The Half Mile – a stamped leather collection for historic Hartselle, Alabama

From the Practice Log – an ongoing series of original stamped-leather design studies.

A September study – Volume I-A.

The Half Mile is a small leather collection for Hartselle, Alabama. In 1870 the young village stood half a mile from the new railroad, on ground too steep for a station stop – so the whole town picked up and moved to meet the train. Everything below begins with that walk.

First, the walk itself. We drew it as a map – a knot of village rooftops, a dotted half mile, twin rails waiting at the end – under the words WE MOVED TO MEET THE TRAIN. A journal is where the next move gets written down, so that is where we put it.

Black die artwork for The Half Mile WE MOVED TO MEET THE TRAIN leather journal stamp inspired by Hartselle, Alabama

It looks genuinely beautiful on the deep wine journal, the color of depot brick, and on the pale sea-blue one, the faded mint of the old storefronts.

Sangria leather journal with The Half Mile town-to-railroad design blind-stamped on the cover

Turquoise leather journal with The Half Mile town-to-railroad design blind-stamped on the cover

Next, the building the whole town walked toward. We drew the early-twentieth-century passenger depot in profile – the long body under its broad hipped roof, brackets tucked under the eaves – and ran it down the length of the luggage tags with HARTSELLE ALABAMA beneath the platform line.

Black die artwork of the historic Hartselle depot for The Half Mile leather luggage tag stamp

On the black tag, the depot carries the gold.

Black leather luggage tag with the Hartselle depot design stamped in gold

Then in deep wine, the brick itself, and in classic luggage caramel. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

Sangria leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the Hartselle depot design

Caramel leather luggage tag blind-stamped with the Hartselle depot design

Then the baggage cart that still stands on the depot platform. We set it rolling under the words CARRIED HOME – because that is what a gift is for.

Black die artwork of a depot baggage cart with CARRIED HOME lettering for The Half Mile leather keychain stamp

Keychains with the cart look just awesome – one in golden tan, one in deep espresso.

Arizona tan leather keychain blind-stamped with The Half Mile CARRIED HOME baggage cart

Dark espresso leather keychain blind-stamped with The Half Mile CARRIED HOME baggage cart

A toiletry bag is the freight house of a suitcase – it takes the heavy, useful cargo so the rest can travel light. So we gave it the freight house on Railroad Street, the long wing under its loading canopy, over the honest promise HEAVY GOODS HANDLED DAILY.

Black die artwork of Hartselle's railroad freight house with HEAVY GOODS HANDLED DAILY lettering

It sits quietly in the lower corner, in honeyed russet and in deep espresso.

Indian Summer leather toiletry bag blind-stamped with The Half Mile freight-house design

Dark espresso leather toiletry bag blind-stamped with The Half Mile freight-house design

And finally, MEET ME AT THE DEPOT. We wrapped the phrase in a ring around one of the platform's globe lamps and pressed it into the middle of a golden tan catchall tray – the place where everything in your pockets meets at the end of the day.

Black circular die artwork with a depot lamp and MEET ME AT THE DEPOT lettering for The Half Mile tray stamp

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather.

Arizona tan leather catchall tray blind-stamped with The Half Mile depot-lamp design

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.