(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.)
Brett Arnold’s career as a pen maker began by “a complete accident – or maybe a tragedy.” In October 2016, several trees fell on the shed/shop where he kept his tools. Because he was recovering from knee surgery, he accepted help from a neighbor to assist in rebuilding the shed, and then he needed to replace his tools. When he and his wife were doing that shopping, they saw some lathes and agreed, “That looks like fun, let’s try it,” and he signed up for a woodturning class.
One of the things covered in his class was the making of kit pens, which he found appealing, and he began attending local markets to sell kit pens, because “if you’re going to keep making them, at some point you need to start selling them.” He was soon receiving requests from his customers for this thing called a “fountain pen” – “I knew what they were but didn’t own one” – and made some kit fountain pens before he became aware of kitless pens and began researching how to make them. In late 2019, he had a chance to take a class from Jim Hinze in making kitless pens and quickly began acquiring the supplies needed to make them.
In early 2020, a perfect storm of COVID lockdowns and shoulder surgery meant Brett was at home a lot. “My previous career had been in residential/commercial property management, but at the time I was working part time in a Sherwin Williams store after recovering from another knee surgery, and I was not an essential employee.” The ability to devote himself to working in his shop jump-started his kitless pen creation.
He began doing resin casting at the beginning of his kitless pen journey, “or even before – I was doing inlays in wooden bowls.” Tim McKenzie, maker of the DiamondCast materials, lives not too far away and provided some advice about the needed setup and how to vertically cast round materials. At the moment he casts mostly solid color pieces to serve as accents, and doesn’t sell his blanks, although he will give some away or swap them with other makers. Despite having three pressure pots, and a notebook of close to 400 blank recipes (“including the fails”), he keeps blank casting in perspective – “I have to either make pens or make blanks. I want to make pens.” Most of his pens use materials from Turnt Pen Company, Carolina Pen Company, Pourly Controlled and of course DiamondCast. His wife has made some blanks, helps with choosing colors for blanks, and keeps the company books, but she works fulltime, and is often called away to help her mother, leaving less time to be involved in the shop.
The accent resins are for his Onslow model, a resin pen with cap and barrel finials in coordinating colors, and ornamental rings. “I have a drawer full of blanks in a wide rainbow to match with for the Onslow. I worked in a frame shop as a young man and did a lot of color matching there, so I’m not new to coordinating colors.” Brett’s first trial of the Onslow design was completely clear to see how the parts worked together, but demonstrator pens are not really what he wants to focus on. “To do a demonstrator right, you’d have to charge double for all the polishing work.” He has evolved a way to make pens with parts that are not fully internally polished but still are clear.
He makes the metal parts for the Onslow, and has a preference for nickel silver, despite the expense and the waste – “you waste half the bar due to the size of the cut being about the same as the size of the ring. If you don’t want to make your own, it is hard to find someone who offers nickel silver.” Depending upon the color scheme he will also make rings in brass, bronze, or stainless steel.
Brett has lived in Durham, NC, all his life, and his pen models are all named after places in the area, such as his current residence in Walltown, as well as Catsburg, Onslow, and the former Watts Hospital where both he and his wife were born. His father was a builder, mechanic, and all-around handyman who taught him to enjoy working with his hands, so a craft like pen making is a great fit. He is a full-time pen maker, but he tries to keep the work within boundaries. “You get lonely in the shop by yourself. I work for myself, but I don’t press myself, or work on weekends or at night. I don’t try to kill myself doing it, so I continue to enjoy it.” Movies and podcasts in the shop help keep him entertained, and he has the flexibility to stop working to drive his mother or his mother-in-law to medical appointments. He also organizes the work so it doesn’t get monotonous. “I typically make four pens at a time, so I’m not doing fifty of everything at once – sanding and polishing too many at once will make your hand cramp.”
Participation in the pen makers’ Discord and the As The Pen Turns secret Santa exchange has resulted in the expansion of his collection of pens by other makers. “At first I was buying pens for ‘market research’” – a Vanishing Point, a Montblanc, a Pelikan 800 – “or if someone asked me, ‘How does your pen compare to X other pen’ I bought one.” But his priority is collecting pens by other makers he knows. His preference runs to broad nibs, and he is adding some Sig and architect grinds as well.
Although he’s enjoyed attending pen shows, Brett isn’t certain he wants to participate as a vendor. “I’ve thought about doing Raleigh, his local show, but I don’t want to get too much busier. Things have been a little slower this year but I never run out of commissions, and I can turn them around pretty fast.” The question of having enough inventory to do a show has been a concern in the past, but at the moment he has about fifty pens in his shop. (You know what to do!)
This year, Brett bought two laser engravers, and is using them to add to his bag of tricks. He engraves his Jowo nibs now (and will do a Bock compatible section on request), and he has added resin inlays to some of his pens. “It started as, ‘I could cut different shape ink windows...’” Now he will cut out a shape in the resin with the laser, and then cast new resin back into the shape in solid colors. His pen drops generally happen on Mondays, “a day that’s different” - one more way he makes his pens stand out.
Brett Arnold’s work can be seen on Instagram, and his Etsy store at Walltown Pens.
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