Ten Years of the Sendak!

It is hard to believe that an object can change lives, but the Sendak Artist Roll definitely changed ours. It's been ten years of the Sendak! The idea began in 2016, when Peg and Awl was six years old.

We were making lots of bags, jewelry, and treasures for the home made from reclaimed wood. The Sendak Artist Roll came to us as a surprise and pivot after I went to a workshop in Spain and got a taste of making art again, and discovered I needed something that made moving around with art supplies easy.

I looked around online but couldn’t find anything that held everything I wanted: art supplies, tools, notebooks, and all the little things that might otherwise get lost.

So began the play.

DISCOVER TREASURES

We started with the classic and we designed it for our family to use! It was often open as a centerpiece at a restaurant, outside, or on the floor somewhere.
We eventually each got our own:)

Make Your Travel Painting Kit

SHOP STUDIO COLLECTION

Load ’er up!
Paints &tc., Graphite, Scissors, Washi Tape, Brushes, Pencils, Pens, Sketchbooks, Glue Stick, Paper Towel, Small Things for Pouch, Colored Pencils

Sendak Sizes and Variations

SHOP SENDAKS

Helga in all the Classic Colours

All Sizes!

Nutshell

Coming Soon!

It’s a-coming! Our biggest ever Of a Kind Collection celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Sendak Artist Roll with Art Supplies and Materials and New Treasures!

So, So Many Delightful Awtumnal Tones!

Art Supplies!

Substack and YouTube

We’ve been making a lot more for YouTube and Substack!

I have been working on a series of articles on Substack about journaling — starting with the smallest and simplest, and I will work my way up to the largest and most complex journals! I am gathering filled journals and giving glimpses of the inside, the outside, and the process. I'd love to hear from you ON SUBSTACK. What would you like to see or learrn more about?

Everywhere Astonishments

I went for an unexpected late, late Nightwalk with Pearl and her aching tummy. Even an unwanted Nightwalk is wondrous. We lingered by the creek and listened to the harmonious Hoots and Toots of the Great Horned Owl and my Pearl.

The Bartram Cherry Collection:
From Storm to Saw to Studio

Eight years ago, a storm brought down a cherry tree in the oldest surviving botanical garden in North America – Bartram’s Garden – and they invited us to mill it and give it a new life!

As the wood air-dried from tree into lumber, we, too, changed. We moved out of Philadelphia. We turned our focus from home goods to artist supplies, and began making more art ourselves.

Now these pieces are ready to be set free, to transform your space and your work. A storm felled it. Time dried it. We shaped it.

This collection is steeped in history! Bartram’s Garden is a historic staple of Philadelphia and was the homestead of John Bartram, who traveled up and down the American colonies in the 18th century gathering botanical specimens and seeds for his own garden and for the King of England. 'Tis a charming place to visit!

SHOP BARTRAM TREASURES

The (old) crew!

Silas turning a cherry bowl on the lathe.
Happy Birthday!

Truly One Of a Kind

Introducing the only Steinbeck Table and Joad Chair set made from the Bartram Cherry Tree. Unique to this set, we rounded the legs and tapered the bottom edges of the table top. We love the results and we will definitely be making more with other wood species. Enjoy this truly one of a kind wonder!

SHOP CHERRY MAGIC

A perfect desk for the studio.

Cherry Scout With Black Leather

SHOP DRAMA SCOUT

The Scout Plein Air Box comes with 2 drawers, 8 empty paint tubes, 4 gessoboards, 2 glass jars with leather holsters, 1 leather brush holder, 2 gold binder clips and 1 corian palette.

Wood Bowls Made by Silas

Silas worked at the lathe this summer and turned a lot of bowls and as the stacks of finished pieces grew he honed his skills. For the culminating event he turned some of the Bartram Cherry, creating a limited batch of beautiful bowls.

SHOP SILAS’S SKILLZ

Stacks of buttery bowls

Studio Treasures

Introducing some of our favorite studio essentials now in Bartram Cherry! It was so fun to be a part of the tree’s evolution from milling it to working with the wood in our shop and creating treasures ready for a new home.

SHOP STUDIO CLASSICS

The Epic Desk Caddy is one of Walter’s studio essentials

The First Cut

Coming Soon

We are working on our biggest Of a Kind collection ever, which is all art-focused to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Sendak! We will announce the date and time in a newsletter soon!

Find Us On YouTube and Substack

Everywhere Astonishments

Found this painting by Jackie Doucette on Substack. The palette, endlessness, and sweetness are incredible. Always digging through photographs and seeing old photos of my littles, warm and snuggly; I miss these days. Grateful to relive through Ashley and her wild littles every week!

Cozy Chilly Nightwalk Season!

The cozy season is upon us. The windows are open and the quilts are piled high. Oh, and a storm is coming. Here is to hoping no more trees fall. We’ve had enough of the falling trees this year! Now, for a very seasonal colour palette...

DISCOVER TREASURES

An unusually tidy desk

Egg Yolk Sendak!

When You Know, You Know!

Nighwalks, Morning Walks, Middle-of-the-Day Walks... All Transformative!

I was walking a much-needed Night Walk and randomly chose a Poetry Unbound conversation about translation, which felt synchronistic, as all things do when walking. I was enchanted and scribbling as I walked. But I didnt take note of how crooked I was, or that there was a planet at all. And my foot slowly scraped along the curb, and I found myself fallen, in the dewy grass, thrilled to be alive. Such is the magic of a Nightwalk.

SHOP WALKING RING

Lots of Solvitur Ambulando Rings

Coming Soon!

It’s a-coming! Our biggest ever Of a Kind Collection celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Sendak Artist Roll with Art Supplies and Materials and New Treasures! Sign up for our newsletter to be notified when they are released!

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

The Colours!

Substack and YouTube

We’ve been making a lot more for YouTube and Substack!

We have more process to share, along with the church transformation, if all goes well. Let us know you are enjoying our YouTube videos by subscribing to our channel!

I am working on a new ‘series’ or something on Substack—digging through the photographic archives and the never-ending pile of tucked-away books in my studio to share different shapes and uses—so far, the simplest handbound books!

Have a look, share your thoughts and wishes for this!

Still to come: Shape Books, Leather Tomes, Books made from Old Things...

Everywhere Astonishments

I went to a Flea Market yesterday with Katie, in search of some more treasure for the upcoming Of a Kind Batch — and found a lot for the next. The day was glorious, though my bag was not full. We went to The Hive in Kutztown afterwards, which is always a delight, and ended up in a long conversation with Katie and Sara (Hive Owner) about the state of flea markets, the economy, small business, Wendell Berry, farming, opossums, and more. I am grateful for such tangled enchantments and delightful food!

Podcasts I've been loving:
Poetry Unbound in conversation with Karen Leeder
The New Yorker Poetry:
Richard Blanco reads Elizabeth Bishop
Peter Balakin reads Theodore Roethke
and The New Yorker Fiction
Nicole Krauss reads Bruno Shulz

Researching for naming the Artist Tote above! Always digging through favourite artists and writers, and especially searching for those who did both!

A Week in the Oregon Wild

Walter went on his annual week-long hike with The Doctors and one of the doctors’ two sons. One of the sons, Krishna, had a film camera and no phone. He took some of the photographs, and Walter took the others.

***Photograph by @krishna.treinen
The ecology and geology varied dramatically, from lush, Scottish-Highland-esque landscapes to harsh, rugged granite peaks, with viridian alpine lakes scattered throughout.

An Encounter with the Other

On my recent backpacking adventure in the mountains of eastern Oregon, I carried my Scout Plein Air box – my nonnegotiable extra weight. I started each day painting. And each morning the mountains offered their gift. And I squeezed it out of my paint tubes, and I mixed it on my palette, and I held it in my brush, and I painted it on my canvas.

Whenever we go outdoors, we invite the wild in. With every step further up and further in, excitement builds. Anything can happen: a mountain goat sighting, a wander down the wrong path, connections with friends, being overwhelmed by the beauty of Nature, an encounter with The Other.

–Walter

Tenderfoot Pass

The crew!

Journals

Meanwhile, at home, I navigate through piles of things made. This week I began to sort through my notebooks and journals by type of bookbinding, then size. I started with french link and single signature books. The simplest and most abundant. More on Substack!

–Margaux

SHOP JOURNAL COLLECTION

Studio, Studio.

Orra Portrait Notebooks

Coming Soon

We are working on our biggest Of a Kind collection ever, which is all art-focused to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Sendak! We will announce the date and time in a newsletter soon!

YouTube and Substack

We’ve been making a lot more for YouTube and Substack!

We have more process to share, along with the church transformation, if all goes well. Let us know you are enjoying our YouTube videos by subscribing to our channel!

Everywhere Astonishments

Going to a new gym which is along the railroad tracks to the church. Cannot wait to walk the tracks more regularly!

The Other Side

And here we are, on the other side, with three places set at the dinner table.

I’ve begun a new and simple project: 100 days of flea market finds, using my nutshell, a pouch, and a large Anselm book.

A Sending Off

And away he goes!

Søren is settled into SCAD and already loving life in his new and haunted city of Savannah. It is a city we often visited on road trips. A city he's loved since his first fright on a hearse ghost tour.

Søren will still be with us at Peg and Awl, editing and making videos. We long to see and share what newness goes straight into making!

Our last stop at Santee

I exist!

Nestlings

The Nestlings are part of our Scrapplings Collection and made from cut-offs from the Sendak Artist Rolls. They are now available in assorted warms and assorted cools!

SHOP NESTLINGS

Ever a Messy Desker

Coming Soon

We have so, so much in the works. The ten-year anniversary of the Sendak is coming up, and we are working on a massive Of a Kind Art Collection for the celebrating, which includes a lot of Sendaks:)

YouTube and Substack

We’ve been making a lot more for YouTube and Substack!

We have more process to share, along with the church transformation, if all goes well. Let us know you are enjoying our YouTube videos by subscribing to our channel!

Watch our newest video on filling the Nutshell with unusual tools for Italy!

Everywhere Astonishments

Awl Things Small

We love small things!

We are (hopefully!) about to embark on some very big things again, so until then, we thought we’d share some of our smallest treasures: Things Made from scraps of other Things Made, treasures that fit into other treasures, and objects that are simply small.

Solvitur Ambulando Ring
All of our jewelry is made from reclaimed gold, silver, and bronze.

Scraplings Trio made from Sendak Cut-Offs

Our Smallest Bags

Pipit Totes

Small Hunter Satchel and (some Treasures that stop being small)

Substack and YouTube

We’ve been making a lot more for YouTube and Substack!

We have more process to share, along with the church transformation, if all goes well. Let us know you are enjoying our YouTube videos by subscribing to our channel!

Everywhere Astonishments

I’m Not Afraid on Netflix was one of the best shows I’ve seen in a long time. (tbf I don’t watch much.) It was so, so beautiful and compelling, and horrifying. And these kids were astonishing!

The Land I’ve Neglected.

Every year, for eight years, for longer, I’ve moved through the plants and the soil on this land, and the movement planted seeds in me. August comes, and I feel defeated, but this year is worse. I’ve found Bindweed I’ve never seen before. I’ve been sliced by new grasses. My plants are all so tall, and so droopy, from all of the happy invasives, from all of the water, from all of the sun.

It is grey and beautiful today. I tore at the bindweed. At the carpet of another. At the stiltgrass. I so long for the church and its small batch of porous earth. And the biggening of that – but only so much for there is very little of it. I write from the church steps. Traffic passes and it is loud. And I know I am of this world.

DISCOVER TREASURES

Sendak Nutshell in Truffle

Field Trip

Walter and I have been wanting to cast bigger things, and so finally visited a local business to start the conversation. The building is one of my favourites in the area. The land was purchased by the current owner’s grandfather in the 1940s, when our new church was being built. I love the tangle of time. Some photographs for now.

The Blackening...

Substack and YouTube

We’ve been making a lot more for YouTube and Substack lately. Søren has joined Ashley and me in the video-making and will keep at it while he’s at SCAD!

We have more process to share, along with the church transformation, if all goes well. Let us know you are enjoying our YouTube videos by subscribing to our channel!

Your Art Using OUr Treasures

More videos, more art — keep sharing!

Photograph by @annmarie.artworks

Everywhere Ashtonishments

Things found in hidden spaces (base board)
gregory Allan Isakov
church progress and soren video?

Gregory Alan Isakov last night. This summer's music has been exquisite.

Church, Farm & Family

Oh, life takes us on miraculous twists and turns. The biggening and the smallening. The wobbling, the breaking. There is a church in West Chester that is sitting empty and we hope to change that soon! Our offer was accepted, now we trudge through zoning and inspection.

On tenterhooks over here!

We have lots and lots of ideas and will wait to share them when all is clear. For now, more peeks into this spectacular little sweetie in the borough of West Chester. It is filled with windows, but very empty of pews and treasure, sniff.

I am hoping the bells are in the belfry.

Many of us at Peg and Awl went to Ireland this summer, independent of each other’s plans! Natalie made a 6" Anselm journal in the car with this sweet alteration. I cannot wait to see it finished!

Substack and YouTube

We’ve been making a lot more for YouTube and Substack lately. Søren has joined Ashley and me in the video-making and will keep at it while he’s at SCAD!

We have more process to share, along with the church transformation, if all goes well. Let us know you are enjoying our YouTube videos by subscribing to our channel!

Everywhere Astonishments

Grandma and Renee’s Farm. More about this on Substack!

Last Week’s Newsletter!

Thank you for your warm reception of last weekend’s Weathered Blues Of a Kind collection, which sold out quickly!

PS: We are working on the next collection that will be available sometime in October.
PPS: We give two heads-ups in newsletters prior to the drop.

LAST WEEK’S NEWSLETTER

NEW Weathered Blues Collection

It has been a long time since we’ve enveloped ourselves in blue. When we started Peg and Awl, we were surrounded by ticking, indigo, and every shade of blue we could find. Then I grew weary and tucked them away for a while – a long while.

But blue has found its way back.

This collection is full of weathered blues and well-loved things: pouches made from orphaned quilt blocks, bags sewn from vintage textiles, lots and lots of tins, money bag Sendaks, and a Dream Journal Bundle for collecting whatever memories of the night may surface.

BROWSE THE COLLECTION SIGNUP TO BE NOTIFIED OF FUTURE OF A KINDS

Dream Journal Pouches!

We showed you how to make a dream journal, but many of you asked us to make them for you! So we decided to make some dream journal bundles: we bind the book, you add the dreams!

Graphite tin, eraser, and tortillon, cozily contained in an antique quilt block pouch with a 6x9 Dream Journal.

Weathered Blue Dream Journal Bundle

Sendaks, Bags and Pouches

Classic Sendak

Nutshell Pile

Tinned Sketchbooks + Other Art Supplies

Never enough tins! We’ve made more clean-cut watercolour sheets to tuck into vintage tins for your petite paintings, and more tinned bookbinding kits, including a new shape, and blue scrap bundles!

Treasures straight from the flea market

Collections Explained

If you’ve been following along with us for a while, you may have noticed that not all launches are the same – some products stay for years, some fly off the shelves, and others fall somewhere in between. Here are some explanations to distinguish between our various collection types.

Standard Collections: Everything in our standard collections will be ongoing until we decide to stop making them! They may include some vintage or antique materials, (ex. journal fabric lining) but these details will vary subtly to ensure their ongoingness.

Small Batch Collections: Limited batches incorporating vintage or antique materials where larger batches can be made, but are not infinite! The quantity ranges, but we aim for minimum of 100 in these collections.

Of a Kind Collections: Limited batches incorporating vintage or antique materials. Each object will be limited from 1–20 items depending upon our findings.

Substack + YouTube

It is Storming with Thunder

Happy 18-year anniversary to us!
Lives built on happenstance and spontaneity —

Walter and I made quick decisions when we met, including making two humans, travelling, getting married in Iceland, and starting Peg and Awl — all within two and a half years. And for one of those years, Walter was in Iraq with the military.

From my journal shortly after meeting him.

It is
“There are few things as comforting as well-linked humans.”

Then,
“It is true that I will always love thunderstorms. I will also love perfectly falling drops of music and certain walks.”

And,
“At the seashore again, a perfect day. We barely know each other (I say, I say) but we talk about faraway things. We decided to see the world by sea. We need to figure out how, now.”

The Guests Arrived, One by One

Our Journaling Tutorials, Gathered

Having one page left in my current journal, I must make a new one. I shall record.

Until then, we’ve gathered some of our favorite journaling how-tos – ways to begin, continue, collect, and keep your own pages. And if you aren’t inspired to make your own (or need one sooner), we always have some in our shop.

SHOP JOURNAL COLLECTION

New Blue Of a Kinds in the Works!

I over-blued myself in the early days of Peg and Awl and shelved it for a long time. Happy to have them back! This collection will drop next Saturday, August 8, at 10ish am EST!

Nutshells!

Back in Stock!

Scraplings, made from the leftovers from Sendaks, are back in stock along with the discontinued Helen Painter’s Palette as we’ve made a bunch for Jackson’s Art and have a few left over:)

Helen Painter’s Palette

Substack

Everywhere Astonishments