This is my story about how I became a Pensmith. In 2020, during the pandemic, I spent more time in my woodshop and ended up purchasing a lathe as a new hobby. After turning some boards and making some spoon handles, I began looking for something more practical to make as gifts for friends and family– and discovered the world of ink pen turning.
With a lot of help from the online group at Penturners.org, I managed to progress through the difficult learning phase and started producing a line of products I am proud of. By the end of 2021, I knew I wanted to turn my hobby into something more. Without making a job out of it, I set my goal to enter a craft show sometime in 2022. I brandished the name Waddle Woodturnings (I’m from Waddle, PA), and filled out an application for the Bellefonte Arts and Crafts Fair. In spite of being a juried event, and having no experience, I was accepted! Come August, I borrowed a pop-up tent from my friend Robert, and set up a booth.
I went to 3 shows that year, and 6 shows in 2023. Other shows I attended were at Way Fruit Farm, the Bald Eagle High School, Victorian Christmas in Bellefonte, and the Good Shepherd Church in Grays’s Woods. In just my second year at The Bellefonte Arts and Crafts Show, I was given the award for Best Mixed Media Artist, 2023.
As I progressed through the shows, talking to all sorts of people, I learned a bit of what works and what sells. I had made a lot of different kinds of items besides pens (razors, kitchen utensils, sewing tools, keychains, etc.), not all of which were a big hit. Many were complete misses.
But I learned something with every new item I made. I learned about label casting, which is where you build the pen from the center out by casting resin around a brass tube. I used this process to create stunning pens using thin strips of abalone seashell.
I also took a detour into fully custom pen world, learning how to cut my own threads into ebonite and acrylic. I also figured out how to incorporate real silver into my custom pens. I was awarded Pen of the Month at the International Association of Penturners for one of my acrylic and silver custom pens (“Black & Blue”).
Still, my venture was costing more money than it was bringing in. My lathe slipped a gear and needed to be replaced. I upgraded to a new Jet 1221 with variable speed. I needed to buy my own tent and tables. I added some lighting to enhance my product, and a power cell to run the lights at shows.
I’ve chosen to focus my attention to just the pens.
It is what I am most passionate about. I have an impressive collection of exotic woods in my shop now. Some of my favorites are Thuya Burl from Morocco, Tulipwood from Brazil, Ancient Kauri from New Zealand, Bocote from South America, and the absolutely stunning Rosewoods from Brazil, Nicaragua, India, Mexico, and Honduras.
In 2024, I decided it was time to sink or swim in my handmade business. I re-branded under the name INK & TIMBER ARTISAN PENS, and applied to juried shows throughout the Centre region– even the ones I thought I had no hope of getting into.
I got in.
I have also have grown increasingly proud of my hand-poured resin pens. Using colorful dyes and shimmering mica powders, I have honed my skill at several pouring techniques to get interesting patterns in the hardened resin rods. These transfer into gorgeous, vibrant writing pieces. Using these techniques, I have come up with a line of Blue & White pens, celebrating my local Alma Mater, Penn State Univeristy.
I was accepted into eight juried shows that year, including the Galley Shop handmade gift store in Lemont where you can now find my work year-round. My largest show to date was the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.
There is something very inspiring to me about making the items that other people will use to be creative themselves– writing, drawing and journaling
Todd Hawbaker
