Blog Post 10/08/2025
Hello, and thank you so much for visiting my little company! I am Tamara Rowland, founder and Chief Penmaker here at WRYT365 Custom Pens. I've worn a lot of titles both personally and professionally in my life. But the two that are most precious to me today are Parent and Penmaker. I could go on and on about my amazing kids (er, young adults!) but for this post I'll stick to the professional title.
I get asked how I got into making pens at just about every event I attend. The answer is very straight forward on the surface, but there are deeper underlying reasons that guided me to this art. And I do consider it art (industrial art is still art)! Sometimes the art is very basic, but other times the art is 100% inspiration.
My basic path to penmaking was simple. Ever since I was young I loved making things out of wood and other materials. I was a natural born maker of things (I'm also a natural born breaker of things, but that's the flip side of creating!) I've always admired wood creations and the melding of natural wood grain with practical functionality. Over the years I’ve made wooden objects from basic "it'll get the job done" monstrosities to fine wooden jewelry boxes with bookmatched grain. And I've loved each creation equally. In time, my admiration gravitated to items turned on a wood lathe - vases and plates and bowls. I'm mesmerized by the artistic flow of wood grain, especially in burls. I decided I wanted to make wood bowls and vases.
While visiting family on the East Coast, I saw a pen turning demonstration at an art festival in beautiful Vermont. I thought, "That looks easy. I could learn to make pens as my stepping stone to making vases, bowls, and plates!" So, what did this impulsive maker do? While waiting in the airport to board the flight home, I went online and ordered a lathe and all the tools I thought I would need.
A few days later I was up and running! I followed all the instructions in the books I had. Surely, this would be easy and I'd be cranking these babies out one after another. But, no! My first attempts were complete and utter failures! I was despondent, what did I do that was so wrong? So, feeling utterly dejected, I admitted defeat and signed up for a pen turning class at a local woodworking store. There I had my first success, under the guidance of someone who actually knew what they were doing, and my flame was ignited! Unfortunately, the next several attempts under my own supervision were also disasters. But each one was closer to a functioning pen, so I kept at it, making mistake after mistake after mistake. It was humbling, frustrating, annoying, but also very satisfying in a place deep inside me. An artistic place that hadn’t been activated like this before. I was falling in love with the process as much as the end product!
Those first few years of penmaking were a bit of a blur. Mostly mediocre creations that were much more function over form. I’d squeeze out a few beauties here and there, but most were nothing to write home about. My first favorite pens (and mechanical pencils) were the ones I made for my kids. It’s extra special when your child thinks the thing you made for them is the coolest thing in the world! That topic is worthy of its own blog post.
The reality of those first years of penmaking is that I wasn’t in control of my faculties. I was drinking alcohol to excess and always drinking while out in my garage shop. (Note to the kids and adults in the room: it is NOT safe to drink alcohol while using power tools. Don’t do it!) But when you’re an alcoholic, drinking is standard fair when you’re in the shop. I’m sure it’s a big part of why my early creations were so meh. Irregular fit and finish, inconsistent measurements, mediocre finishes…very amateur.
In 2016, I finally got sober and my world started to change. I’m sure I’ll write more posts about my sobriety, but today I’ll stick to how it impacted my penmaking. Early sobriety was very hard. I started having panic attacks, my brain was screaming at me, my emotions were a rollercoaster. I found that one of the few activities that could temporarily quiet all the internal cacophony was in my shop, at my lathe, making pens. I spent hours and hours focusing on each individual action, honing my skills little by little.
And I finally started to make some really beautiful art! And not just visual art, very practical art. A common practice in recovery circles is frequent journaling. Writing about fears and resentments, wins and losses, goals and desires is a way I can take the emotional feelings inside my body and recognize them for what they are, seeing how they shape my actions and treatment of others. The act of journaling deserves its own blog post, for this one I’ll just say that I didn’t want to write with any old Bic pen…I wanted to bring my emotions out using MY pen. My own creation. One that felt personal. One that felt like me!
After a few months of toiling away in the shop, I had more pens than I could use. I gave many away to friends but realized I was also giving away my time and money (materials aren’t cheap!) So, I started selling pens to some friends at what I considered a fair price (under-priced lol). Several friends suggested I should sell my pens professionally at art shows. Were my pens really that good? Would strangers I’ve never met think they were anything special?
Fast forward many years, and the answer is a resounding yes! I didn’t come to this acceptance overnight; it took many festivals and having many repeat clients to convince me that my pens are worthy of at least some praise. Are there better penmakers in the world? Absolutely! And there always will be. There are also many, many penmakers who haven’t reached the level of precision and attention to detail that I attempt to attain with each of my creations. The “10,000 hours” rule is commonly referenced as the threshold required for mastery of a skill. I have no idea how many hours I’ve put into this art in the 13 or so years since I started. All I know is that the pens I make today look nothing like the pens I made in 2013. And I’m very proud of the development I’ve achieved over these years.
In February 2019 I officially formed WRYT365, LLC. A strange name to some, but it has immense meaning behind it. I wanted my business name to express its purpose. What are we doing here? What is our goal? For me, I wanted my pens to help me express my inner feelings. To help me write. To help me find my truth. And that’s what I want my creations to do for others. So, it became:
Write Your Truth! Every Day … WRYT365
May your days be filled with love and joy and healing. All my best to you,
Tamara