Tony started turning pens in early 2018 after his wife, Holly, surprised him with a lathe for Christmas. At first, he was quite intimidated by the pen-making process; however, after watching some instructional videos, he found it was easier than first thought. The first few pens Tony created turned out to be complete disasters—but he did not give up. He learned from his mistakes and slowly started showing off his creations to his family and some close friends. With their encouragement, Tony started to post his work on social media and, as word spread of Tony’s budding talent, requests started coming in.

May 1, 2018, a fountain pen that someone requested debuted on his Instagram page and was a game changer. This pen pushed Tony outside of his comfort zone but spurred him on to try more new things. For several months he worked exclusively with wood blanks, but by September 2018 his first acrylic pen debuted on Instagram and he has not looked back since. By the time 2018 ended he had turned close to 200 Pens!

Tony started using the shop as a ministry tool in 2019 by inviting individuals, in a small group setting, to join him and learn how to turn. The sessions included an introduction to turning, turning woods and turning acrylics. The only cost to those participating was the cost of the pen kit and blank they picked out. At the end of the sessions, each person had turned two pens (and coming soon – Christmas ornaments)!

All of the turning is done in shop by Tony, but his wife is involved as well. Holly helps with searching for materials, quality control, and with writing and editing of the social media posts. Most importantly she is always encouraging Tony to never give up no matter how challenging a pen is or how daunting an order may seem at first. Baby steps.