANTA CRUZ arced beneath the notched tail.
Looks great when stamped onto the leather – one fob in pale sea-blue, the other in deep navy, and the bird wears both colors in life.
Then we walked a covey of Gambel's quail across the journal's lower corner – an adult leading its chicks in single file over the words ONE AFTER ANOTHER, which is also how a journal gets written.
Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather – once in warm tan, once in pale greige, the quail's own soft gray.
For the catchall tray we drew the river whole – a bending ribbon of water between cottonwood and willow, with SANTA CRUZ RIVER lettered along the current. Everything in the valley collects by the water; everything in a pocket collects here.
In golden tan, the whole valley on a desk.
And finally, we gave the javelina to the toiletry bag, face on – of all the neighbors along the river, the one most in need of it. This is the collection's only wordless stamp; the snout does the talking.
Deep espresso over chestnut, the browns of the mesquite bosque it forages.
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.