Guest Artist - Keith Henning - Creativewriting

www.creativewriting.etsy.com

One of our newest members and one of three gentlemen in our Guild is Keith Henning. Keith’s beautiful pens are elegant, classy and have a definite masculine quality. Although he does have one pink one in his Etsy shop I have my eye on. He also makes tie tacks for the discerning GQ man.

He has been been making polymer clay pens for a little over a year and considers himself a rookie in the field. Making pens is something he stumbled upon in his search for a hobby. He changed jobs several years ago and came into a situation where he was no longer working weekends and nights (the normal chef life). With new found time on his hands, he needed to find a hobby. His first choice was woodworking. He says, “The intrigue of power tools growling away in the garage and the man verses wood excitement kept my interest for a few years. During one of my many trips to man world (the Woodcraft store) I saw a demo on pen turning. Suddenly I felt the need to make pens. They were smaller, more intimate, and everyone needs a good one. The first problem I had was no lathe. A lathe is essential when trying to turn something (duh) and not having one wasn’t going to break my spirit. It would have been easier to go buy one, but it was the premise of trying to figure out how to make a pen without a lathe that drove me to polymer. ”

“Wood has many constraints and I wanted to make pens that were only limited to my creativity and imagination. I grew up around polymer clay and usually helped my mom kneed it when her hands were tired, thank god for reformulation and pasta machines, and I was curious if it was durable enough to make pens. In my research I came across a few kit pens, but mostly Bic style pens covered with clay. As I delved deeper into the world of PC I started to see different techniques and uses than what I remembered as a kid. Faux effects, mica shifts, caning and that was only the beginning - I was hooked. So here I am making pens and having a ball. The power tools and memories of man-world are gathering dust, except for a few (tools not memories) I still use for my pens.”
He now scans the newspapers for clay sales and hangs out at Michael’s - just like the rest of us.