Things I Have Learned From Making Jewellery for People Who Really, REALLY Love Their Fandoms
After years of making geeky jewellery, going to conventions, talking to customers, and generally surrounding myself with people who get way too excited about fictional characters, magical weapons and tiny symbols from video games…
I've learned a few things.
Mostly, I've learned that we are all still 15 years old inside when it comes to our favourite fandoms.
I'm completely here for it.
I grew up in the era when being a nerd wasn't a marketing demographic.
There was no carefully curated "nerd culture."
There was you, your friends, a pile of VHS tapes, video games that required blowing into cartridges, fantasy novels with questionable cover art, and possibly a D&D book that you absolutely did not want your classmates to see.
Fast-forward a few decades and now we have conventions with enormous halls full of people dressed as fictional characters, thousands of vendors, elaborate cosplays and… me, standing behind a table covered in tiny shiny representations of things I also happen to love.
We've come a long way.
And after all these years, I've noticed some patterns.
1. Nobody ever REALLY outgrows their favourite fandom.
You can grow up.
You can get a mortgage.
You can have a career.
You can become responsible for feeding other humans.
You can learn how taxes work.
But somewhere inside you is still the person who stayed up until 2 a.m. playing that game, reading that book, watching that show or obsessing over that character.
And the second you see the right piece of jewellery?
BOOM.
You're 15 again.
I've watched adults walk up to my table, see a piece, and immediately get that look.
You know the look.
The:
"OH MY GOD. I KNOW WHAT THAT IS."
And suddenly we're talking about something they haven't thought about in twenty years.
That's the magic of fandom.
2. There is no such thing as "too obscure."
I have learned not to underestimate people. Ever.
You might look at a piece and think:
"This is probably too niche."
Nope.
Somewhere out there is a person who has been waiting their entire life for someone to make exactly that thing.
And they will find you.
They will walk up to your booth with the confidence of someone who has finally discovered proof that they are not the only person on Earth who remembers this obscure thing from 1998.
And then they will tell you EVERYTHING.
I love these people.
These are my people.
3. The more subtle the reference, the more exciting the reaction.
There's something wonderful about a piece that doesn't immediately scream fandom.
Maybe it's a symbol. A weapon. A creature. A particular shape. A colour combination.
Something that just looks cool unless you know what you're looking at.
Then another fan spots it.
There's that little pause.
"Is that…?"
And you get to say:
"Yep."
And suddenly you've made a friend. It's basically the geek equivalent of a secret handshake.
4. People will absolutely recognize something from a blurry photograph taken 25 years ago.
Never underestimate fandom memory.
I can spend hours looking at reference images trying to get some tiny detail right. Then someone comes along and says:
"The original version actually had three points there instead of two."
And I'm thinking:
How the hell did you know that?!
The answer is usually something along the lines of:
"I've played it 47 times."
Okay then.
Carry on.
This is why I love making fandom jewellery. The people who buy it genuinely care about the details. And they keep me on my toes.
5. Everyone has THAT character.
You know the one. The character they will defend regardless of evidence.
The character whose death/ending/plotline they still haven't emotionally recovered from.
The character they have loved since they were 12.
The character whose jewellery they absolutely need.
And if you criticize that character?
Well.
Choose your next words carefully. I've learned that fandom discussions can escalate very quickly.
I make jewellery.
I do not referee fandom wars.
6. Nostalgia hits harder when you're a Gen Xer or Xennial.
There's something particularly strange about being old enough to remember when the things we love now were considered weird.
I remember being told to put the fantasy books away.
I remember gaming being something you did instead of going outside.
I remember people asking, "Why are you watching cartoons?"
I remember when "nerd" wasn't a lifestyle brand.
And now?
Those same things are everywhere. There are giant conventions. Hollywood blockbusters. Collectibles. Video games with budgets bigger than some countries. And people proudly wearing their fandoms.
The kids who were told to grow up are now the adults buying the cool jewellery.
We won.
7. Sometimes the customer knows more about the fandom than the maker.
Okay.
I'll admit it.
There are pieces I've made where someone has come up to the table and proceeded to teach me something I didn't know. And that's awesome. That's one of the best things about fandom.
Nobody knows everything. There's always another piece of lore. Another obscure reference. Another character. Another interpretation.
Another rabbit hole.
And apparently I have a career that encourages people to send me down those rabbit holes.
This is how I end up researching mythical creatures at 1 a.m.
You're welcome.
8. "I deserve this" is a perfectly legitimate reason to buy jewellery.
I see you.
You've been staring at that piece for five minutes. You've picked it up. You've put it down. You've walked away. You've come back. You're calculating whether you really need it.
Let me save you some time.
You don't need it. You want it.
And that's different. Not everything you buy has to be practical. Sometimes something can simply make you happy.
Especially when it's connected to a story, game, character or fandom that has been part of your life for years.
Life is short.
Buy the shiny thing.
9. Jewellery can be a secret language.
This is probably one of my favourite things about fandom jewellery.
You can walk into a room full of strangers wearing a little symbol around your neck and have absolutely no idea that anyone else understands it.
Then someone notices.
They smile. You smile. Maybe they compliment it. Maybe they ask where you got it. And suddenly you're talking to someone you've never met about something you both love.
That's pretty damn cool.
Jewellery has always been used to communicate belonging. Fandom jewellery just gives us a slightly nerdier vocabulary.
10. Cosplayers are built differently.
I say this with tremendous admiration.
Because I make a little piece of jewellery and think:
"That's pretty detailed."
Then I see someone's cosplay and realize they have spent six months constructing a costume down to the last stitch.
Suddenly my little jewellery project feels positively casual.
Cosplayers have taught me that if you love something enough, you will absolutely spend an unreasonable amount of time making it.
And I respect the hell out of that.
11. Nobody needs an excuse to love what they love.
This might actually be the biggest thing I've learned.
You don't need to justify liking fantasy.
You don't need to justify gaming.
You don't need to justify anime.
You don't need to justify comics.
You don't need to justify collecting things.
You don't need to justify wearing a necklace because it reminds you of a fictional world that makes you happy.
And you definitely don't need to stop enjoying those things because you've gotten older.
We're allowed to keep the things that made us happy when we were younger. In fact, I think adulthood is a lot more fun when you do.
12. The jewellery isn't really the important part.
This is the bit I didn't fully understand when I first started making fandom jewellery.
The jewellery is the physical thing. But the meaning is somewhere else. It's the memory. The character. The game. The story. The friend who introduced you to it.
The convention where you discovered it. The childhood you remember. The person you're buying it for. The younger version of yourself who would have absolutely lost their mind if they could see you wearing it now.
That's what makes fandom jewellery different.
I'm just the person who gets to turn a little bit of that feeling into metal.
That's a pretty damn fun job.
So, what have I REALLY learned?
I've learned that geeks grow up…but they don't necessarily grow out of being geeks.
I've learned that there is a fandom for absolutely everything.
I've learned that someone, somewhere, will know an obscure reference I thought nobody would recognize.
I've learned that nostalgia is powerful.
I've learned that the words "I know what that is!" can start a conversation between complete strangers.
And I've learned that there is no age limit on getting ridiculously excited about something you love.
Which is probably why I keep making this stuff.
Because every time someone comes to my table and gets that look in their eyes—the "OMG, you made THAT?!" look—I know exactly what they're feeling.
I've had that look too.
Probably more times than I should admit.
So here's to the gamers, the fantasy nerds, the collectors, the cosplayers, the lore experts, the convention regulars, the nostalgic Gen Xers, the Xennials who still remember dial-up, and everyone who has ever bought something simply because it reminded them of something they love.
Keep wearing your weird little symbols. Keep loving your ridiculous fictional characters. Keep explaining the lore to people who didn't ask. Keep finding your people.
And most importantly…
Never underestimate the power of a tiny piece of shiny metal to make a giant nerd ridiculously happy.
That's something I can get behind.
Thanks for reading,
