Meet Your Maker: Darrell Davis, D Squared Arts

(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.)College friends can influence our lives even long after graduation. Darrell Davis was teaching high school when his mother passed away, and his father’s health deteriorated to the point that he needed an in home care giver. Davis quit his teaching job to fill that role.At the time, his college friend Shawn Newton was well into a pen making career, and asked him to make some blanks. Having a degree in art, it seemed like a possibility, so Davis made a few blanks as a filler job. Newton liked those, and asked if he could imitate the striated look of Arco blanks. “I tried to mimic it, it worked. I made several iterations – there are still some kinks in the process so I test them all,…