How to Adjust the Straps on The Franklin Maker’s Apron

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• 
  September 05, 2024

  We have been compiling the most frequently asked questions about waxed canvas.

   

  Truffle, Old Truffle (used!*), Hickory, Spice, Spice (lightly used) *our first Sendak! I’ve been using it since 2016

  All About Our Canvas and Colours!

  
  

  Waxed Canvas is a cotton canvas with wax embedded into the fibers. The wax darkens the colour of the textile, and makes it water resistant, giving it protection from the elements. It also shows marks of use, giving it the charming rugged look that we were drawn to fifteen years ago when we started Peg and Awl, and continue to love as we use it throughout the years!
  
  We have been compiling the most frequently asked questions about waxed canvas. We’ve included photographs to illustrate our answers, especially with colour!

  What Are The Marks On My Bag? Waxed canvas looks cozy and worn in from the start, because of the crazing – the creases and marks – that show up with use. Some colours are craze-ier than others! The Coal is the least mark prone, and shows the most dust and pet hair in the beginning, but with use, as with all the colours, the wax works its way into the cotton fibers, protecting it from the elements, including pet hair.

  Can You Make a Sendak In _____? We use two different canvas weights – one for the Sendak and another for our Bags. The Sendak canvas is thinner and lighter because of all of the layers and intricacies of the artist roll. Some limited colours are only available in one weight. This is why we may introduce a colour in Bags that we don’t offer in Sendaks, and vice versa.

  Why is this Canvas Softer that the Others? Most of our canvas comes from Fairfield Textile, and the waxiness is fairly consistent, but we love finding new colours and new manufacturers, so there can be variation in the canvases. Sweetshrub, Radish, and Rook are all a little softer and waxier than the others at first, but again, all wax works its way into the fibers with use.

  Why Is The Colour Different? The wax reflects lighting differently so the range of tone in the photographs reflects the range of tone you may perceive in life. The colours may vary slightly from batch to batch because they are hand dyed. The wax will fade with use and the colour of the bag will lighten and evolve. We love all of this. Your bags will change through use, giving each one a one-of-a-kind patina with the stories and marks from your life!

  Cool: Fog, Slate, Coal Colour Comparison

  Warm: Truffle, Spice, Hickory Colour Comparison

  
  
  

  Waxed Canvas Swatch Books!

  
  

  We use two different canvas weights for our Sendaks and Bags. The Sendak canvas is thinner and lighter. The colours vary between the weights, and sometimes we cannot find the same colour in both, and sometimes, the 'same' colour isn’t the same at all — as in the case of Sweetshrub (Sendak) and Sumac (Bags). They are close, but the canvas weight and wax makes the colour different enough that we decided to give them different names. 

  Bag Canvas Classic Colours

  Bag Canvas Small Batch Colours

  Sendak Canvas Classic Colours

  Sendak Canvas Classic Colours

  Sumac (Left) and Sweetshrub (Right) Colour Comparison

  
  
  

  Our Leather

  
  

  We use black and brown vegetable-tanned leather from Wickett and Craig for our bags and Sendaks. Fog and All Black are paired with black leather and all other colours are paired with brown leather.

  We can do any leather and canvas combination that you wish! Just email us or write your request in your order notes. Please note, these are considered special orders and are not returnable.

  

  All About Our Canvas and Colours!

    Truffle, Old Truffle (used!*), Hickory, Spice, Spice (lightly us...

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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