Meet Your Maker: David Broadwell, Broadwell Studios

(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.)You can’t talk to many pen makers who do anything with metal, before you hear mention of David Broadwell, and how he has been an influence or inspiration for their work.So it’s particularly fun to hear that this artisan and artist began with pens close to my heart, the inexpensive Sheaffer school fountain pens, and the Skrip cartridges they take. “I wrote with Sheaffer school fountain pens in the fifth grade. One of them burped all its ink into my pencil bag.” He just cleaned out the bag and carried on with the pens. “Nobody else was using fountain pens, everyone was using Bics. We found that if you warm the ‘clip’ on the cap of a Bic stick pen with a match or a lighter, you can…