My husband’s high school friend Mike Chew is a self taught banjo builder. He came by the trade through many twists and turns in his life but he has been able to make this his full time (besides being a dad and husband) passion. Please check him out at Dogwood Banjo Co even if you aren’t into banjos per se. His workmanship is a beauty to see and he’s a pretty great guy too. He came down to our house quite a few years back to work on learning how to do the Lichtenberg technique of burning wood. He offhandedly gave me a banjo rim and said “you should draw something on that” . I took it, thinking about what a fun project it would be, and set it down with all the other fun projects.
Years went by and the banjo rim was pushed further and further back on the fun project pile. Chew would often remind me in some snarky comment about it and I would laugh it off . It became mostly a joke between us. I had several drawings people wanted done and then also started painting pottery. This turned into painting mugs which turned into lots of people wanting them. I finished a mug for someone and wanted to take a small break from painting. I had several drawings I had started but still wanted something different to do. I was reorganizing while cleaning one day and came across the banjo rim. “hmmm. This would be a fun project. “ I took it out of its place in the pile and set it on the dining room table where I did most of my art work. I had had a studio of sorts in the library room of the house but it had become my work from home space when the pandemic hit.
A couple days later, I took the rim and started outlining a design in pencil. I work with the shape and space of the piece when doing something like this. Shape and design go hand in hand for me. I always start with a couple of bigger designs and then fill in the spaces . Shapes within shapes within shapes.
Soon the outline was finished. It was time to do the outline in pen and then start filling in the detail. I picked up one of my favorite Prismacolor fine line marker and got to work. I notice it went very smoothly for a few lines but then would seem to dry up. I scribbled it against some paper. It was faded at first but gradually came park to its deep black color. I started a few more lines on the rim and same thing. I looked at the tip a bit more closely and it seemed to be picking up a kind of film off the finish that was on the skin that comprised the rim. I kept at it a little bit but it was getting increasingly frustrated to have to keep stopping. I couldn’t get into the flow of the drawing and creating.
I switched to my STA pigment liner pen that I loved. Nope. I switched to Faber Castell artist pen. Nope. I switched to Faber Castell artist brush pen. Better and then nope. I tried Sharpie markers both the pens and fine line markers. Nope. This fun project was becoming increasingly less fun. I loved the design and was excited to get it filled in but had no idea how to do it without ruining every marker I had and taking hours upon hours to do so. I was sitting at the table staring at the rim in frustration when it hit me. The glass pen .
A couple of years ago a friend and coworker gave me a glass pen for my birthday. It was handblown and came in a case with a set of four small ink jars. It was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen. The handle was black with purple running down it and the tip glowed in a spiral of clear glass. It fit in your had exactly as it should. It was the kind of fit that you searched your whole life for. Trying out every new pen that came out. Pens from companies, pens in the mail, pens stolen from restaurants and gas stations , pens bought , pens given…on and on. This pen was like the glass slipper sliding onto Cinderella’s foot. Perfect fit.
I had dabbled with it on and off. I watched Utube video’s and scared myself glass pen straight. It mostly sat in it’s beautiful box where I would look at it when I need to move it aside for something. I wondered if the glass and ink would work better. I went to the place I had it stored and brought the box back to the table. I took it out and immediately felt the satisfaction of the fit in my hand. I just held it for awhile . I was always scared to try something new and had to talk myself into it. Finally, I was ready. I dipped the pen in the ink and slowly applied it to the rim. The ink flowed in a controlled flow down the turned glass tip and darkly and uniformly across the rim. It was so perfect my mouth actually gaped open in disbelief. As long as the pen had ink, it would lay down the lines in any pattern I wanted with the uniformity of a regular pen on paper. Soon I was into the pull of the pattern and lost in the creating of it with no longer having to stop every few pen strokes. The stopping to refill the pen became natural and part of the rhythm of the physical drawing itself. Continuously drawing while learning to use the ink correctly so you finished at a natural stopping point of the pattern and refilled to start a new spot in the pattern.
Soon the rim was done. There were a few spots where the ink soaked in more than other spots so they were a little lighter in color. I was able to go over those with sharpie which went on smoothly over the other ink. It put the finishing uniform touch. I turned it around and around and smiled at it due to how it came to be. It’s funny how these two completely unrelated things came together to create something new. It fascinates me how things in life combine in ways we don’t imagine. You just have to be open to possibilities and think a bit outside of the normal or what you thought should be normal. When you do, it is a really fun project.
