About

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my shop! I appreciate you taking the time to check it out. Hope you found something good!

Why shop at thedreaded39?

thedreaded39 values high quality and reasonable pricing, unique design and intentional creation. All of my product pages include information detailing exactly what I use in the creation of each product. Transparency just makes sense. I do my best to provide the best quality available while maintaining a price point that I myself would be comfortable with. 

The wood sheets I use are sourced from small business as often as availability allows. I use a variety of wood types. Each one I choose has been thoughtfully selected for quality, durability, how well it responds to laser cutting, and beauty. I select our cast acrylic sheets with the same criteria in mind.

If a wood or acrylic material doesn’t cut it, I drop it. There is no using up material just because I bought it. That said, I do try to always make the most of all materials. There are more uses and designs for acrylic and wood sheets than I can fit on this page. While a material may not be suited for daily wear as an acrylic or wood earring, it may be beautiful as a part or piece in another project. I save and try to use everything, as in, every single little scrap. 

Whether you are purchasing a pair of wood stud earrings or acrylic dangle earrings you can be certain intentional thought went into every aspect of design and production. Care is in the details. I know and appreciate this. My aim is to provide my customers with something both I and they are proud of. 

thedreaded39 story

thedreaded39 was born of my love for small, nerdy wooden earrings. Being a bit quirky, every time I browsed my favorite online shop, Etsy, I would see these adorably nerdy wooden and acrylic earrings on my homepage. Since these earrings were handmade I wondered if I would be able to make them for myself. But I had no idea where to begin. I assumed it would be super complicated and require a lot of industrial equipment that I would never be able to afford or understand how to use. 

One day I was searching online and came across a couple videos of a crafter making those very earrings which I loved. She used a laser cutting machine called a Glowforge to make them. It didn’t look like the complicated, intimidating machine I had imagined. I investigated further. I was very excited when I discovered the Glowforge was intended for home use. I’m not going to pretend like I jumped straight to purchasing the machine right then, but the idea had rooted. 

I was beyond excited at the possibility that I could do this myself. I could create my own quirky earrings! A few weeks, and a seriously heavy load of research later, I made the decision. I purchased the Glowforge, began work on my designs, kept researching like crazy, and here we are.

No one ever said starting a business was easy. It’s really been quite an endeavor. I’ve been researching materials, where to buy said materials, how to actually use a Glowforge, setting up so many accounts at so many places, and building out my website for what seems like forever. I want to provide an easy and welcoming shopping experience, with high quality and unique products that I would like for myself. I think that is a worthy endeavor. My brain sometimes disagrees with me as I put it to the task of reading yet another article or how to, but I feel good knowing my customers are being provided a product that I’ve put my heart into.