tiki

email sent! Tiki

Sold! Mahalo, Tiki

Wow! Amazing coins, sending you an email now! Tiki

woah! Things are getting mighty heated in this forum since I last checked in. I've been reading this thread (and the multiple similar threads) and feel that stopping coin pre-sales would be a step in the right direction. There are simply too many complicated steps between coming up with a coin idea and actually having it made that it is unfair to ask the buyer to share in the risk from the get-go. If you feel that you've got a great design, save up some $ and invest in having it made. Once the finished coins are in hand make them availabe to the public. Whew! Ok. I vented.

Priced reduced!! Now asking 50$ - 30$ less than retail - plus a cool geocoin and free shipping. Whoo!

Ahhh! I had a "fatal flaw" while posting - and ended up with an empty "phantom" duplicate thread! Sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Tiki

Aloha! Well, up for sale we have a less-than 2 week old Garmin micro SD TOPO card (with adapter) for Mountain West-South (Includes Southwestern US, including the Four Corners states and Wyoming, as well as Las Vegas and southeastern Idaho). We picked this up in a total panic from an REI in Colorado while on vacation last week when we realized that I failed to load the proper maps onto our GPSr before we left home (silly me!). Purchased it for $80, and we are asking $60. To sweeten the deal I am throwing in one of my hand-pressed ceramic geocoins: the spooky skull clay tikicoin! If you have never loaded a topo map onto you GPS you are in for a treat - there is a TON of info on this little chip - trails, old graveyards, historic points, unpaved roads, etc. According to the Garmin this card will work in all x-series handhelds and select nuvi personal navigators. Check their site for more info: http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/topo/re...?RegionPK=25051 Why are we selling the card? Well, we don't live in colorado. While at the REI we wanted to buy the Mac compatible full USA topo CDs (to use at home here in Hawaii, and on any future US vacations), but as we didn't have a computer with us to load the maps onto our GPS we had to settle for the localized SD card (with the hopes of selling it here when we returned home). Here are photos of the card (and coin!): I'll ship the card to US buyers fully insured via USPS priority mail with delivery confirmation. Let me know if you have any questions! Mahalo, Tiki

OK - I'm just about all packed! Good news for Oregon folks - Looks like we are gonna take advantage of our six hour layover in Portland and hit some caches! Can't wait to start dropping these coins - Colorado here we come Mahalo, Tiki

Aloha LordZogat - The plaster molds need to be that big to withstand the pressure created by the tile press: The press pushes clay into the mold - I actually hang my full body weight on the handle when I squeeze clay into a tile! It's great exercise This pressure compacts the clay body - capturing detail from the mold and helping to avoid warping when drying/firing. I built the press in my studio following the excellent plans in "Handmade Tiles" by Frank Georgino (an amazing must-read for anyone who wants to give tile making a try). As far as trades - If I have any left when I get back from Colorado we can talk turkey! I love your handmade coins. Roddy - I've set the brown stoneface aside for you! Mahalo, Tiki

Ok! Coins are all done, I'm off to my parents to upload the Colorado Topo to our GPS (silly mapsource CDs - why can't you work on my Mac?). We leave Tuesday night - if you live in Colorado, be on the lookout for these fancy fellows : Mahalo, Tiki PS - Tsun - we'll try to make it to Montana on our next mainland adventure PPS - Rockin Roddy, one of these has your name on it, lemmie know which one you like best and I'll set it aside for you! PPPS - Cinema Boxers - if you are still up for a Titanic Coin trade, lemmie know which coin you would like as well!

zowie! What an amazing coin - looks like something that you'd find in an alchemist's pocket. I'd love to trade a tikicoin (clay or bronze) for one if you are interested. Great job! Tiki

OK! Glazed all the coins today. First off: a dab of red underglaze to the stamp on the back: I then sponge away the red, leaving it in the low areas: And finally I coat the face of the coins with various glazes and underglazes: The larger tiles are dipped into buckets of glaze to make things easier. Cooking away now! Tiki PS - Mahalo for the Ghost Town link xboxcrazy33. Don't worry, Roddy - we are both bringing our cameras and will be shooting a zillion photos!

Aloha! I've been meaning to crack open "Numbers" - the Excel-esque spreadsheet app that came bundles with iWork with the hopes of making a database for keeping track of both my geocoin and regular coin collections - but sadly I have yet to find the time! Ms. Tiki is the Excel wiz - and one day I hope to bribe her into teaching me Would love to be able to print out all my tracking #'s to hand out at events (as I have seen the pros do from time to time) from an easily updated list on my computer.

First stop on their long voyage to Colorado: The bisque fire! They'll be cooking all day tomorrow, then get a coat (or two) of glaze. Back in the Kiln (I'm thinking Friday) for the final firing before hopping on the plane next week. I can't wait! Tiki

Mahalo xboxcrazy33! Ms. Tiki has described our general plan here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=201865 but we are open to suggestions! We wanna see ghost towns! Aloha, Tiki

Thanks for the info on the cold and gas! I did see that Hostel listed but can't find a web site for it. Guess I'll have to do it the old fashioned way - dial a phone number! Just like to see pictures sometimes too! Thanks again!

Aloha everyone - Thanks for the replies. Our tickets are booked and so is our little SUV! Looks like we are heading along the following path - Sept. 6th: head out of Denver somewhere to the west. We could even just go into Boulder and spend the night while we explore and hit caches all around. That's the plan but we are having a hard time finding CHEAP places to stay. Mrs. Tiki is limiting the budget to $50 per night. Sept. 7th: continue the west direction, might even go south west and head down to Idaho Springs or something. They only reason I say that is because we were planning to stay in Nederland (caching on the way there and in the area) but can't find anything under $100 a night! We are even thinking of heading down towards Cripple Creek and then hitting Boulder area on our way back into Denver. (not brining our tent along due to cold, luggage issues and our fear of it getting lost on the way there or back.) Sept. 8th: stay somewhere in Colorado. No seriously - somewhere up the Peak to Peak Drive near RMNP but not quite in Estes yet. No clue where to stay. Sept. 9th: Would love to stay at the Stanley but it's pricey. And would love to stay at the YMCA Rocky Mountain place too! But there is a $53/night KOA kabin with our name on it. Sept. 10th: Same KOA Kabin in Estes. Sept. 11th drive down to Denver (stop in Boulder?) and stay at Melbourne Hotel/Hostel in Downtown. Sept. 12th 6am check out. Barf. Fly home...ALOHA! So we need some help with the first few days. We'd happily stay someplace on the 6th and 7th to allow us to explore the area and not have to drive all over the place. Maybe Cripple Creek KOA? It's got another $53/night kabin with our name on it. Can't beat it! And we could see Pike's Peak and some funky train in a gorge near that as well as the caches in the area. If we do that (which is totally cool with us) the question is - where do we stay in the Nederland-ish area so that we can hit the cool ghost town caches. Or can we do all those caches on Peak to Peak Road/Drive in a day and just add an extra day onto Estes? That would give us plenty of time to explore RMNP. No idea how long it will take us to do the driving + the caches so I'm not sure where we need a place to stay or not. Any suggestions would be greatly apprciated. Again - budget is around $50 per night. No more than $60. Oh and what is gas running per gallon over there? It's about $4.30 here. Thank you!

Mahalo! I will have a new series of trackable coins for sale soon. I just finished designing the stamp for the back of the coins, and I've sent the artwork to claystamps.com to have a brass clay stamp machined. I'll keep posting news as things progress. In the mean time, I pressed a bunch of non-trackable trade/cache only clay tikicoins and tiki tiles this afternoon for the trip to Colorado that we are taking next month (2nd-12th of September): I gotta dry these guys out fast and fire them quick! Can't wait to do some mainland caching! Aloha, Tiki

Mahalo! Sorry Roddy and FunkyFrogs - the mug has sold. All my mugs are one-of-a-kind, but I may be using another clay tikicoin in a mug soon. If so, I'll be sure to post it! Here is more info on the monkey mug: http://www.vantiki.com/VanTiki/Mug_of_the_Monkey_God.html Happy to report that this afternoon I pulled off an *extra rare* THIRD mold on the skull tikicoin! Whoo! Prepare for a rush of boney goodness! I need to let these molds dry out for a week or so, then the pressing party will begin! (in the mean time I'll be pressing coins out of my two old existing molds) Mahalo, Tiki

Your wait is almost over! Looks like the Tikis may be heading to Colorado in a few weeks, so I am gonna crank out a bunch of fresh clay tikicoins to drop in caches (and send to patient folks like Rockin Roddy!). If we don't make it to colorado, I am sorely in need of some out here for trades and caches. Good news is I was able to slap another mold on the skull tikicoin sculpture (after washing away some dust): Usually when you pull the plaster mold off of the master sculpture, the sculpture gets destroyed in the process. Once in a while you get lucky, and the original sculpture remains intact and you can pull a second (and somethimes even a third) mold off of it! The benefit of having multiple molds is you can press coins/tiles/whatever out of them a lot faster. I'm thrilled that I could get a second pull off of the skull sculpt - and if I can get a third that would be amazing. I did manage to sneak a clay tikicoin into one of my recent tiki mugs (look in the mug's mouth): On the trackable clay coin front - things are progressing (just very slowly). Work has kept me on my toes for the past month (or two - sheesh, when was the last time I posted on this thread? ), and I am still working on some technical challenges of getting tracking numbers on so many coins. As the coins take shape I'll be sure to post photos of the new sculptures. Mahalo! Tiki

Aloha Folks! Mr. and Ms. Tiki will be heading to Denver for a business trip in a few weeks (exact dates will be figured out shortly), and we are planning on extending our stay for a good 4 days for some Colorado campin' and cachin'! I'm going to pick through the Colorado thread with a fine tooth comb, but in the meantime if anyone has a good (and cheap) hotel/hostel/whatever to recommend in the Denver area for us to stay at during the "business" portion of our trip that would be great. We'll be living in a tent once the business portion of the trip is over. We are also on the lookout for great caches to hit as well - nothing too death-defying! This trip kind of popped up out of the blue, and we totally can't wait to cache in a new state! I'm pressing up a fresh batch of clay tikicoins to take with us to drop in caches Mahalo, Tiki

I totally second this! I also was getting "watched" by some nefarious folks who were swiping tiki coins and tiles after I dropped them. The irony is, the tikicoins are non-trackable, and I want people to keep them! I do get miffed when folks would swipe them without logging it though. I've also started to randomly drop coins/tiles, and I never mention it in the log. I also then watch the cache page to see if the coin is mentioned in later log entries. Most of my hand-made trackable items have managed to keep moving. Some I had written off for good, only to have them pop up 8 months later! I have a hand-pressed tile travelbug sitting out in a field in Kansas - it has been there nearly a year! http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=659841 I wouldn't give up entirely on releasing coins into the wild - just manage your expectations. Plan on them getting swiped, and you will be pleasantly surprised when they get moved along!

Hawaii gets my vote! C'mon, don't you all want to take a little Hawaiian vacation? I can recommend some great camp sites to ease the burden on your wallets

I've got a quick overnight in Bangkok on my way home from Nepal. I've checked google maps and see Bangkok is FILLED with caches - but I'm staying at the hotel near the new airport. Plus I arrive around 7pm and leave early the next morning. As a female traveling alone - I'm hesitant to just hop in a taxi and risk it in downtown Bangkok. Any advice? I'm going to be there Saturday July 19th at 6:30pm. Any suggestions for easy caches that are safe and easy to get to from Suvarnabhumi Airport? Or any place in Bangkok that has a high concentration of caches that I could safely do alone that night? (I'd love to see some neat things too - just don't know much about that area at all.) Thanks for any help or advice! Denise (Tiki)

What she said! It is true, there are a scant 100 of these little robotic beauties (from the mouth of the coin's maker when he gave it to me). Needless to say, it is one of my "most prized"! I was at the CITO raffle jrr mentions above, and actually MISSED the coin when it was my turn to pick from the "coin jar" - it was a small jar and I couldn't get a clear look at all the goodies. Needless to say I was quite bummed when someone after me pulled the geo-prime coin. So happy to finally have one!