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Are Handmade Coins Popular In Your Area?


bonnjer

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All signature items are awesome to me, most especially if they are made by the cacher.

 

I agree. I recently read a thread on how to make your own clay coins and it was really interesting and sounded like a fun thing to do. I am wanting to make my own sig item coin and am debating on whether to do the clay thing or do something with wood and laminate. I would love to see one of the clay coins in a cache.

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wowgbasmall.jpg

 

b6658c6b-54af-4031-b4ce-a7fe123659a5.jpg

 

We really enjoy the ones workerofwood makes out of polymer clay.

 

Some of the ones he drops in our area requires a microscope so you can read hidden numbers on as a hint for one of his puzzle caches.

 

How on earth does he make those? Does anyone know?

Yeah he teaches a class on polymer clay it's amazing but takes alot of time.

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Not sure if this is going to work. Haven't been following Geocaching in a while and this is my first time reading these forums in about a year or more.

 

Is this what all this I read about Geocoins is? When I signed on tonight, this is the first I had heard of them. Is there some good source to really get up to speed on understanding this.

 

I also collect casino chips and one of the forums I read on that subject is loaded with talk of people trading custom personal chips. Using some of the companies that make the chips for Las Vegas Casinos and the like, they make up their designs and pay some serious money to create these chips. Sometimes for business card types of things or for special events like to commemorate the birth of their child or mark their wedding day etc. I priced having some of these done and with setup charges and minimum orders of, say 500 chips, it could cost upward of a grand. And to think there are some of these people who are making up chips for any little whim that they have.

 

Some of the clay chips or coins that people have shown here are very nice. Again, any good source for information about doing that. Also, I had a thougth about the wooden nickels, as I always knew them as. Take something metal. Maybe, using a soft metal that can be carved or shaped or hammered out. Create your design into it with a little depth and then heat it up and burn your design into the wooden blanks. Or, if you are really handy and good at drawing, engrave with a dremel tool or wood carving tools. Then wipe some stain accross the coin. Leaving the stain into your design and wiping it off the surface. Maybe wax the surface before you start your carving. That way, you would have the resist of the wax on the surface but every where you engraved or carved would now be exposed bare wood. Applying stain will only go into the exposed areas. Then, a cleaning with something that would remove the wax would clean it all up.

 

Or, use a small soldering iron and burn the design into the blank. Good work anyway. I am really intrigued by this.

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Don't despair, it's not about how artistic you can be, but how ingenious you can be :wub: Some of the best (and my favorite) sig items weren't even coins. Caching Jane actually does embroidered patches of cloth as her item. Find something you're good at and just adapt it to a signature item. When you think about it, that's the representation of you. Maybe you're a great cook, you could leave signature recipe cards. Maybe you're a mechanic, you could leave an engraved nut or bolt. Whatever you do in real life can just be adapted with a little time and effort. :)

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I think they would be awesome! All signature items are awesome to me, most especially if they are made by the cacher.

 

How do you make them? Clay, metal? Pics if you can. :blink:

 

I like all the signature items. I started a scrapbook of the different item.

I stamped an eagle on a poker chip. I dated it & signed the back.

Here’s ours.

 

chip.jpg

 

Anyone wanna trade?

 

Eagle-2

Edited by eagle-2
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Maybe try your local craft store for ideas. I went last week and they now have literaly hundreds and hundreds of different ink stamps that can be used for wooden nickels at Michael's and ACMoore.

 

Hey, what can you do well? Everybody has something even if it's an odd talent. Give us something to go on and maybe we can help you out. There are even a few artists working the Avatars thread who might be able to help you with a new sigitem design.

 

Check this out!

 

http://www.mississippipaperarts.com/store/...ord=sand+dollar

 

:blink:

 

edit: sorry, was thinking of Sand Dollar, but that site still has a lot of good ideas. Now that I think about it, what kind of symbol is your avatar? Looks like an unusual leaf at first, but now I'm not sure.

Edited by fox-and-the-hound
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:blink: Really? I thought at first it might be a maple, but I wasn't sure. I think I remember that some craft stores carry make-your-own stamp kits. You might try making your Silver Oak Leaf stamp to put on wooden nickels. Or even just print your avatar if you have a higher resolution image, use a circle cutter and glue them to a wooden nickel or something similar. :o
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wowgbasmall.jpg

 

b6658c6b-54af-4031-b4ce-a7fe123659a5.jpg

 

We really enjoy the ones workerofwood makes out of polymer clay.

 

Some of the ones he drops in our area requires a microscope so you can read hidden numbers on as a hint for one of his puzzle caches.

 

How on earth does he make those? Does anyone know?

 

With a lot of patience and skill. I doubt he makes them that small. He probably starts on a larger scale and reduces the cane to the size he needs. If you're not into polymer clay it can sound rather complicated and daunting. I'm not saying it isn't complicated but for polymer clay folks we see it as a series of shapes put together to form the pattern.

 

I must say that it is very impressive. I've done some canes, nothing for geocaching, and have seen a lot in books, but I don't think I've seen anything quite that detailed. It now gives me a few ideas for my own coin...

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With a lot of patience and skill. I doubt he makes them that small. He probably starts on a larger scale and reduces the cane to the size he needs. If you're not into polymer clay it can sound rather complicated and daunting. I'm not saying it isn't complicated but for polymer clay folks we see it as a series of shapes put together to form the pattern.

 

I must say that it is very impressive. I've done some canes, nothing for geocaching, and have seen a lot in books, but I don't think I've seen anything quite that detailed. It now gives me a few ideas for my own coin...

 

Ok, am starting to visualize this one. Tell me if I am right. The artist would cut, long, shapes that correspond to the different design components of his art. Then, piece all the parts together in, say a long log. Then, by rolling it back and forth along a table everything will get longer and longer and longer, till it is the proper diameter. Then, you would take the long snake that you mgiht have and slice cross sections of your finished piece. If you wanted to, you could make a stamp for an embossed design to lay over the top. Like with a casino chip where they have a design to the chip, with the edge spots and all. Then, they would stamp the casino name, a hat and cane or other design in it. Some home poker chips have dice or hearts diamonds spades and clubs stamped into them and so on. Once stamped, if you decide to do that, you would then take your thin chips and place them in the oven to bake.

 

One question I have though. How do these come out in the end. Do they warp at all? or are they flat. They look like they might be a little irregular and would warp. Not that that is bad. It kind of adds to the hand made art of it all. I really like those pictures of the ones that have been posted. They are beautiful.

 

I am getting really psyched to try this.

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With a lot of patience and skill. I doubt he makes them that small. He probably starts on a larger scale and reduces the cane to the size he needs. If you're not into polymer clay it can sound rather complicated and daunting. I'm not saying it isn't complicated but for polymer clay folks we see it as a series of shapes put together to form the pattern.

 

I must say that it is very impressive. I've done some canes, nothing for geocaching, and have seen a lot in books, but I don't think I've seen anything quite that detailed. It now gives me a few ideas for my own coin...

 

One question I have though. How do these come out in the end. Do they warp at all? or are they flat. They look like they might be a little irregular and would warp. Not that that is bad. It kind of adds to the hand made art of it all. I really like those pictures of the ones that have been posted. They are beautiful.

 

I am getting really psyched to try this.

 

Yes, you've figured it out.

 

As for how it comes out in the end... that's where practice and patience comes in. You have to roll it out evenly, concentrating on not twisting the "snake" as you go along. Some people will put a "register" line on the outside of the log, where appropriate, so when they roll it out they will keep an eye on the line to see that it is straight and not twisting. Also if you want to keep an eye on your progress, there is no harm in cutting a small slice off the end. That way you can see how it's looking in the reduced state and you may also find you like it better bigger/smaller than what you had planned.

 

If you wish to get into polymer clay to make your coins, may I suggest visiting your library for "how to" books, or if you know you want to have a book or two on hand, hit your local book store or craft store. There are plenty out there. I know. I've got at least a 3 foot shelf full of polymer clay books. And no, I haven't tried my hand at the coin yet, but after what I've seen here, I just might give it a try!

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Am I the only one who finds it ironic that a person using the handle "Worker of Wood" makes sig tokens out of polymer clay?

 

:)

 

When catching up on things last night, and trying to familiarize myself with all this, I was thinking the same thing. :o

 

:blink: Well I'll be. I, too, was so caught up in the thread last night that I didn't even notice it either. Hm....

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