alt Hacker NewsYes, you can use spacers. That is probably a good way to get started. I believe you can even use kits to put a standard lens on 'back to font'. I prefer a dedicated macro lens personally. Lenses like the Laowa 100mm for Nikon are fairly decent and not _that_ expensive (note it is manual focus - in macro you generally move the camera rather than changing the lens focus).
Just to echo what you said:
The "reversing ring" trick does work, (mounting a lens backwards) but the ergonomics are shit. I bought one to play with and tossed it in a drawer after only using it once. A real macro lens is so much better.