(Caroline Foty's first fountain pen was a 1970s Sheaffer No Nonsense that still writes perfectly. Since she discovered pens by independent makers, she wants "one of each, please" and wants to meet all the makers. Maybe you do, too. She lives in Baltimore with pens, cats, and all kinds of fiber arts supplies.)
Dennis Humm’s first fountain pen was acquired by way of self-improvement. “When I was very young my index finger was damaged. It affected my handwriting, which was terrible. I decided to try doing calligraphy to improve my writing.” His wife acquired a TWSBI Eco, and he gave it a try. “There was a massive improvement in my handwriting right away.”
Of course, he then went looking for his next pen, and found some of the custom makers online. “I didn’t have any money, I couldn’t afford that, but I had access to a lathe. I decided to try to make one. I got some blanks and parts at a local store.” While he never tried component pens, the supplies he bought included a steel section that was already threaded because he didn’t yet have taps and dies. “I made a green monster of a pen that later became the Titan model. I still have it.”
The blanks he bought were a mix of materials, and in trying them out “I gained my hatred of polyester. The last person that asked for polyester got a rather rude reply; I’m quite plain spoken! I persevered and made a working pen, then I dropped it and it broke and I said Never Again.”
As he shopped for blanks online, he again ran into the funding issue, and thought he could maybe make those too. “My budget for the setup was based on what I wanted to order from Jonathon Brooks.”
Dennis feels that being neurodivergent predisposed him to jump into doing all these things himself. “I have a lot of different hobbies – roleplaying games, reading, writing, board games… I am dyslexic but I learn through reading. Once I get my head around the reading I take on the information easily.”
A look at the Den’s Pens website shows perhaps the longest list of models of any maker. A Reddit comment Dennis saw one day about custom pens being just cylinders spurred him to make just about anything but a plain cylinder. “My first batch of pens had ten designs – I thought what could I do with the skill set I had at that time.” All his models are named for mythological figures – “sometimes the name comes first, sometimes the design” - and the shaping of the pen speaks to aspects of the name. “The Titans were before the Greek gods and birthed them, so the Titan is my most basic design, it births the other designs. Mars has conical ends like swords, or like the mountains on the planet Mars. Zeus is inspired by a lightning bolt.” Even his two daughters are named after goddesses.
(Photo: Edmund Terakopian)
He tries to create a new model every year. “I’m all the time thinking of new ideas. The Eris category on my website has the ideas that are not quite where I want them yet, random ideas. Right now there is a pen with a fish tail, one with a unicorn horn cap, one with a crescent moon.” He has a Dremel tool to help with some of the very fine shapes. “Each model has to be definitely distinct from all the others.”
(Photo: Edmund Terakopian)
Some of that fine work has led to the pen he’s practically world-famous for, the Baetylus. “I thought of it while walking in the garden and gave it a try. I had an idea for a set – Earth, Air, Fire, Water – and Baetylus, which is a sacred stone in ancient Greek religion, was for earth.” Because of the hand shaping, each Baetylus is different, and in some materials it can resemble a raw crystal. “This is the one I’m proudest of. And it has a built-in roll stop!”
The rest of the series is slower to come to fruition. “The fish tail shape was me thinking about water; fire would be material-based; for air I had a tornado idea but I’m not sure yet how to do it.”
At this point in his process, his professional background comes to his aid. “I manage a lab testing doors and windows – for watertightness and airtightness, but also security. I’m one of the best trained burglars in Europe and I train other people to do it. I can walk down the street and tell you how secure your windows are!”
In the same way, he tests his pen materials. “I test them to their limit to see how far I can push them, how thin the walls can be. Generally if they are mixed by machine you can go thinner. Inclusions like glitter make it harder. I err on the side of caution with my own stuff but I can push Brooks and Diamondcast materials a little further.”
When Dennis was first looking at custom pens by other makers, he wrote himself a wish list. His current favorite pen he didn’t make himself is a Carina gifted to him by Eric Sands of Atelier Lusso. When Sands was planning to come to the UK for a visit, they made pens for one another. He gave Sands one of his first Govannon pens, named for the Welsh god of blacksmithing. “It was my first design with metal – I learned a new skill for that.”
Inspiration is everywhere – “When I’m reading, or playing computer games – I call it being hit with an inspiration atom.” From there, it’s straight to the lathe. “I don’t do drawings, I go from my brain to a physical thing I can hold. If I can imagine it in my head, I can make it with my hands.”
Dennis Humm’s work can be seen on his website Den’s Pens, and his shop at dens-pens.square.site; on his Instagram @denscustompens; on his Twitch stream Twitch.tv/denspens2k; and at pen shows in London in spring and fall. Future shows will include more in the UK, and perhaps the Dutch and Singapore shows.
