Sneak Peak into our Wintery 2023 Of a Kind Collection
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 selection of Hand-Bound Tintype Journals in this collection – read more below!
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*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.
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Crossbody Bags made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our Shop
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.
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.
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The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend!
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Suggested Blog Posts
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Specimen Cards and a Closer Look Around
Specimen Cards
I look forward to the coming weeks here, the hopeful explosion of plants! Until then, here are some Specimen Cards that Søren (15) and Silas (13) made for me for Christmas, which include a variety of plant friends and creature friends who share the land with us!See more of their work on Instagram: @sorenscoutkent and @koshooniartWe have Garter and Northern Water Snakes here... And a variety and abundance of frogs and toads! We also have a family of Painted Turtles! All of these creatures live by and in the untended to ponds. Our Pearl! Piplup is the last of our many chickens and guineas. She has somehow survived the many attacks of foxes, &c.At Home Exploration
We’ve returned home from Florida, where winter’s end, hormones, lawn talk, and chain stores wreaked havoc on my mood the first day. Fortunately, for myself and everyone around me, a walk around Wakodahatchee Wetlands quickly settled my inner chaos. Florida, like anywhere, can be so many things at once!
Back home, at the Five Acre Wood, Pearl and I awoke early to sunshine and went outside to visit all the plants’ changes during our weekend away. The three small Witch Hazel transplants survived: their tiny yellow flowers small and sparkly in the woodland. A few Squill, Hellebores, and Crocuses have flowered. Snowdrops have bloomed by the thousands, the snow drop math proving successful here though when I step back, the little clumps have a lot of multiplying to do before they change this comparatively expansive landscape! Even more Daffodils are about to burst, whilst Hepatica, Foam Flower, Geraniums, and other greenies have sent their distinct tops out of the soil and into the sun! A few years ago, I couldn’t have identified these plants by their flowers, and here I am, calling them by their names so soon. It feels magical, this ever-learning.
I’ve planted thousands of plants since we moved here five years ago. Some will take five years to bloom; others have already started on their journey, only to be destroyed by my rambunctious Pearl or over-eager deer families, hopping the fence when Pearl is elsewhere.Snowdops by Silas Jack-in-the-Pulpit by Søren May Apple by Søren Daffodils (most abundant) by Silas Bamboo by Silas Virginia Bluebell by Søren* * *
Our Specimen Card Notebook! Story on the back! Some of the boys’ early drawings on the end pages! It fits inside our Sendaks!Our Boys Document Creatures and Plants with their Specimen Card Notebooks!
Specimen Cards I look forward to the coming weeks here, the hopeful explosio...
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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:
The Sendak Artist Roll: A Walkthrough Video
We’ve watched all of the YouTube reviews of our Sendak Artist Roll (thank you...
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We’ve simplified Søren's journaling card into a free downloadable PDF of Expedition Cards. He tested them out on our local hiking adventure from earlier this week to Harmony Hill. We are loving this new alternative journal format, and hope you do as well – document your expedition, and have fun!
I’ve been keeping a journal on and off since I was 12. Because of this, I thought it would be a simple and obvious thing to add this to my boys’ homeschool days, but neither Søren nor Silas shared my compulsion.
Søren’s journals were mostly uninspired lists of what we had done each day, but somewhere along the way, during camping trips and road trips – somewhere deep in the pandemic, Søren began to transform his task of journaling into something he was excited to do. Using Procreate on his iPad, he now creates his own alternative journal cards with personality-filled drawings, descriptions, and photographs!
It has been heartening to watch the evolution of his journaling practice, from bland journal pages to documented expeditions – completely Søren-ed and so shareable. We’ve simplified his card design into a free downloadable PDF! Søren tested the new card (on the spot!) with a local hiking adventure to Harmony Hill. We are loving this new alternative journal format, and hope you do as well!
As Søren flipped through his cards for my camera, he said, “It feels like I’m reliving all of this – even just glancing at each one." If the purpose of a journal is to create a ritual, to reflect and document, to build writing and observation skills, and to have a place to go, then Søren has fulfilled these expectations, and I am overjoyed with his finding his own way!
Søren’s Original Expedition Cards!Photograph of Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park. Revisiting our "Mexican Food" experience in the Ozarks with giggles. Our messy table in Missouri - this is how we know magic is being made! Søren sketching in his small Tome – okay, not everything is uninspired! My birthday treat! We visited Mark Twain’s boyhood home in Hannibal, MO and the cave that inspired some his work and childhood! How I love the re-reading! Walter is painting Mark Twain’s boyhood home with his Pochade Box— as always, attracting the curious! Søren, Silas, and Shep, matching(ish) Sendaks, shirts, and drinks! A brief telling of our trip to Chicago! Exploring Chicago, dreaming of being elsewhere... Always on the go with make-shift picnic table studios. Intuit Museum in Chicago featuring Henry Darger’s home studio and other outsider art! Expedition Cards by Søren Kent (Free Printable!)
I’ve been keeping a journal on and off since I was 12. Because of this, I th...
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Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks — these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, 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 limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
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 journals covered with Antique Leather Postcards! We have a selection of crossbody bags made with our limited canvas colors and vintage textiles!
Our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection!Happy Spring! We are getting outside, digging in the dirt, and being surprised again at the bounty of colour, texture, and wonder of the season.
This Spring collection has a different color palette than we are used to here – a Spring of the past, which is familiar, but also a palette of Peg and Awl’s past. As we are working through the layers of the shop, we are finding so many good treasures once buried, like the beloved Antique Leather postcards. We have an abundance of small treasures, as well as some particularly special bags and colour arrangements!
Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks – these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, 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 limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
Alt Sketchbook: International Dial Co.
View in our ShopWe have a few blue Watch Part 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 Fabriano Watercolor Paper, cut to size!
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 voilà! Here is our short video on cutting your own paper.
Crossbody Bags made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our ShopThe more I return to the same flea market, the more I know where to look and find treasures in overlooked corners. These feed and sugar sacks, tool belts, and homespun make magical fun of our classic bags!
Mini Tote with Vintage Homespun German Pillow Sham: Francis Standard Tote with Vintage Feedsack: Laurel Mini Tote with Vintage Hardware Store Canvas Half Apron: Moose Heavy homespun German pillow sham transformed into a Classic Tote lined with Fog. Classic Tote with Vintage Feedsack: Heidi For those city dwellers, travelers and others wanting more security, the Totes have a separating zipper that tucks neatly in the bag when not needed. Mini Tote with Vintage Sugar Sack: Sugar No. 2 Mini Tote with Vintage Sugar Sack: Sugar No. 1 Pouches made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our ShopWe’ve been finding so many gorgeous textiles at Flea Markets lately that we must 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 littles that need organizing. As for me, I recently used mine to gather some Persimmon seeds from the wild! They’re hard to be without and you can never have too many!
These patchwork quilts appear to have been made by two, now three, sets of hands. The small squares were first hand-stitched – they were next put together with a machine, then waiting for me to scoop them up and have Tori make them into pouches with waxed canvas lining and backing.
*Custom Pouch Sizes in this Collection: 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!
Custom Pouch with Vintage Quilt Blocks: Peecha Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Cass Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Maeve The greens are lined with our Fog waxed canvas! Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Morley Custom Pouch with Antique Hand-Stitched Quilt Block: Lucia Custom Pouch with Vintage Quilt Blocks: Elke Spender Pouch with Vintage Feedsack: Maude Alternative Sketchbook: Chartreuse Watch Parts Tin!
View in Our ShopI couldn’t resist this colour and the mini size. Tuck it in your Sendak and come what may! The smallness makes painting ever-accessible, and the shape makes a good painting feel complete!
Antique Postcard Journals!
View in Our ShopOne of a kind Antique Postcard mini journals are back! The cover is made simply, from antique leather postcards which bear incredible old handwriting, postmarks, and on some, a stamp! The insides, as always, are made of hand-stitched Strathmore drawing paper and work wonderfully with a variety of drawing and writing materials.
Antique Postcard Journal: No. 4 Antique Postcard Journal: No. 16 These postcards are covered in handwriting, markings, and sometimes stamps! As with all our journals, these are hand-stitched! These minis are each one of a kind, covered with a unique postcard! These are made with Strathmore drawing paper and work wonderfully with a variety of drawing and writing materials.
The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend!Sneak Peak into our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection
Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures wit...
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This morning, in my journal, I was contemplating the complexities of the fine point of balance when running a small business. These last few years – before the pandemic, through the thick of it, and this lingering now — have given us so much variety, forcing that fine point to dance like phosphorescence beneath a moving boat at night, engaging us to consider potential nexts.
Small Hunter Satchel incorporating an antique bank bag! Patching old holes in well-worn canvas gives celebrated emphasis on the lives old things have lived.
Scroll Down to Preview the Collection!
This morning, in my journal, I was contemplating the complexities of the fine point of balance when running a small business. These last few years – before the pandemic, through the thick of it, and this lingering now — have given us so much variety, forcing that fine point to dance like phosphorescence beneath a moving boat at night, engaging us to consider potential nexts. I move my journal to the floor — there being no more space on the crowded, trash-picked table, in a window filled with plants and the morning’s light pushing through the trees. The table is piled high with projects that I am longing to get to. Our actual kitchen table – a big farmhouse table a few feet away, is full as well, as I’ve decided to photograph our Of a Kind collection upon it, despite my family's grumbling. We push piles to the side so we can squeeze onto a small end of the long table for dinner.Are you, too, feeling a multitude of dreamings leftover from the time-abundant early pandemic days?
Books still longing to be read? (on the table)
Sketchbooks and journals begging for a scribbling in, a finishing up? (on the table)
Trails wanting walked and biked upon daily? (bits from them, on the table)
I am breathless, dreaming of the possibilities that crowd my living space.
I merge the dreaming with the practical(ish) when I can. I was able to lure my family into the woods for a walk with Pearl, and a simultaneous photo shoot of some of the One of a Kind bags. We danced and high-beamed around the ruins of a mill along the path. The autumn air and the freedom to wander, feels like an absolute luxury — and is! But it is only one part of the long process of bringing our Of a Kind collections to life and running a small business in general.Fortunately, Pearl loves partaking in the weird things we do!
Had a hearty laugh as I tried to keep Pearl happy, bat mosquitos away, block the streak of sunlight following the bags, and was photobombed by this crew in the ruins! Søren, caught off guard in photographs, often channels Captain Jack Sparrow!
The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend!Treasures found at a Flea Market! (These pens may find their way into a collection soon!) Some of the antique textiles I found that day have been transformed for this upcoming collection!
Our Autumn Of a Kind Collection!
Our third Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is a celebration of the afterlife of already long-loved objects. It contains One of a Kind bags made with antique, well-worn re-constructed seed, feed, and bank bags, Antique Tin alternative sketchbooks (and re-fill packs for a past favourite due to many inquiries!), and some pouches, which are always a favourite. 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.
Photograph by Søren of me with an Of a Kind mini tote made from a vintage Timothy Grass Seed Bag.
Søren, Pearl, and I went out for a walk on a trail we normally bike on. Slower, we noticed new things.
Mini Totes made with Vintage Textiles!
We’ve transformed vintage seed and feed sacks found at a Flea Market this past summer! So many scrumptious textures, fadings, holes, and repairs are evident in this collection!
We’ve cleaned and cut and paired the vintage bags with waxed and vegetable tanned leather, making our classic and loved bags into One of a Kind treasures!
Journal Excerpt – I lingered at Leonard’s flea market table, unfolding and refolding seed and feed bags used over and over until disposable bags replaced them in the 1960s. The textiles on Leonard’s table were washed and faded and soft. He couldn’t hear very well so I had to get extra close or raise my voice to communicate. He smiled a gentle smile with each shout. I left with arms filled with vintage bags, eager to imagine them anew.
Mini Tote made from Vintage Canvas, with waxed canvas details, and vegetable-tanned leather. Details of the print – 45 lbs. The colour of the Timothy bag is robust! A lovely burst of the unexpected. A daily, or every-now-and-then bag? Our Minis are delightful for everyday carry – bring only what you need! This Alfalfa bag has glorious texture and colour! I didn't know about this sneaky kitty until I got home, my favourite? Codes abound. These are all lined with waxed canvas. Ranger! The textures and fading of this printing is delicious. How many of these treasures are still hiding in the world? Are houses still coming down with attics full of lives past? Standard Totes made with Vintage Textiles!
I just love Søren in the background here, unintentional mimicry! Pigeon Feed! Tell me more, please. Details on the Vintage Textile of the Pigeon Tote. Standard Tote with Vintage Canvas: Pigeon Standard Tote with Vintage Canvas: Salt The vintage textile is on the front pocket – the rest is our Truffle waxed canvas. These chickens might be my favourite! Standard Tote with Vintage Canvas: Chicken Standard Tote with Vintage Canvas: Fulton No. 1 Inside the tote! A view of the inside pockets, showing the lightweight spice waxed canvas! I love the repairs and added character! Vintage Textile Pouches!
It is hard to resist old printed cottons and feedsacks from the early 1900s on flea market tables. We’ve transformed the gathering of patchwork and scrap into useful pouches, giving them new life.
We’ve constructed pouches in shades of feuille morte! Russets and Rosies, Goldenrods and Evergreen, still vibrant, though the textiles are nearly a century old! Essentials Pouch with 1930s Textile: Adlai Spender Pouch with 1930s Feedsack: Tamar Keeper Pouch with 1940s Textile: Orah Keeper Pouch with 1930s Textile: Ariel Alternative Sketchbooks!
Ginger Tin!
This vintage Ginger Tin makes a great alternative sketchbook for small projects. We’ve filled them with 100 sheets of laser cut Strathmore Drawing paper. Put the tin in the outside pocket of a Sendak, or a pouch, and head out to draw! The portability makes sketching ever-accessible, and the shape makes a good drawing feel complete!
I've been using my Ginger Tin for paint for years, but a new project lead to another idea... Tear or Seed? Read the story on Substack! Cloverine Alternative Sketchbooks!
We are excited to offer a handful of vintage Cloverine Alternative Sketchbooks in this Collection! Each tin comes with 200 sheets of Fabriano hot press watercolour paper. These morsels fit inside the Sendak, making sure you always have some of the finest paper on hand! Additional packs of pre-cut paper can be ordered separately or as an add-on.
Cloverine Alt Sketchbook We will have some packs of water colour paper that fit the Cloverine Alt Sketchbook! Sneak Peek into Our Autumn 2022 Of a Kind Collection!
Small Hunter Satchel incorporating an antique bank bag! Patchi...
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Our second Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is bursting with character! Each of these collections 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.
Our second Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is bursting with character! Each of these collections 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.
Mini Tote with Vintage Textile!
Walter and I went on our first road trip together in 2008 and stopped at flea markets along the way. We found two old wooden cots (that I had to have) with these magical stripy textiles. It took more then a decade for them to find their place - and the result is well worth the wait!
P.S. We've decided the stripe is neither orange nor red, but rather, vermillion! Thank you @sarahdyer and everyone else for suggestions!
Watch the video showing the behind the scenes of these Mini Totes, including the waxing process, here!
Mini Tote made from Vintage Canvas, with waxed canvas details, and vegetable-tanned leather. The Minis have a detachable zipper! We love the marks and character of the material's past! This well-loved canvas has some perfect patching inside! Our Minis are delightful for everyday carry – bring only what you need! The canvas is from a vintage wooden cot. Vintage Textile Pouches!
We use a variety of materials and objects gathered from flea markets, abandoned buildings, and wherever else we can find them. The soft and worn oranges, reds, and sea green combined with the repairs and stitching, made this vintage kantha an irresistible edition to our summer collection!
Watch the process video, here!
Scholar Pouch with Vintage Repaired Kantha: Gabriella Details of these soft and worn oranges! These are all lined with waxed canvas. Maker Pouch with Vintage Repaired Kantha: Ophelia Maker Pouch with Vintage Repaired Kantha: Lolita We love seeing the repairs and stitching from hands past! Vintage zippers on the essentials pouches accompany the vintage textile! Essentials Pouch with Vintage Feedsack: Enid Indigo Hunters!
We unearthed these Hunters from a collection from the past. They were boxed when we moved – and forgotten! We made them with a gorgeous striped African Mudcloth paired with truffle waxed canvas. The straps are made from vintage WWII era leather!
Large Hunter with African Indigo Mudcloth front! You can see the repairs and stitching from past hands! This textile was hand-dyed with fermented mud into these beautiful indigo stripes. Vintage WWII era leather strap! A view of the back, showing the truffle waxed canvas! The finishing detail on the interior pocket! Foundlings Originals!
The Foundlings. One of our most beloved and delicious flea market discoveries of creatures drawn and painted upon nests of scritchy-scratchy hand-written ledgers and lessons by unknown hands. We poured over the drawings — the originals — and selected a few to set free to adorn homes and feed curious souls!
Foundlings Original Art: Antigonon Foundlings Original Art: Bergamot Foundlings Original Art: Gladwyn Foundlings Original Art: Pomelo Foundlings Original Art: Figwort Foundlings Original Art: Briar Summer 2022 Of A Kind Collection
Our second Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is bursting with character! Each of ...
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Specimen Cards
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Our Pearl! |
Piplup is the last of our many chickens and guineas. She has somehow survived the many attacks of foxes, &c.
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At Home Exploration
We’ve returned home from Florida, where winter’s end, hormones, lawn talk, and chain stores wreaked havoc on my mood the first day. Fortunately, for myself and everyone around me, a walk around Wakodahatchee Wetlands quickly settled my inner chaos. Florida, like anywhere, can be so many things at once!
Back home, at the Five Acre Wood, Pearl and I awoke early to sunshine and went outside to visit all the plants’ changes during our weekend away. The three small Witch Hazel transplants survived: their tiny yellow flowers small and sparkly in the woodland. A few Squill, Hellebores, and Crocuses have flowered. Snowdrops have bloomed by the thousands, the snow drop math proving successful here though when I step back, the little clumps have a lot of multiplying to do before they change this comparatively expansive landscape! Even more Daffodils are about to burst, whilst Hepatica, Foam Flower, Geraniums, and other greenies have sent their distinct tops out of the soil and into the sun! A few years ago, I couldn’t have identified these plants by their flowers, and here I am, calling them by their names so soon. It feels magical, this ever-learning.
I’ve planted thousands of plants since we moved here five years ago. Some will take five years to bloom; others have already started on their journey, only to be destroyed by my rambunctious Pearl or over-eager deer families, hopping the fence when Pearl is elsewhere.
Bamboo by Silas |
Virginia Bluebell by Søren
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It fits inside our Sendaks!
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Our Boys Document Creatures and Plants with their Specimen Card Notebooks!
Specimen Cards I look forward to the coming weeks here, the hopeful explosio...
Read The PostWe’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)
- Blackwing Pencils
- Kaweco Pens
- Neocolor
- Vintage art supplies (dippy Pens, technical pens, tins) are from flea markets and sometimes eBay!
Related Blog Posts:
The Sendak Artist Roll: A Walkthrough Video
We’ve watched all of the YouTube reviews of our Sendak Artist Roll (thank you...
Read The PostWe’ve simplified Søren's journaling card into a free downloadable PDF of Expedition Cards. He tested them out on our local hiking adventure from earlier this week to Harmony Hill. We are loving this new alternative journal format, and hope you do as well – document your expedition, and have fun!
I’ve been keeping a journal on and off since I was 12. Because of this, I thought it would be a simple and obvious thing to add this to my boys’ homeschool days, but neither Søren nor Silas shared my compulsion.
Søren’s journals were mostly uninspired lists of what we had done each day, but somewhere along the way, during camping trips and road trips – somewhere deep in the pandemic, Søren began to transform his task of journaling into something he was excited to do. Using Procreate on his iPad, he now creates his own alternative journal cards with personality-filled drawings, descriptions, and photographs!
It has been heartening to watch the evolution of his journaling practice, from bland journal pages to documented expeditions – completely Søren-ed and so shareable. We’ve simplified his card design into a free downloadable PDF! Søren tested the new card (on the spot!) with a local hiking adventure to Harmony Hill. We are loving this new alternative journal format, and hope you do as well!
As Søren flipped through his cards for my camera, he said, “It feels like I’m reliving all of this – even just glancing at each one." If the purpose of a journal is to create a ritual, to reflect and document, to build writing and observation skills, and to have a place to go, then Søren has fulfilled these expectations, and I am overjoyed with his finding his own way!
Søren’s Original Expedition Cards!
Expedition Cards by Søren Kent (Free Printable!)
I’ve been keeping a journal on and off since I was 12. Because of this, I th...
Read The PostHave a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks — these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, 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 limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
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 selection of crossbody bags made with our limited canvas colors and vintage textiles!
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Our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection!
Happy Spring! We are getting outside, digging in the dirt, and being surprised again at the bounty of colour, texture, and wonder of the season.
This Spring collection has a different color palette than we are used to here – a Spring of the past, which is familiar, but also a palette of Peg and Awl’s past. As we are working through the layers of the shop, we are finding so many good treasures once buried, like the beloved Antique Leather postcards. We have an abundance of small treasures, as well as some particularly special bags and colour arrangements!
Have a wander through our collection of bags and pouches made with homespun linen, a delightful variety of quilt blocks – these are much older and remind me of my childhood. There are also 1960s hardware store aprons, 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 limited Autumn canvas colours – so many hoorahs!
Alt Sketchbook: International Dial Co.
View in our Shop
We have a few blue Watch Part 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 Fabriano Watercolor Paper, cut to size!
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 voilà! Here is our short video on cutting your own paper.
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Crossbody Bags made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our Shop
The more I return to the same flea market, the more I know where to look and find treasures in overlooked corners. These feed and sugar sacks, tool belts, and homespun make magical fun of our classic bags!
Pouches made with Vintage Textiles!
View in Our Shop
We’ve been finding so many gorgeous textiles at Flea Markets lately that we must 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 littles that need organizing. As for me, I recently used mine to gather some Persimmon seeds from the wild! They’re hard to be without and you can never have too many!
These patchwork quilts appear to have been made by two, now three, sets of hands. The small squares were first hand-stitched – they were next put together with a machine, then waiting for me to scoop them up and have Tori make them into pouches with waxed canvas lining and backing.
*Custom Pouch Sizes in this Collection: 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!
Alternative Sketchbook: Chartreuse Watch Parts Tin!
View in Our Shop
I couldn’t resist this colour and the mini size. Tuck it in your Sendak and come what may! The smallness makes painting ever-accessible, and the shape makes a good painting feel complete!
Antique Postcard Journals!
View in Our Shop
One of a kind Antique Postcard mini journals are back! The cover is made simply, from antique leather postcards which bear incredible old handwriting, postmarks, and on some, a stamp! The insides, as always, are made of hand-stitched Strathmore drawing paper and work wonderfully with a variety of drawing and writing materials.
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The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend!
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Sneak Peak into our Springy 2023 Of a Kind Collection
Each new Of a Kind collection allows us to dig around and find treasures wit...
Read The PostThis morning, in my journal, I was contemplating the complexities of the fine point of balance when running a small business. These last few years – before the pandemic, through the thick of it, and this lingering now — have given us so much variety, forcing that fine point to dance like phosphorescence beneath a moving boat at night, engaging us to consider potential nexts.
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Scroll Down to Preview the Collection!
This morning, in my journal, I was contemplating the complexities of the fine point of balance when running a small business. These last few years – before the pandemic, through the thick of it, and this lingering now — have given us so much variety, forcing that fine point to dance like phosphorescence beneath a moving boat at night, engaging us to consider potential nexts. I move my journal to the floor — there being no more space on the crowded, trash-picked table, in a window filled with plants and the morning’s light pushing through the trees. The table is piled high with projects that I am longing to get to. Our actual kitchen table – a big farmhouse table a few feet away, is full as well, as I’ve decided to photograph our Of a Kind collection upon it, despite my family's grumbling. We push piles to the side so we can squeeze onto a small end of the long table for dinner.
Are you, too, feeling a multitude of dreamings leftover from the time-abundant early pandemic days?
Books still longing to be read? (on the table)
Sketchbooks and journals begging for a scribbling in, a finishing up? (on the table)
Trails wanting walked and biked upon daily? (bits from them, on the table)
I am breathless, dreaming of the possibilities that crowd my living space.
I merge the dreaming with the practical(ish) when I can. I was able to lure my family into the woods for a walk with Pearl, and a simultaneous photo shoot of some of the One of a Kind bags. We danced and high-beamed around the ruins of a mill along the path. The autumn air and the freedom to wander, feels like an absolute luxury — and is! But it is only one part of the long process of bringing our Of a Kind collections to life and running a small business in general.
Fortunately, Pearl loves partaking in the weird things we do!
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The Secret to a Good Flea (Market) Day is a Good Friend!
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Our Autumn Of a Kind Collection!
Our third Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is a celebration of the afterlife of already long-loved objects. It contains One of a Kind bags made with antique, well-worn re-constructed seed, feed, and bank bags, Antique Tin alternative sketchbooks (and re-fill packs for a past favourite due to many inquiries!), and some pouches, which are always a favourite. 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.
Photograph by Søren of me with an Of a Kind mini tote made from a vintage Timothy Grass Seed Bag.
Søren, Pearl, and I went out for a walk on a trail we normally bike on. Slower, we noticed new things.
Mini Totes made with Vintage Textiles!
We’ve transformed vintage seed and feed sacks found at a Flea Market this past summer! So many scrumptious textures, fadings, holes, and repairs are evident in this collection!
We’ve cleaned and cut and paired the vintage bags with waxed and vegetable tanned leather, making our classic and loved bags into One of a Kind treasures!
Journal Excerpt – I lingered at Leonard’s flea market table, unfolding and refolding seed and feed bags used over and over until disposable bags replaced them in the 1960s. The textiles on Leonard’s table were washed and faded and soft. He couldn’t hear very well so I had to get extra close or raise my voice to communicate. He smiled a gentle smile with each shout. I left with arms filled with vintage bags, eager to imagine them anew.
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Standard Totes made with Vintage Textiles!
Vintage Textile Pouches!
It is hard to resist old printed cottons and feedsacks from the early 1900s on flea market tables. We’ve transformed the gathering of patchwork and scrap into useful pouches, giving them new life.
Alternative Sketchbooks!
Ginger Tin!
This vintage Ginger Tin makes a great alternative sketchbook for small projects. We’ve filled them with 100 sheets of laser cut Strathmore Drawing paper. Put the tin in the outside pocket of a Sendak, or a pouch, and head out to draw! The portability makes sketching ever-accessible, and the shape makes a good drawing feel complete!
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Cloverine Alternative Sketchbooks!
We are excited to offer a handful of vintage Cloverine Alternative Sketchbooks in this Collection! Each tin comes with 200 sheets of Fabriano hot press watercolour paper. These morsels fit inside the Sendak, making sure you always have some of the finest paper on hand! Additional packs of pre-cut paper can be ordered separately or as an add-on.
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Sneak Peek into Our Autumn 2022 Of a Kind Collection!
Small Hunter Satchel incorporating an antique bank bag! Patchi...
Read The PostOur second Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is bursting with character! Each of these collections 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.
Our second Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is bursting with character! Each of these collections 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.
Mini Tote with Vintage Textile!
Walter and I went on our first road trip together in 2008 and stopped at flea markets along the way. We found two old wooden cots (that I had to have) with these magical stripy textiles. It took more then a decade for them to find their place - and the result is well worth the wait!
P.S. We've decided the stripe is neither orange nor red, but rather, vermillion! Thank you @sarahdyer and everyone else for suggestions!
Watch the video showing the behind the scenes of these Mini Totes, including the waxing process, here!
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Vintage Textile Pouches!
We use a variety of materials and objects gathered from flea markets, abandoned buildings, and wherever else we can find them. The soft and worn oranges, reds, and sea green combined with the repairs and stitching, made this vintage kantha an irresistible edition to our summer collection!
Watch the process video, here!
Indigo Hunters!
We unearthed these Hunters from a collection from the past. They were boxed when we moved – and forgotten! We made them with a gorgeous striped African Mudcloth paired with truffle waxed canvas. The straps are made from vintage WWII era leather!
Foundlings Originals!
The Foundlings. One of our most beloved and delicious flea market discoveries of creatures drawn and painted upon nests of scritchy-scratchy hand-written ledgers and lessons by unknown hands. We poured over the drawings — the originals — and selected a few to set free to adorn homes and feed curious souls!
Summer 2022 Of A Kind Collection
Our second Of A Kind Collection of 2022 is bursting with character! Each of ...
Read The Post
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