New Keychains and Cheaper Shipping

I have been working hard making keychains over the last few months and have come up with 5 different styles of rainbow.  First there was the translucent with a clear center, when I ran out of those translucent colors I switched to another shade of translucent with a more solid red and light purple with a clear center, but then someone asked for a rainbow keychain with a black center so I made some of those.  When I ran out of those translucent rainbow colors, I switched to a new color combination which is what you see in the image above.  Rainbow C1 C2 and C3.  They are all solid colors except for the orange which is translucent, that was all they had.

The reason I am making the rainbow keychains is well, um… because I am gay and the rainbow is basically my flag, so it only makes sense, right?  Not to mention they are pretty.  Speaking of flag, I have also made some American Flag keychains for the 4th of July.  I really like both the DNA and the Crinkle Cut style.

The shipping went down from $3.20 to $2 because I was able to buy cheaper padded envelopes, so I am passing along the savings to you.

The keychains are around 6 to 6 1/2 inches long.  My earlier keychains were a bit longer and thicker, but that was because I wasn’t tightening them enough, so they seemed to be a bit loose in some spots, but I have gotten better at making them tighter so they look more uniform.  Uniformity is very important when I am making the rainbow keychains because I want them to blend evenly when I change colors.

Since DOMA has been found to be unconstitutional, you can now take 25% off your keychain order by entering the coupon code NODOMA.  That is my gift to you.  That coupon code expires on July 31st, 2013.

Thank you for reading.  I am off to go make more keychains.  Have a nice day. 🙂

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New Etsy Store

I’ve been quite the busy little bee lately.  I decided that I wanted to start making lanyard keychains, but then a friend told me that I could make other patterns, not just the square and the round, but more intricate.  She sent me to Laneyards on YouTube where I learned how to expand my horizons by making this complicated DNA strand pattern.  I went a bit further though, instead of just making it with the clear and color, I decided that I wanted to make one of each in the rainbow colors (purple is not in picture, but it is on Etsy), so I went shopping and found the translucent (which by the way makes it even more difficult to make) and I found the gold and the pink (which isn’t for sale yet).  But then I made one with all of the rainbow colors which I never in a million years thought I’d be able to do.

So what the heck am I supposed to do with all of these keychains?  People are suggesting to me on Facebook that I should sell them on Etsy, so that is what I have done.  I opened up a store called GayNerd.  I didn’t just come up with a price on the spot, I did some research and found that people were selling the DNA strand keychains made out of paracord for $8, although as I type this some of them have them for $1.50 to $5.  There are some DNA keychains made out of hemp as well for around the same low price.  I decided on $4 for the colors, $5 for the rainbow and $5 for the gold.

The rainbow one is really hard to make and takes a long time and these keychains are probably going to ruin my already messed up hands (carpel tunnel syndrome), so that’s why they are that much.  Also the gold is $5 because it’s not cheap at Michael’s.  I figured the colors are inexpensive to buy, but still a long time to make and they are hard to count because of how clear they are.

I’m not expecting anyone to buy these, I am just having fun making something neat out of nothing.  Who knows, I might get out of the DNA phase and move on to something even more complicated.  I like a good challenge.  And even if these keychains are mine forever, sitting on my desk collecting dust, at least I know that I had fun making them and it was a learning experience for me.

If I never sell them, well, let’s just say you can expect to see me on Hoarders in a couple of years LOL.

Just Words T-Shirt

My friend Alyce sent me this t-shirt in, I want to say 2002, but I could be wrong, it was around that area.  Anyway, she was at a thrift store and she saw it she said that it screamed BUY ME FOR MIKE! so she did.  She and I were in a conversation via AOL instant message and she told me she bought me a t-shirt, but she wasn’t sure if I would wear it because of where I lived.  Whenever anyone thinks of Bakersfield, they always think redneck, republican and homophobia.  I waited for her gift and when it arrived I was more than thrilled.

I wore that shirt all the time.  Sometimes I would wear it two days in a row just because I loved its message.  I wore it every week no matter if I was going to the mall or the grocery store.  I didn’t care because I’m here, I’m queer, get used to it!  Besides, I really didn’t think anyone would even understand what it meant, I mean besides it having rainbow colors, I knew people would think it was a gay t-shirt, but I didn’t think they would get its meaning or what statement I was making.

It simply says “JUST WORDS” in random colors with lines of words all mixed together into 1 long sentence in rainbow colors.  The words behind JUST WORDS are simple words like milk, tree, bed, nipple, cock, breast, fag…. you know, your typical average every day words.  There are some that were so offensive that I was afraid that those words would stand out only to those who they offended, but nobody really got it so I felt comfortable wearing it out in public.

I was standing in the express lane at the grocery store one day and this woman glanced at my shirt and looked away, then glanced back at it a couple more times then said to me “I like your shirt” and I so wasn’t expecting to hear that.  I was expecting to hear “You got some nerve…. yadda yadda yadda” but it was quite the opposite.  Then another person, and another and another and it made me feel confident every time I wore it.  Of course some people needed an explanation, so I had to point out a few choice words and explain that the whole message that no matter what word you see on this shirt, it’s just a word, fag has no more meaning to me than the word cigarette which in fact is what they refer to it in the UK.  I don’t get offended when someone calls me a cigarette, so why would I get offended when someone calls me a fag?  It’s just a stupid insignificant word that means nothing to me.

I wore that shirt for so many years that it got so faded and now you can’t read anything because it has been washed so many times that the colors are fading and the words are cracking, so you can’t really read it at all.

A few years ago I decided that I wanted another one, but more in my current size since I had gained weight since the last time I wore my shirt.  I put the shirt on my desk and I just started typing those words out.  Of course I had to add some, delete some and change some because it was so difficult to read behind the big words that I just had to improvise.  I  came up with something that looks nearly the same as the very original, and I think I did a great job if I do say so myself.

So here is the image, if you like it then grab it so you can print it on your own shirt and wear it with pride.

Of course, I encourage anyone who wants to duplicate this to just go into gimp or photo shop and just start typing words and making it any way you want, or you can just click the image above and save it to your computer and print it (backwards) on iron-on paper and print it as is.   This is a replica of the above shirt but with a few modifications.

Enjoy, and let me know if you printed it and wore it somewhere.  Take a picture of you wearing it so I can see and share it with me on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.  I’d be very curious to see how you look in it and what your friends and family had to say about it, whether they loved it or hated it lol.

UPDATE: LOL I had to make a few corrections…