So We’ve Begun...

“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.”
–G.K. Chesterton

Today is Peg and Awl’s 16th Anniversary! We are off to an energetic, dark, and full start to this year. Lots of movement, lots of losting, and a fracture.

Walter and I began this adventure on the 10th of January, 2010. We started with a Tub Caddy and other home goods made from old growth wood being thrust out of homes as they were being remodeled in Fishtown, our then Philadelphia neighborhood. Sixteen years on and so many wide zig zags and loopty loops later, and here we are. We are making entirely different treasures and are as excited about our new adventures as we were when we began! 

I’m sure I’ve looked back at my journals and found no mention of starting a business. I wouldn’t have known, suspected, nor anticipated this trajectory, as I am mostly an in the present human. Time, though!

Find last year’s re-telling down below.

 

Walter’s (Temporary) Studio in the Kitchen

Our house has become a soccer house in the last few years – despite my begging for the banging to cease. Lights are askew and flickering morse code from errant porch kicks and the kitchen is thunderous. Walter is on a team, Silas, two, and they sometimes pop into pick-up. In his last game, Walter landed wrong, and fractured his tibia. Told to be still, he is working in his temporary office – the sofa – finishing that which is usually pushed away, and is painting in his temporary studio – the kitchen!

At the table, in the window (where I also once took up studioing), Walter set up:

How I Envisioned the Photograph

Journaling

As for me, I’ve returned to my favorite ritual – writing in the morning and drawing in the evening – filling pages at both ends of the day. Perhaps too quickly moving through this journal.

A new kind of visual journaling has commenced!

And persist.

The Peg and Awl Story – Substack

Read Our Story

Everywhere, Astonishments!

An Everywhere Astonishment Book list! I cannot believe this is the first all books EA, but I am surrounded by so many new book crushes.

Claire has been working on Birds of a Feather for 13 years! I had the good fortune of meeting her a bunch of years ago and got to help with some of the selecting, pairing, editing, &c. What magic it is to see this beauty – with EVERY bell and whistle – in print!

 

Storefront

The Peg and Awl Storefront is open for visitors — and there have been so many of you! Come see our treasures in person along with other maker’s treasures and vintage finds.

Monday-Friday 10-5

For small business Saturday, we wanted to share a little more about the crew here at Peg and Awl, and our favourite treasures to make and use. Despite our effort to smallen the business, it blooms – our crew is growing again!

We design, make, photograph, and ship nearly everything here at The Five Acre Wood.

When buying from small businesses, we support places where opinions matter, hands make, and people have the freedom to share stories and ideas. Let’s celebrate all of us – and all of you – who continue to make this all possible – thank you!

Arianne

“I started working for Peg and Awl in December of 2012. Learning so many skills and experiencing the magic of making and growing has been the most exciting working environment I’ve ever been in. I’m a leather-smith, seamstress, and bookbinder now, and eager to expand more. The Tote I carry everyday I made with my own hands. My Writer’s Pouch sits in my Tote and holds all my daily knick-knacks. I get to spend all day with my favorite dog companion Pancake and make treasures surrounded by the ever changing Five Acre Wood.”

Ari has been working on a small batch of Nutshells Mini Sendaks that will be available soon!

Niko

“If you’ve emailed us before, we’ve probably talked, so hi again! Recently I’ve been obsessed with board game design – specifically ones that have some strange mechanics or unique packaging, (current favorite is Oath). Outside of Peg & Awl, I design stationery products with a focus on planning and organization, under the name Bonk.”

Kino Coffee Table

Margaux

“I am rambler, dreamer, thing maker, and story gatherer here. And messmaker. I love old things and new things and change. I write and draw and photograph and ungarden and move. I love everything we make and always want to make more…”

Sendak Mini Artist Roll

Walter

“Walter is the co-founder of Peg and Awl, my partner in everything, and my favourite model when I can catch him! He’s kept this business organized and smooth sailing. Since Our Smallening, he spends his new found time doing all manner of things, including dry stack wall building and lots of soccer. He has grand plans for grand projects around the Five Acre Wood that we are all looking forward to. He paints and draws and is currently working on a website to share his magic. ”

The Steinbeck Desk

Oil on Canvas, Painted with his Scout Plein Air Box

Ashley

“I’ve been working for Peg and Awl since 2020, although it doesn’t feel like work, especially since a large part of my job is spending time with Margaux, talking and ‘working’, as every newsletter requires. The Mini Tote fulfills my dreams of the cutest tote ever, and although it took a year of convincing that we needed a smaller, cuter bag, it finally made it into the shop, and I carry mine often.”

The Mini Tote

Natalie

“I’ve enjoyed seeing the of a kinds collections come to life from the inside and really loved the bloom pouches we made this year. I’ve been lucky in bringing a little bit of Peg and Awl home with my very own Sendak(!) and Anselm book binding kits. All loved items! My boys, aged 7 and 9, had so much fun learning how to book bind! You can find me working with the leather and finishing the bags and pouches, and sometimes behind the lens when Margaux steps in front of it with Pearl.”

The Sendak Artist Roll

Victoria

“My journey with Peg and Awl has just begun, and I am grateful to be a part of this wonderful team of artists. The incorporation of upcycled materials here holds a special place in my heart, and I have been learning new skills in bookbinding and leatherwork. My personal artistic practices include puppet fabrication, illustration, and sculpting teeny, life-sized beetles.”

Little Windows Art Prints

Søren

Søren is an enjoyer of Peg and Awl products. He was our summer bookbinder and Sendak finisher at Peg and Awl and has been the inspiration for so much of what we do! He has two Steinbeck desks in his studio space – he is homeschooled and working on animation and video game design this year. He loves to work on paper too, often filling Tomes with drawings of his fantastical worlds and characters. Often filling sketchbooks he’s made, he shares a new morsel each day – you can find his work here.

One of Søren’s many coverless journals made with our tutorials!

Silas

Silas has been a part of Peg and Awl since he was born. He appreciates the craftsmanship and has partaken in the woodworking and jewelry-making with Walter through the years. He chose to return to public school this year for soccer and wrestling, and is having a grand time. The Small Hunter was designed for him and Søren when they were small, and we use them still. Now, his favourite bag is the Rogue Backpack, which we no longer make but all love dearly.

Young Silas with his favorites, the Steinbeck Desk and Joad Chair

Oliver

Oliver has been with us for ten years, but it sure feels like a lifetime... a lifetime of proper formatting and exclamation point elimination. He is the mastermind behind all things computer, from building a database, to making our new website come to life. He was a party pooper (again), and chose accoutrements and add-ons for his favorite products, so for the first year, we are honoring his choices.

Canvas Swatch Books

Pancake and Pearl

Leaders of Human Resources

Cultivating Place: Natural History & Our Gardens

Sendak Artist Roll Review

Scout Plein Air Box Review

The Sendak Artist Roll Review

More Leslie Stroz Videos Featuring Peg and Awl!

I love making journals and all kinds of books to fill up. To be clear, I make them to fill them. I am not a blank book collector. My books get dirty and bent and filled to the brim. They are meant for ideas, drawings, journaling, and more. (I may share in a future post!)

To start, we decided to share some unconventional journal making processes. Here, I filmed myself making my most recent journal from old book covers, antique textiles, an old painty escutcheon, a tetra pak print and other treasures. This is the second book* that I made like this with no plans. You can hear my wheels turning in this video from start to finish — enthusiastic, doubtful, and joyous throughout the process

My sister-in-law Ashley, one of the Peg and Awl crew, edited it — bloopers and all! We hope you enjoy it!

Do let us know what you think. Please ask questions and share your books made with our instructions. We’d love to see them and share some here!

 

Things you will need

1. Paper
2. Glue
3. Scissors
4. Thread
5. Needle
6. Ruler
7. Fabric
8. Pencil
9. Vintage book or something for your cover
10. Doodads if you’d like
11. Heavy books for a press

 

If you’ve just discovered us and our tutorials, go to Bookbinding at Home, Part 2: How to Stitch a Coverless Journal to learn how to stitch the inside of the book. If you have a cover you want to use, prepare your pages to fit! But don’t take your first one (or any) so seriously. You must play to learn:)