tiki

Thanks for all those! I'll check and see if I've got them on my list - if not - consider them added!

Aloha my cold, far-north friends! The Tiki's are headed to the GIANT state of Alaska in a few weeks. We will be spending a week on Kenai (Homer and Seward). Then we will spend a few days in Anchorage where Mr. Tiki will run the Mayor's Marathon and Mrs. Tiki will run the 5.6 miler. Then we will head up to Denali for a few days. We planned to drive the Denali Hwy from Cantwell over and down around to Palmer/Hatcher Pass. We will spend a night there and then back into Anchorage and then home. Questions: 1. Is the Denali Hwy worth the drive? There are some caches on it. A few traditional and a few Earth Caches. It looks fun and we can get a rental car that does not prohibit it. They just say it's at your own risk. I have AAA! Should we do it? How desolate is it? If we break down will we be stuck out there for 3 weeks? I'll have to switch rental cars when we do the run in Anchorage so I would like to plan for it if we need to. Other option is to drive back down the way we came, or up to Fairbanks and then all the way around clockwise. But that might take too long and we can't stop for caches. Help! 2. Any MUST DO caches? I've gone through & pulled quite a few. I'm looking for any that are doable within an hour, don't require special gear and no higher than a 2/2 or 3/3. 3/3 would be pushing it for time. I found one with a hand-cart that takes you over a river! Super awesome! That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for. And anything easier that takes you to a neat old, historical part of town, country, etc. We will be in Homer, Seward, Anchorage, Denali Ntl. Park and Hatcher Pass. Mahalo! Too bad there are no events when we are there! Anyone else running the marathon, 1/2 or 5 miler? Tiki

Mahalo for the comments - I'm glad you all seem to like these little guys as much as I do Wanted to share a few more shots of the Clay TikiCOin progress. Here is #3 slowly taking over the drying rack: 2 things about these photos: 1) Yep, you read that correctly, this is #3. That means we've pressed out all 100 of #2, and will be firing them this week! (you can just make out some of the #2 coins on the lower racks) 2) And yes, that is a little hole in the top of the coin - just in case you want to make a tiki necklace (I know I will)! Aloha - Tiki

It's not too late! In fact, the party hasn't even started No pre-orders on my coins - once they are finished, I'll announce the date/time that the coins will be available, and at the scheduled time I'll put them up on my etsy.com store. easy-peasy! I'll put more info on ordering/pricing once I get closer to completion on Coin #1 Tiki

News flash: Trackable clay TikiCoin #1 is in the kiln! All 100 of them - with about 50 non-trackable clay tikicoins as well. Here is one of the three loaded shelves in the kiln: Whew! These tracking #'s are even more work than we thought - so stressful! If all goes well, we should be glazing this weekend. For non-clay folks, you need to fire (cook) the clay twice - the first is called a bisque firing, and it makes the clay hard (but still porous). Now that the clay is hard and safe to handle, you apply glaze (color), then fire/cook it a second time at a MUCH higher temperature. This second firing makes the clay very hard, and bakes on the color/glaze. End of lesson We are also working on a bit of a bonus offering with the coins - super excited about it. Mahalo! Tiki

Now THAT is a great coin!

It has begun! Ms. Tiki and I spent the afternoon pressing the first of the 4 new coins. We had a great time - and I shot a few photos of the festivities. You can see them on my VanTiki facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/vantiki I'll be updating the geotiki.com page soon with info about the new coins. Super excited! The freshly-pressed coins look great! Henrik (a.k.a. Tiki)

It depends on several things - the size of the mold, the type of clay, and how much detail/relief the mold has. Molds can do over 100+ tiles, and sometimes they die way sooner. Hope that these hold up well - there is a lot of small detail in them. Tiki

Ok! Back from my business trip and I'm feverishly making molds of the TikiCoin sculpts. The goal is 5 molds per design. The molds take between one to two weeks to fully cure and dry out - the the pressing begins! Mahalo for checking in - Tiki

Actually, the .999 is correct - it refers to the purity of the alloy (in this case, 99.9% gold). Sterling silver is marked 925 because it it 92.5% silver (fine/pure silver is marked 999). The Troy oz is a measurement of the weight of the ingot, not the purity of the metal. Sorry to get all precious metal geeky on you! PS - I am surprised that these won't need some sort of "copy" marking on them, as they may be construed as counterfeit? Tiki

Allow me to introduce you all to TikiCoin #3, and yes - this is taking me way longer than I had planned! Aloha, Tiki

Aloha Tsun! Happy to hear my add managed to make its way all the way to far off Montana!

Happy to report that I just finished another Clay TikiCoin sculpt! Hope to have the lat two sculpted by the end of the week. Can't wait to get these molded so the pressing can begin! Mahalo - Tiki

Mahalo 57 Chevy! Clay TikiCoin update: I just emailed the final coin and icon designs (yes, there will be icons!) to Groundspeak for approval/tracking #'s. It feels so *official*! Very excited - Hope to get another sculpt done before the weekend. Tiki

Mahalo everyone! The current plan is to offer these for sale at my webstore on etsy.com. Etsy tracks inventory, which makes things a million times easier for me. We are still ironing out the price and shipping methods, and I have three more coins to sculpt. I'll post more as news develops! Aloha, tiki

Trackable Clay Tikicoin #1 taking shape! Had a blast putting this fellow together. Can't wait to make his friends! a bit over 2 1/4 inches in diameter - remember, the clay will shrink, so I think the finished coins will be around 2". Tiki

I did a handful of tikicoins in sterling silver, many moons ago (non-trackable).

Woah everyone! Don't get excited too soon! Happy to get all the positive comments. Here is the *Master Plan*: Non-Trackable: We will continue to do the existing clay tikicoins for leaving in caches and trades (the skull and the stone face), and I'll most likely be sculpting a couple new designs as well. These will not be for sale. Trackable: We are going to do 4 different coins in an edition of 100 each (so 400 coins total) - each coin design will have a custom icon. I'm thinking that we will be glazing them in a variety of colors, and will send them out randomly (i.e. you don't get to pick color - adds to the surprise!). The trackable coins will be slightly larger than the current clay tikicoins. It is going to be a big endeavor - and I am really looking forward to it. As always, I'll take lots of photos and document the process on this thread. Mahalo! Tiki

Aloha Folks! Allow me to introduce myself - my name is Tiki, and I mysteriously vanished after starting this tread eons ago! Happy to report that due to a conversion of fortuitous events (smaller # of tracking codes for custom icon, acquisition of working # stamp, upcoming trip to Tiki Oasis 10 in San Diego) the Trackable Clay TikiCoin project is once again GO! Now, I know, you have heard that one before. I understand your reluctance to get excited - and hopefully as the new coin sculpts take shape over the next month your interest will be re-kindled. Mahalo! Tiki

Awesome! Love the antique finishes. Great design! Tiki

Interesting thread! I still read the forums, but (as you may have guessed) I'm really attracted to handmade coins, and there haven't been too many out there lately. Interesting to read about both the desire for creativity in coins and the concern over rising coin costs. These two opposing forces are precisely what is holding me back on minting clay tikicoins. I want to make a neat, hand-crafted coin - but I know it is gonna be pricey and with the current surge in "selling my collection" threads I'm hesitant to buy the tracking codes. Someone asked what makes a "good" geocoin. Well - that is all in the eyes of the beholder. I'm an artist, and I am attracted to well-designed, original coins. They don't have to feature geocaching, as long as they describe the cacher. Clip art and bad layout/illustration is a pet peeve of mine, and I don't like it in a coin. Lots of coins lately have looked like they rushed past the design phase, and that has caused me to frequent the forums less. I'm not saying "coins suck these days" - please remember that this is all personal opinion. I just haven't had my interest piqued in a while (and chances are I've missed several great coins in my absence). The use of a trademarked character, or another persons artwork is a big no-no in my book. That said, someone interpreting another artist's work in an original fashion can yield a fabulous coin. Case in point: Literature - Scavok's amazing Tolkien inspired coins! Beautiful, original design and wonderful execution. Anyway, I don't want to ramble here. A big mahalo for a thought provoking thread! Aloha! Tiki

Amazing work! I have a special love for a hand-cast coin Beautiful castings - Tiki

You haven't seen the current cost of silver! The flounder was made by SquareD22, and I've done 5 different sterling tiki coins (all sold long ago - so I hope I am not breaking any rules in mentioning them). Tiki

Aloha folks! Big news - I just got my freshly machined brass stamp from The very talented Todd Scholtz at claystamps.com and was able to do a few test runs yesterday. It looks fantastic, and I'll be testing various methods of getting the tracking numbers on the coins this week. So excited to be moving forward on this project! Tiki Edit: Wanted to add that I dropped just about all of the clay coins and tiles in Colorado - and not ONE person mentioned finding/taking them in their logs! So frustrating. I mean, I want folks to take them (that's the whole point of non-trackable items), but I wish they'd at least mention it after all the hard work! Ok, done venting

I cannot WAIT to download this app! A big mahalo for developing it, it will really come in handy. Now I gotta try and restrain myself from checking the app store every 20 min to see if it is available! Aloha, Tiki