Where the Blue Ridge Begins – a Gainesville, Georgia leather collection

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

A September study – Volume II.

Gainesville, Georgia is the town where the Blue Ridge starts – flat lake country to the south, foothill woods and a shaded lily pond to the north. This September we pressed that geography into leather, luggage tags to journals, and called the collection Where the Blue Ridge Begins.

First, the die the collection is named for. One line crosses the stamp flat, the way the lake country lies, then gathers into foothills and climbs – WHERE THE BLUE RIDGE BEGINS, because Gainesville is where it does.

A black-and-white blue ridge begins die plate for the Where the Blue Ridge Begins leather collection of Gainesville, Georgia.

On the keychains it presses into navy, the color the ridge turns at a distance, and into the warm tan of the trail underfoot. It looks genuinely beautiful.

A blueberry leather keychains render stamped with the blue ridge begins design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

A caramel leather keychains render stamped with the blue ridge begins design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

Next, we drew the garden's low footbridge from its own photograph – the flat plank deck and knee-high rails, the boulder stream passing underneath – and put one small walker on it, stopped mid-span. EVERYONE STOPS IN THE MIDDLE, the die admits.

A black-and-white everyone stops die plate for the Where the Blue Ridge Begins leather collection of Gainesville, Georgia.

It runs lengthwise along the luggage tags, in bridge-timber warm tan and woodland deep green. The third tag borrows the warm gray of the stream stones. Looks great when stamped onto the leather.

A caramel leather luggage tags render stamped with the everyone stops design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

A forest green leather luggage tags render stamped with the everyone stops design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

A country gray leather luggage tags render stamped with the everyone stops design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

Then, the pond. On the die the forest stands upside down in the water, and one lily interrupts it – pointed petals in a star over the notched pad, a bud waiting alongside. SET IT DOWN arcs beneath, and the catchall tray takes the instruction literally: whatever lands on that water settles.

A black-and-white set it down die plate for the Where the Blue Ridge Begins leather collection of Gainesville, Georgia.

A arizona leather catchall trays render stamped with the set it down design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

The same stamp sits small in the corner of the toiletry bag, navy over deep espresso – pond water over forest shadow.

A blueberry dark espresso leather dopp kits render stamped with the set it down design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

And finally, the one we liked the most. In its Gainesville nursery the garden raises milkweed ten species strong, because milkweed is what monarch caterpillars eat. So the caterpillar rides a leaf near the bottom of the die and the monarch holds the air at the top, with the pods splitting open between them – FIRST THE MILKWEED, THEN THE MONARCHS. A journal keeps the same order of operations.

A black-and-white milkweed monarchs die plate for the Where the Blue Ridge Begins leather collection of Gainesville, Georgia.

Looks absolutely gorgeous when stamped onto the leather – once in monarch-wing warm amber, once in deep green.

A indian summer leather leather journals render stamped with the milkweed monarchs design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

A forest green leather leather journals render stamped with the milkweed monarchs design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

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.

P.S.

An alternate caramel leather luggage tags render with the everyone stops design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

An alternate forest green leather luggage tags render with the everyone stops design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.

An alternate country gray leather luggage tags render with the everyone stops design from Where the Blue Ridge Begins in Gainesville, Georgia.