Sixteen-year-old junior Blake Glatley has an uncommon hobby: he makes handcrafted wood pens. But what’s just as interesting as the pens he creates is everything that led him to choose woodworking as a hobby, including his capacity for compassion and his innate curiosity.
As an elementary school student at Mercer, Blake noticed that the students with disabilities didn’t seem to have many friends. So he got to know them and then he started spending his Friday lunch and recess in the Resource Room because he liked it. By the time he was at the Middle School, he spent every lunch period in the Resource Room “hanging out and being a peer, not being a helper,” as he says. Today, he’s a high school junior with a keen interest in special education and psychology---which is why he decided to take College Credit Plus classes this year at Notre Dame College.
Blake’s decision to get a jump start on college while in high school also led him to re-evaluate how he was spending his time outside the classroom. “I was spending way too much time watching Netflix,” he admits. So he needed a hobby, which led him to the Intenet, which led him to woodworking (naturally).
Let’s start with the pens. How long has this been a hobby? I started at the beginning of summer, back in May because I knew that I was going to be taking college courses this year. And since I was taking on this huge endeavor that is college, I thought I could use a hobby that would also be a good stress-reliever. So I was on the Internet and saw a video of someone making a bowl on a lathe. I was totally mesmerized and thought that maybe that was something I could do, but that I would have to start with something smaller. Like pens. So I bought a used lathe on Craigs List and started to teach myself.
Would you call yourself a woodworker now? What I’ve noticed about woodworkers by looking at their work is that they’re a humble people. They would never say that their work is the best. At this point, I wouldn’t describe myself as a woodworker. The thing about it is that there’s always a skill that can be built on.
Where do you find your parts for the pens? I’ve bought pen kits online---they have the pen parts, the ink and the tube. And sometimes I order the wood online, too, but I’ve also found some great pieces in our backyard or just walking down the street. Some are ash, walnut, cherry. I order this purple heart africa wood and experimented with charring it---that really brought out the purple in the wood. My favorite pen is made of some wood I found just walking down Shelburne Road.
How long does it take to make a pen? About an hour from start to finish. I do it all in our basement. I don’t have any clocks around. Just some music playing. It’s kind of messy, so I’ve condensed everything I’d need to make a pen onto one shelf. I mounted the lathe to the wall and built storage with two-by-fours. I also organized the tools by priority in a way that makes sense to me. And I also built a wall to catch the dust on the floor and created a special vacuum attachment to clean up the dust.
How did you know that woodworking, of all things, was going to interest you? In middle school, we had a design class that was part of the IB cycle and it was my favorite class. We got to build stuff. I never really looked into doing anything else, but the stars aligned with this opportunity because I was looking for a hobby and I enjoy it so much.
What is it that you like about making these pens? It’s just the simplicity intertwined with the complexity of it. It’s a simple idea but then you get to the practice of it and you realize you don’t know what you’re doing. But you do it again and again and again and you get to new pathways. Once I jumped into it, I was like, ‘Wow, there are a bunch of possibilities here.’ It’s very interesting.
You’re also very involved with Shaker’s special education students? Right now, I’m taking general psychology and sociology at Notre Dame College because I’m interested in taking a path in special education. During the summer, I work with a speech pathologist at FIT, a program that helps kids with their social skills in fun ways. It’s a great program. For me it’s really interesting to see the differences between kids in the multi-handicap room and the kids at FIT. I see the different tactics used by the teachers. It’s all amazing to me and helps me get a broader view of special education.
My other passion is Project Support at the High School. [Project Support is a social club designed for students from all walks of life to make friends and participate together in social activities.] Last year, we held a dance at the High School and we had a teacher who was a DJ. The kids really loved it.