Jared Bare designed a ninja-star fidget spinner that turned into one of the best-selling items for his small business, TeTched Customs LLC. Photo by Amy Byres.

A 3D printer has taken a Rio Rancho veteran on a journey of recovery and creativity in building sensory objects, like fidget spinners.

U.S. Army veteran Jared Bare is the owner of TeTched Customs LLC, a business operated out of his home in Rio Rancho. Bare builds sensory objects in a sun-room filled with different types of plastics and a view of the Sandia Mountains.

“My company makes fidgets, widgets, knickknacks and strange things,” he said.

Self-described as a “big grown-up kid,” Bare created a fun and relaxing space to build his creations. He has three 3D printers named Black Pearl, Black Beard and Etch-a-Print One, as well as a food dehydrator named Dusty he uses to cure his plastic.

With a 3D printer, anything can be made, he said.

Currently, Bare is building a replica of a dagger from the video game “Skyrim.” He hopes to break into the Comicon market, so he may create more objects from these fantasy worlds, he said.

“We like Comicon, and we love going to Comicon, and I have just been fascinated with my two favorite people growing up, MacGyver and Jim Henson,” he said. “So I’ve aspired to be that person that can do anything with what is in front of me and have the imagination that Jim Henson did, and that’s what drives me with everything I do.”

Bare’s creative journey has not only been about creativity but also about recovery.

He served in the U.S. Army from 2000-03 and struggled to reintegrate to civilian life

“I have probably gone undiagnosed for anxiety, PTSD (Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder) and depression for the past 18 years, and when I discovered fidget spinners and building my own designs, I started looking at other sensory objects,” he said.

This was the moment creativity sparked for Bare and he saw what sensory objects could do for people with anxiety, PTSD and depression, he said.

“Just kind of seeing what else is out there, what else can I do, what can I change, what can I make my own, and one of the things that has oddly always intrigued me is how a bottle of hypnotic liquor has pearlescent swirls in it and that’s where (the idea for) a (glitter bomb) came from,” Bare said.

He was diagnosed with PTSD this year and has been learning new ways to cope. He would use his fidget spinners at work to get through meetings and day-to-day anxiety.

The process of building and designing fidget spinners and glitter globes has instilled a sense of mindfulness, and the process is meditative, he said.

Bare designed his own symbol to bring awareness to PTSD. This design was inspired by IGY6, a project using the military phrase “I got your six” to reduce the number of suicides among veterans and first responders.

U.S. Army veteran Jared Bare designed this symbol to bring awareness to PTSD among those who serve in the military and community. Photo by Amy Byres.

“Military PTSD (and) PTSD in service to the community, there’s got to be more to that than just a teal ribbon, so I looked up the colors of the IGY6,” he said. “So, the IGY6 colors are black for the hearts that it has affected, red for the blood that has been spilled because of it and teal for the awareness of PTSD.”

With those colors in mind, Bare created a shield key chain to remind soldiers that they started with a defense, he said.

“A shield is what we need to have because a shield tells someone that I’ll be there for you, I’ll protect you, I will help you hold the line,” he said.

Bare said he chose one star for the design to unite all those with PTSD.

“The community of PTSD, and the military, we’re all one. We joke with each other; we haggle with each other; we’re all one. And we need to be one, and what’s better than the one star?” he said.

TeTched Customs sensory items are available on Bare’s website, tetchedcustoms.com.

Ultimately, Bare would like his business to turn into a “lifestyle career” and support him and his family. He continues to use his talents to help his community’s mental health and support any good-willed cause, such as breast cancer and suicide prevention, he said.