Peg and Awl: Tablet

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• 
  February 16, 2023

  This Of a Kind launch was meant for last year, in Winter, but we got tangled in the decision we shared in our last newsletter (if you missed it, you can read here!) And so here we are, ending winter with an abundance of scrumptious old blacks and blues!
  
  Excitingly, in the time between meant-to and are, we’ve added some fun extras, including gorgeous Handmade Ink by A Rural Pen, Tintype Journals, and Alternative Sketchbook Tins!

  

  

  Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures within treasures. Every discovery holds a bit of the past, and the story and marks accumulated. They are a joy to put together and harken back to the best part of our origin story – the gathering of old things and the reimagining and reworking of them into once again useful objects.

  We have a handful of One of a Kind Custom* Pouch Sizes – this one is made with an 1800s Quilt Block!	We have a selection of Hand-Bound Tintype Journals in this collection – read more below!

  *Custom Pouch Size: We have 7 pouch sizes in our Peg and Awl catalog, but when we find a quilt block or scrap that is perfect as is, we make the pouch match its size!

  
  Our Wintery 2023 Of a Kind Collection!
  
  

  This Of a Kind launch was meant for last year, in Winter, but we got tangled in the decision we shared in our last newsletter (if you missed it, you can read here!) And so here we are, ending winter with an abundance of scrumptious old blacks and blues!
  
  Excitingly, in the time between meant-to and are, we’ve added some fun extras, including gorgeous Handmade Ink by A Rural Pen, Tintype Journals, and Alternative Sketchbook Tins!
  
  Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, quilt blocks, prints from the 1800s, feedsacks, and 1930s dressmakers cotton, along with some of our favourite scraps of scraps, with which we made a variety of littles. Some of the bags are made with our classic waxed canvas colours, and others with our Autumn colours — so many hoorahs!

  

  Here we are, ending winter with an abundance of wintry blues when all I feel is colour!

  A Rural Pen Handmade Ink!
  View in our Shop

  This ink is handmade, bottled, labeled, and waxed by alchemist Thos. Little of A Rural Pen. I was so enamored with the ink, and when I learned I couldn’t purchase a bottle directly, I decided to order some for all of us! The ink is made using a historic formula of extracting and dissolving the iron from guns with Sumac, instead of Galls. The ink goes on as a pale, smoky, cool grey, and quickly oxidizes on the page; the shade and depth varies depending on the paper used.

  This ink is for dip pens only – it cannot be used in fountain pens.

  Note: The ink is hand bottled, labeled, and waxed. Some bottles have a little leakage through the wax. When you use the ink, it will also get on the label so please accept this possibility, as we do not consider it a defect.

  Handmade Ink by A Rural Pen	Playing with the ink for the first time!

  Testing this magical ink – drawing paper (Left) and watercolor paper (Right)!	Inky left-handed Witch Hazel – watch my drawing video, here!

    

  Crossbody Bags made with Vintage Textiles!
  View in Our Shop 

  Standard Tote with Feedsack: Wylie	Mini Tote with 1800s Homespun: Edward

  Small Hunter with 1800s Quilt Block: Astrid	Heavy homespun linen blanket transformed into a Hunter Satchel lined with Truffle.

  I found two full bolts of this textile from the 1800s long ago. The width was 36" which was the width of the looms then. I've been savouring it, and we may have some small bits for bookbinding linens, but mostly, this is its last hoorah!	Hunter Satchels are my favourite hiking and flea market bag — carry only what you need!

  
  

  Pouches made with Vintage Textiles!
  View in Our Shop

  We’ve been finding so many gorgeous textiles at Flea Markets lately and have to tame the scale of each collection. We’ve transformed the gathering of patchwork and scrap into useful pouches, giving them new life.
  
  These pouches are perfect for art supplies, make-up, and anything else that needs organizing in your bag or on your desk — they’re hard to be without and you can never have too many!

  This feedsack was washed again and again until its printing faded to just a subtle reminder of days past. 

  Custom Pouch with 1800s Quilt Block: Mackenzie	Essentials Pouch with 1800s Dressmaker’s Fabric: Dolly

  We reserved some Elderberry before it sold out for this collection!	Scribbler Pouch with 1800s Antique Cotton: Sinclair

  Keeper Pouch with 1930s Dressmaker’s Fabric: Delia	Spender Pouch with Early 1900s Scrap Bundle: William

  Hand Stitched Custom Quilt Block – perfect for small things, fits inside our bags’ pockets!	Saver Pouch with Early 1900s Scrap Bundle: Joanna

   

  Edgeworth Tin: Alternative Sketchbook!
  View in Our Shop

  We have 6 blue tins in stock – they are nearly 100 years old and have varying degrees of rust and marks of past lives. Each tin comes with 100 sheets of Strathmore drawing paper in celebration of the upcoming 100 Day Project, which begins on February 22.

  My Non-Dominant Hand 100 Day Project from Last Year
  
  We don’t have many of these tins, and we are always looking for more, but in the meantime – grab your favourite tin, cut your favourite paper and voila! Here is our short video on cutting your own paper.

  Tintype Journals!
  View in Our Shop

  Read More About Tin Types!
  
  

  One of a kind tintype journals are back! The cover is black vegetable-tanned leather, and is paired with some of our favourite antique black and white textiles from the 1800s. Beneath oval frames we’ve set enduring portraits of nameless faces newly christened. The insides, as always, are made of hand-stitched Strathmore drawing paper and work wonderfully with a variety of drawing and writing materials.

  

  Standard Tintype Journal: Noam	Standard Tintype Journal: Gertrude

  Companion Tintype Journal: Shirley + Jasper	Companion Tintype Journal: Ethel + Timmy

  
  The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend! 
  

  Read the story that celebrates the discovery of some of the treasures in this collection at a Flea Market in the thick of the summer heat!
  

  Sneak Peak into our Wintery 2023 Of a Kind Collection

  Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures wit...

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• 
  January 10, 2023

  We’ve watched all of the YouTube reviews of our Sendak Artist Roll (thank you!) and have made our own video to answer some questions and share our experience!

  We are grateful for all the wonderful Sendak reviews, and for sharing videos and spreading the word!

  

  We’ve watched all of the YouTube reviews of our Sendak Artist Roll (thank you!) and have made our own video to answer some questions and share our experience!

  We are grateful for all the wonderful Sendak reviews, and for sharing videos and spreading the word!

  Video Transcript

  Hello, everyone! I wanted to give you a little walkthrough of our Sendak Artist Roll. I've been seeing a lot of other people's video walkthroughs and it's been inspiring me to do the same.

  Introduction

  Here is my very well-loved and very well-used Sendak. This is the first "right one" that we made. We went through a lot of trial and error to get to this, so I want to show you what it has the potential to hold.

  

  
  Supplies in my Sendak: Scissors and Glue (0:30)

  I always have glue with me because I do a lot of messy collage work, so I love to glue things and I also have scissors for that same reason. I use small scissors if I'm traveling anywhere where I'm getting on a plane, and I use big scissors if I'm just traveling in a car. Both sizes fit into the Sendak nicely. I tend to put the big scissors on an end, in one of the smaller pockets. The smaller scissors fit anywhere, it just depends what else I have in my Sendak.

  The Pencil Pockets (0:55)

  One of the most common requests that we get and one of the things that people tend to comment on is that these pencil pockets are too small for fountain pens. While that's true of this Kaweco cap (the bottom fits, the top doesn't), this vintage technical pen is pretty chunky, and I put it in there all the time. I carry two or three. You can see how it kind of draws the Sendak together, so ultimately there's going to be a little bit less room in other pockets. It's making other things more tight, but really, it's fine.

  When the Sendak is new, the waxed canvas might be tight to even just fit a pencil, but as you use it, it breaks in and loosens up, and then it doesn't loosen any further – that's where it's going to stay. Once you use it more, you can easily fit two standard pencils or paintbrushes into each slot, so it's really not a too small slot once you break it in. 

  

  
  Supplies in my Sendak: Pencils (1:35)

  I love these beginners pencils that have really soft lead. I love making marks that are a little less particular than, for example, when I'm using my mechanical pencils (which I also love).

  So, these are some of the supplies that I carry every day. I think where the variation comes in, is in which pencils I want, which softness levels, or if I want a water soluble pencil. I'll put the pencils together in this end pocket. It's important to note that the Blackwing fits in. This Blackwing pencil was sharpened once and it makes it a perfect fit. This one was never sharpened, and the eraser is worn down a bit, so it's just above that folding point (the Sendak measures 7.75″ tall at the folding point). The taller one will obviously still work, but I know these are awesome pencils that a lot of people have, so I wanted to show you that.

  Supplies in my Sendak: Pens (2:15)

  Another thing that I carry are dippy pens. I will put pen nibs into a tin. I love using antique tins to store pen nibs, and in this case, a kneaded eraser. These tins are great for little art supplies, and I just put them into the zipper pocket.

  The Zipper Pocket (2:30)

  In addition to the vintage tin, I put another regular eraser. When pencils get too small for the pencil pockets, then I'll put them in the zipper pocket. I also have some extra lead for my mechanical pencils, a pencil sharpener, and I often have a whitewash in there as well. You can fit a lot in this zipper pocket.

  I like to not overstuff my Sendak so that it folds nicely. I really like it to fold up rather than to roll up, which happens when it is very stuffed.

  The Interior Pockets (2:55)

  We have 16 pen and pencil slots in the front, and then we have four pockets behind those. So these four are varying widths – you could see the width of the smaller ones that I use for scissors or pencils, which measure 2.5″ wide. The larger two measure 4.25″ wide. I use these two bigger pockets for sketchbooks.

  We make these Landscape Orra Sketchbooks in our shop. We designed them to fit into both this Sendak and the Mini Sendak. They can also serve as a tool protector if you need it, for example, if I was putting in a dippy pen whose nib needed protecting, or paint brushes, that would be a great tool protector. We also sell acrylic tool protectors separately if you don't want to carry a Sketchbook or Painter's Palette.

  The Iris Painter's Palette is another product that we make. It is for squeezing in tube paints, watercolors, or in this case, making your own paint and filling up these wells with homemade paint. This was made to fit in both the Classic Sendak and the Mini Sendak as well, in these large interior pockets.

  

  I'm going to put my palette here, and these pens in the back here with some small scissors. I want to have another paint brush and then whatever colors I want to bring. Sometimes I get really organized and other times I just put stuff in. You don't have to be crazy overthinking this. It's just really supposed to hold what you need – what you need for the day, what you need for a week, what you need for a trip.

  I also often have a bookbinding needle held in the top flap here, and I'll put some bookbinding thread here in the zipper pocket, in case I want to make a book. I'll also prepare by having folded paper here in these exterior pockets.

  The Exterior Pockets (4:30)

  These two outside pockets otherwise are great for random sized sketchbooks like this – this would have been one of those random ones that I made. I also love this tin. It's for 15 neocolors, but I've had it for years and I move pastels or other more delicate stuff into here that I don't want to crumble in the pen pockets. It's a really nice fit for these back pockets.

  

  This is our Orra Portrait Sketchbook, which we made to fit into the Classic Sendak. We have three sizes of these sketchbooks – the Portrait, the Large Portrait, and the Landscape.

  Closing the Sendak (5:00)

  So when I fold up the Sendak – this one is pretty full with everything that I just stuffed into the outside pockets – but when I fold it up, I will hold everything down and pull down this top flap so that it folds nicely. Then I roll in the sides, starting with the zipper pocket, so that all the parts of my Sendak are where they should be. Then I just synch it closed with the leather strap and buckle.

  I'd say this is pretty full – I have stuff in every pocket. In some instances, I have more than one thing in a pocket. There's still a lot of room on this leather strap. So that's it! This will fit nicely into my bag, and I've got what I need for a long time.

  

  The Buckle Closure

  Another question that we've had is about this buckle. This comes from a gun sling from maybe the forties, and it was intended to function exactly as we use it. We found that it just really holds the Sendak together nicely, and of course, we love incorporating old bits wherever we can, into whatever we make.

  So there you have it! My Sendak, lovingly worn in and full of life.

  

  Mentioned in this video:

  
  From Our Shop:

  • The Classic Sendak Artist Roll
  • The Sendak Mini Artist Roll
  • Iris Painter’s Palette
  • Landscape Orra Sketchbook
  • Portrait Orra Sketchbook
  • Acrylic Tool Protects (Out of Stock)

  From Other Shops:

  • Blackwing Pencils
  • Kaweco Pens
  • Neocolor
  • Vintage art supplies (dippy Pens, technical pens, tins) are from flea markets and sometimes eBay!

  Related Blog Posts:

  • Press: Sarah Dyer Reviews the Peg and Awl Sendak on Jackson’s Art Supplies Blog

  The Sendak Artist Roll: A Walkthrough Video

  We’ve watched all of the YouTube reviews of our Sendak Artist Roll (thank you...

  Read The Post