CHEYENNE, Wyo. — At first glance, the keychains Gina Vamp sells from her Cheyenne-based business, G String Creations, look colorful and girly.
Don’t let the innocent design fool you, though. Armed with items like a cat ear–shaped brass knuckle and small knife, these chains are used for self-defense purposes.
The $45 keychains hold several objects: the knuckle; a knife disguised as a key; a mini flashlight; a safety whistle; a Kubotan, which is a pen-sized combat stick; a leather chain and a fluffy pompom. The pompom won’t keep people safe, Vamp said, but it does make for a cute decoration.
“My motto is safety is sexy,” she said. “That’s why [the keychains] are cute and colorful and that’s why they have pompoms. A lot of people tell me they feel safe walking from their job to their car with it. That’s what what I get out of it, I’m enjoying that people are being safe.”
Vamp will sell the chains at their first public debut this Saturday, July 22 at 9 a.m. at Frontier Mall. Orders can be placed year-round, though, by messaging the G String Creations Facebook page. She can also ship the keychains anywhere in the country.
Vamp, who is also the lead singer in the all-girls band Gina Vamp Music, got the idea to create the chain from her bandmate. When the band was recording its six-song EP in fall 2022, it often had to park far away from the downtown studio. After rehearsals, the women walked each other back to their cars for safety. One friend eventually bought them all cat-ear pokers.
“On the way home from rehearsal, it was always a little sketchy when I had to park too far from the studio,” she said. “One of my friends ended up buying me a cat-ear poker. … It was one piece and I just kept adding to it.”
Vamp started making the chains in March for close friends and family members. She decided to sell them on G String Creations after receiving several requests from community members.
“Women kept messaging me saying that they wanted one for their daughter or their granddaughter and started telling me what colors were their favorite colors,” she said. “It just kept going so I just kept selling more.”
Hearing positive feedback from her customers and knowing they can feel safe and stylish motivates Vamp to continue making them.
“I’ve always enjoyed putting the things together. For me, it’s just stress releasing,” she said, “but to hear the feedback from the ladies, that’s what keeps me doing it.”
