By Taylor Breckles (Contributor)
“Get your geek on,” urges the Facebook cover photo of local business, Geekery To You From Me.
Artist Melissa Lenardon works in a home-based workshop to create gifts from every fandom imaginable in many mediums.
“The main [fandom] is Dr. Who,” explains Lenardon. She also deals in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Edgar Allen Poe, and anything else from Harry Potter to Super Mario Bros.
But how did she get started?
“It kinda flew overnight,” Lenardon says. “I was painting Dr. Who shoes [and] a Dr. Who Facebook page said, ‘show us your creative stuff.’ … In about three hours I went from 30 likes to about 320.”
Lenardon’s business was created in one night, and took off from there all over the U.S. and Canada.
Even though Lenardon mainly deals in the Dr. Who community, she says she is willing to try anything.
“It’s pretty much by request,” she says, “so if somebody asks for something, I’ll look it up and take it from there.”
No matter how obscure the fandom, a product can be created with the help of Google and Lenardon’s craftsmanship.
As far as cost goes, Lenardon admits that things can get pricey and that can prove to be a challenge.
“Mostly [the price] is based off the cost of the product and then [trying] to put a price on the time,” she says. On the other hand, she notes, no one is expected to pay unless they’re happy with her design.
“I don’t expect people to pay first,” she explains. “I’m going to try, I’m going to make [the product]. If you like it, awesome. If you don’t, maybe somebody else will.”
She notes that she hasn’t had someone decline her geekery mock-ups yet.
“I want people to be able to express how geeky they are,” Lenardon shares. “We’re now in a time [where] it’s more acceptable to be a geek and be open about it.”
Lenardon is humble about her craft, and expresses that “everyone has their thing that they love most,” so she tries to remain unbiased and non-judgmental regarding every fandom.
Lenardon works with a variety of mediums in order to please every fan. She has worked with shoes, a plethora of mugs, plates, clay, some jewellery, and she is starting on making bags because she says, “you can never have enough totes. Ever.”
In the near future, Lenardon is looking to add another medium: shirts. “I’m more excited about that than anything else,” she explains, “because then you can have it be exactly what you want.”
Geekery To You From Me has been running for less than a year, and Lenardon has some sage advice to pass on to anyone willing to start crafting.
“It’s not that it’s easy and it’s not that it’s hard, you just have to do it. You just have to be dedicated [enough] to take the time and understand that there’s going to be trial and error,” she says. “Just be patient; you’re not going to get it right the first time, but the big thing is when you see all of these amazing things online—all of [this] really ‘oh my gosh’ stuff—don’t expect to get that the first time.”
