Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Garrett Wedan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Garrett, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

Oh wow this is quiet the question that I have honestly not thought of before. Backstory is the perfect place to start to truly think about this. I started my chainmaille journey in November 2018 and decided in December that I wanted to do it for more then just fun. At this point I felt extremely set in my IT career, I loved my job, I had been there for a little over four years and saw myself retiring there. My wife and I had been dating for about three years things were going well, and I felt like life was in a good spot.

Fast forward about a year I was ready to make the next step in my chainmaille journey and do bigger events, but as we all know 2020 is going to go down in history. The year started with big changes at work, my team and position was eliminated, thankfully a different role was found for me but it wasn’t something my heart was truly in. So I started the process of finding a new job, which I was lucky enough able to find a good position, and I started April 2nd two weeks after they had all been sent to work from home. I had proposed the year before and we were supposed to be married April 25th in Las Vegas, we still went ahead with the wedding at home as travel and lodging was shutdown. The events I had planned to do were cancelled or postponed. So all in all like everyone else in the world at the time it seemed like everything was crashing down around me.

As 2020 continued on, I really started enjoying my new job, enjoyed working from home, the work was fun and I didn’t feel stressed. With more time available I was having fun growing my skills and learning new weaves making fun chainmaille projects. I had been sitting at home for a few months at this point and was like hey the world isn’t going anywhere I’m not seeing people, lets dye my hair. I think this was a turning point in myself as a person. I would have said up to that point I was a fairly straight laced and very analytical. Adding the color to my hair broke that creative dam so to speak.

2021 was a bit of training wheels for events, 2022 started and I kicked those off, and I’ve been flying down a hill since then. If I had started years earlier and just been finding my stride when covid hit, I could have easily gotten discouraged and stumbled by that break. If I had started after 2020 I don’t know where I would be right now, I don’t think I could be at the level that I am now, I feel like I would be a few years behind where I am.

I think I started at the right time, covid gave me a built in pause that really forced me to grow my skills and build the basics. Having that strong base set and having an extra year to think about growth really set me up to run into the future and not just walk. I’ve changed so much as a person through out the journey, like when I started this I was so straight laced and in a lot of ways a boring nerd. But now I’ve had colored hair for over 4 straight straight years, both my arms are covered in tattoos with more planned, I’m an alt nerd now and happier then I could have imagined when I started this process.

Garrett, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Spark notes version of my journey. I grew up around family creating things, my grandpa was a carpenter by trade, my grandma was always cooking, and my mom did ton’s of crafts. So I’ve always enjoyed art and creating things, though metal work had never been in that, it wasn’t something that I had been exposed to. My wife and I were at a convention and I saw someone selling chainmaille and I was blown away, we went back to the hotel room and I started looking into it. Now I’m here over 6 years later with a large slate of cons ahead of me for 2025

A lot of my chainmaille is everyday wear jewelry and accessories, earrings, fidgets, necklaces, bookmarks for those that love reading books. But I also am all about fun wearable and cosplay pieces, pauldrons, tails, and fun custom work. As much as I enjoy making my usual items and coming up with some fun one off pieces, custom orders are truly the best.

I find the most joy in scalemaille work, its so visually stunning, its a fidget, it catches everyone’s eye. Putting others visions into reality gives an extra level of challenge, so I love getting custom orders that push my skills.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The look and smile on peoples faces is the best. Whether its a custom order or someone finding something at my table. Seeing that joy on peoples faces is priceless and worth the early mornings and rushed packing and setting up, it just proves the work was worth it all.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

As an IT guy I understand I live in the digital age, I live and breath it every day, its what keeps a roof over my head. I also know that consistent theme in video and print media is post apocalyptic future. As a planet we are also constantly on the precipice of it actually happening it seems. Even if that doesn’t happen, the resources of the globe is a huge concern, ice caps melting, global hunger, housing, all of these things. So to put so much money into digital resources that could disappear so easily and in so many cases were almost done as a meme just feels like a waste to me. We already have great collectable art that retains its value, whether its something from an artist today or a Picasso. You can walk through a persons house, museums from small to large towns and see this amazing art hanging on the wall or sitting on a pedestal, people wearing it in a fashion show or on the street, at an awards show, but its easy for one to millions enjoying that art. An NFT is what sitting in a digital wallet that someone buys and probably doesn’t look at again, no one else is enjoying this. I don’t want to walk into a museum and see a bunch of TVs scrolling through stuff, I’m going to stand there for 15seconds and then walk away. Physical art is the true medium of art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thenerdoftherings.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheNerdOfTheRings
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheNerdOfTheRings/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/76206314