Artistic Endeavours

ACLU ROCKS

Posted by Jeklyn Hyde on 2024-04-14
Read Time: 5 Minutes

I found a "VIRGINTIY ROCKS" lanyard on the side of the road… It needed improvement.

ACLU ROCKS

So I went to join a friend for a walk one day on a lunch break, and I saw this lanyard in the ditch on the way over. I didn't pick it up right away because I could easily see that it said "VIRGINTIY ROCKS". I scoffed at it and continued on my walk.

But on the way back, it was still there. And I love irony...

So I picked it up along with some other roadside trash and made my way home.

Image Date & Alt Text: 2024-03-15

A lanyard with the words “VIRGINITY ROCKS”. It has a good plastic buckle, and a broken metal clip at the end.

I washed the hell out of it (or into it?). The clasp was broken, which is one of the reasons why I'm guessing this was discarded. But that was easy enough to fix. I picked out the stitching and replaced it with a key ring. With a clip attached to my phone case, I used this as-is as a phone leash for a while.

But then I decided that, as much as I love irony, being weird about virginity isn't something that I want to espouse.

So I bought a couple lanyards from ACLU.

"We're here. We're Queer. We'll see you in court."

And

"Protect Trans Kids"

The quality of these lanyards was a little disappointing. They're kind of thin, and the stitching is bare on the back side. That's just asking to get caught on things and get ruined over time. So I had the idea to combine them with the one that I found as a base and really improve the whole situation.

I picked out the rest of the stitching next to the buckle, and the stitching on the ACLU lanyards, then I lined them up carefully, pinned them together, and ran them through a sewing machine.

Image Date & Alt Text: 2024-04-05

The stitching next to a plastic buckle has been removed from a lanyard. Side view showing how the band has been layered on top of itself.

Here I've already stitched along one edge. You can see the mess of red threads on the back of the We're Here We're Queer band.

Image Date & Alt Text: 2024-04-05

White lanyard with “We’re here. We’re Queer. We’ll see you in court” and checkerboard pattern in black stitching, and ACLU in red. This has been stitched along one edge to the “Virginity Rocks” band. The back side of the ACLU band is folded over and you can see a lot of red threads.

The Protect Trans Kids band was a similar situation, but a little bit better since the colours were more frequently intermixed. Also, you can see that the "Virginity Rocks" text is on both sides of that band, so there was no making use of it without covering both sides.

Image Date & Alt Text: 2024-04-05

White lanyard with “Protect Trans Kids”, ACLU, and checkerboard pattern in pink and blue stitching. This has been stitched along one edge to the “Virginity Rocks” band. The back side of the ACLU band is folded over and you can see a some of the pink and blue threads.

Stitching these together should help them last much longer. And now I have the most badass lanyard that is (probably) unique in all the world, sturdy, functional, supports causes that are close to my heart, and is a secret affront to the intent of whatever creep had those virginity lanyards made.

Image Date & Alt Text: 2024-04-11

The finished custom double-sided lanyard. On one side, “We’re here. We’re Queer. We’ll see you in court” and checkerboard pattern in black stitching, and ACLU in red. On the other side “Protect Trans Kids”, ACLU, and checkerboard pattern in pink and blue stitching. There is a sturdy buckle and a ring with a clip at the end.