snow.bunny Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Hello everyone! I am brand spankin' new to geocaching (have only found 1 so far) but I love it I think the idea of a signature item is really nifty and decided that mine will be a lucky rabbits foot key chain since I LOVE rabbits. What's your signature item? What's the coolest signature item you've found? How many have you collected? Happy Caching! Quote Link to comment
+Castle Mischief Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I was using rubber rats for a while but I ran out. They seemed to lack that certain "zing" as well. Quote Link to comment
+Headhardhat Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 I am not quite up to making my own signature items. So instead I want to be the king of First Aid Kits. Have a variety of different sizes with my custom graphic label on the side. I figure in this obsession we all get cut, scraped and banged up from time to time. Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 17, 2008 Share Posted July 17, 2008 Mine are Fimo tokens. My first batch were stamped, like Fimo coins. I used Fimo canework for my second batch. I'm almost out of them, and will use Fimo canework for my third batch as well. I have a photo gallery of my sig tokens on the GBA web site. There are photos of a variety of trackable sig tokens (including my own) at sigitem.com. Quote Link to comment
mouse88621 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 (edited) My sig item is a cartoon image of myself on a pin, like one of those circular button type pins. The picture is currently my profile pic and avatar. Zazzle.com does a really good job of making pins for a pretty fair price. Edited July 18, 2008 by mouse88621 Quote Link to comment
+angevine Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I'm planning on some miniature Buddhas -- if I can find any I can afford! -- Jeannette (angevine) Quote Link to comment
+The Blorenges Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 We use plastic orange segments with suitable messages inked onto them - Usually it's "The Blorenges - TFTC!" We also use them when we put out a new cache with "Well done F.T.F" on them. MrsB Quote Link to comment
+nekom Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 It's not really a signature item, since my name isn't on it or anything, but I tend to leave nice mechanical pencils in caches. They make the best writing implements and aren't prone to freezing or breaking due to overheating, or even moisture. Quote Link to comment
+LEGO Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 I like to leave LEGO blocks. I plan on finding a way to mark my signature on them. Quote Link to comment
+Zor Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 My sig is what you see as my avatar but as a ceramic poker chip. I had them custom made here in Canada and ordered a pile of them. I leave them in regular size cache containers and any caches I hide. Quote Link to comment
+John H Watson Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Why Victorian era British coins, of course! (actually, some of them are slightly newer........) Gotta go now, The game is afoot! Quote Link to comment
RedShoesGirl Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 you might want to check out this long-running thread on sig items - lots of great ideas and pics! http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=195885 Quote Link to comment
+lordzogat Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 This picture has been posted in a few threads, but these are the ones I made and then made molds for. I can turn out any quantity I want and then paint them up. Quote Link to comment
+catsnfish Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Our signature item was a small laminated print of our avatar we would tie this to every piece of swag we traded and often leave in micros. Quote Link to comment
+tamaral1 Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 We just received our PathTags (see avatar) and plan to use them as our signature items. Our names (Tam-N-Greg) appear on the front of the coin. Tamaral1 Quote Link to comment
+lordzogat Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 (edited) I like to leave LEGO blocks. I plan on finding a way to mark my signature on them. Being that lego has a smooth surface, permanent marker or an ink stamp will eventually wear off. You could put on a small sticker like a stamp address sticker. Or design a small brand, heat it up with a tiny torch and fuse the sig into the side of the lego!! Edited July 19, 2008 by lordzogat Quote Link to comment
+TeamThom Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 Currently I'm using a business card. On the front is a picture of my GPSr and compass on top of a topo map. Text reads: "TeamThom, stumbling onto one geocache after another." On the back is a picture of my golden retriever wearing a Groundspeak bandana and an old Garmin 12XL attached to his collar. I've only collected a couple of dozen items, mostly signature cards and a couple of wooden nickels. The most interesting sig items that I've picked up are: 1) Dumbledore's Army 2006 PARADICE, a small bag containing a pair of dice. 2) sharktooth sig card with a 350 million-year-old shark tooth fossil attached. 3) 39Geezer Dilbert Comic. (I'm a big fan of Dilbert comics and enjoy following 39Geezer around and reading the comic strips he leaves behind.) Quote Link to comment
+GrnXnham Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 (edited) Here's ours. Our new nickel is the top one. We've placed nearly all of the 1000 old nickels (bottom) that we had made. Edited July 19, 2008 by GrnXnham Quote Link to comment
+Tresco Posted July 19, 2008 Share Posted July 19, 2008 I use stripper clips for my Lee Enfield rifle. I think they make good zipper pulls and key chain doo dahs. You can even use one as a bottle opener in a pinch. They are neat little pieces of military history. Each one holds five rounds of .303 British ammunition but by itself is quite harmless. Back in the day I used to buy lots of surplus ammo which came loaded in the clips. As I used the ammo I saved the clips because it seemed a shame to throw away a 50+ year old artifact. Quote Link to comment
+Sparticus06 Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 I was using my personal pathtags as my sig item, but I have cut back on those since they are a little expensive. Now I just put them in caches that I REALLY love or hand them out to cachers that I meet. I now use my own "made" sig items. Found this really cool resin stuff that another cacher told me about. I place a little slip of paper with my name on it in a "mold". I use paint trays and ice cube trays. Then I place a little item like a bead, tumbled rock, really neat lookin buttons, or letter bead in the mold and pour on the resin. Once it hardens, I pop out my newly made sigs and place them in caches. Alot cheaper and have a more personal touch. Thinkin about going to the hardware store and gettin a bulk box of nuts and using those in the resin....lol Quote Link to comment
+duckdogs Posted July 20, 2008 Share Posted July 20, 2008 I was using my personal pathtags as my sig item, but I have cut back on those since they are a little expensive. Now I just put them in caches that I REALLY love or hand them out to cachers that I meet. I now use my own "made" sig items. Found this really cool resin stuff that another cacher told me about. I place a little slip of paper with my name on it in a "mold". I use paint trays and ice cube trays. Then I place a little item like a bead, tumbled rock, really neat lookin buttons, or letter bead in the mold and pour on the resin. Once it hardens, I pop out my newly made sigs and place them in caches. Alot cheaper and have a more personal touch. Thinkin about going to the hardware store and gettin a bulk box of nuts and using those in the resin....lol Tell me more about this resin. What is it? Quote Link to comment
mouse88621 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Sent you a PM I'm really curious as to how that works as well. Could you PM me too, or maybe post it here. I'm sure a bunch of people would be into knowing how to do that. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment
+Firespinner Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I've seen people talking about using shrinky dinks as sig items. You can get clear shrinky dink pages, color your own designs on them and bake! I think I'm gonna try it. For now I'm making beaded necklaces as sig items. Quote Link to comment
+Firespinner Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 There are photos of a variety of trackable sig tokens (including my own) at sigitem.com. When did you get these hosted on this site? I have contacted that site owner 3 times over the past several months about getting sig items listed, but they never respond. I thought they must have stopped doing it. Quote Link to comment
+Danbg Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I really don't know if a peace fork counts as a signature item but most of my caches are peaceforks I am up to peacefork 28. A peace fork is a plastic fork (The kind you get at fast food resturants) that are heated with a lighter and two of the fingers are bent down so the fork looks like a hand making a peace sign. If you are in the Bowling Green Ky area try to find one. They are everywhere. Quote Link to comment
+Sparticus06 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 WOW! I am gettin bombarded with Pms and emails about the stuff I use for my sig items. I really hate to give out to too many what its but what the hey, might as well. Wanted to keep it as an original. Oh well. Here you all go: The stuff is called EnviroTex Lite Pour-on. It's main use is coating tabled tops to give them a durable surface and shine. I have seen it at an Outback restaurant on the tables. Anywho, it is a 2 part resin. You have a hardner and a resin that you mix together 1:1. Whatever mold you use, you must coat it with an extremely thin thin thin layer of Vaseline or silicone spray. Pour just a little resin in your mold, place you gem, item, whatever into the mold and wait. It takes about a day for the stuff to fully harden. When they are solid, pop outta the molds and there ya go. Quote Link to comment
+LEGO Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I like to leave LEGO blocks. I plan on finding a way to mark my signature on them. Being that lego has a smooth surface, permanent marker or an ink stamp will eventually wear off. You could put on a small sticker like a stamp address sticker. Or design a small brand, heat it up with a tiny torch and fuse the sig into the side of the lego!! That's what I had in mind, "burning" something into the block somehow, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Quote Link to comment
+Sparticus06 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I like to leave LEGO blocks. I plan on finding a way to mark my signature on them. Being that lego has a smooth surface, permanent marker or an ink stamp will eventually wear off. You could put on a small sticker like a stamp address sticker. Or design a small brand, heat it up with a tiny torch and fuse the sig into the side of the lego!! That's what I had in mind, "burning" something into the block somehow, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. A wood burning kit would do the trick. I think they make lots of designs that you slip over the tip to burn in. Quote Link to comment
+decline2state Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 By far the best I have seen thus far is http://butano.sigitem.com/ and I found it in he original cache! Quote Link to comment
chuckr30 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I have just completed making a batch of "thin pennies". These are real pennies where I remove the core and I am left with the micro-thin coatings for the front and back of the penny. I put them in a plastic baggy with an explanation printed on paper. Quote Link to comment
mouse88621 Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 Thanks so much Sparticus for posting about the resin. You don't gotta worry about me using it for a sig item. I got mine down. Just thought it would be cool to play around with at the house. Quote Link to comment
+flask Posted July 21, 2008 Share Posted July 21, 2008 I have just completed making a batch of "thin pennies". These are real pennies where I remove the core and I am left with the micro-thin coatings for the front and back of the penny. I put them in a plastic baggy with an explanation printed on paper. can you tell us more about this? Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 There are photos of a variety of trackable sig tokens (including my own) at sigitem.com. When did you get these hosted on this site? I have contacted that site owner 3 times over the past several months about getting sig items listed, but they never respond. I thought they must have stopped doing it.I think it's been a couple years since my sig tokens were added to the site. Adding new accounts isn't at the top of his todo list though. IIRC, it took a while after my initial request before he got around to adding mine. But I'll ask him the next time I see him at an event (or unevent). Quote Link to comment
+Silfron Mandotheneset Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 If your going to try resin, try throwing in some food dye or glitter. Makes it interesting Quote Link to comment
+GEO*Trailblazer 1 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Which year? When I first started I made a limited amount of different things. I left them all over the USA and have even been asked if they could be kept by some. I can not remember all the things that I hand made and left here and there. I am working on some more now and well you will just have to find one to see what it is. That reminds me I need to get out to some of those bigger caches those micros are hard to leave trade items at.And the price of gas. Maybe I can trade some at our upcoming event and I have some new geocaches I am waiting for permission to place. I know one person who has seen one of the micro mini coins I made. Them are nice for micro's but have run out of one of the materials and need to find another source. But then isn't that a limited edetion? If I member my learnin from collegiate skool them's the bestest kind limited editions. Not much help am I? Quote Link to comment
+syfun Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I was racking my brain to come up with a low cost sig item. I went out and got a bunch of 35 mm containers and created a label for some CITO kits, but that just didn't do it. So I kept thinking and thinking, and then I realized I was thinking too hard, so I let it go for a while. Then we were trying to save some money around home and put up a clothes line. I went out to the local dollar store and bought a bunch of clothes pins. Turns out I bought too many. So it hit me... "hey kids, this is why grandma used to yell at me for stealing all her clothes pins". Back in the day, we used to sand these by hand and glue them up and call them a couple non politically correct names, but they were loads of fun. Basically, a wooden switchblade. And to those out there worried about pointy ends, they are about as sharp as a popsickle stick. Then it hit me... we could put our name on them and there's our sig item. It's something I've never seen around here and I think it's a fun little gadget. Since then I've dropped them in every cache that is big enough to take one. I haven't had any feedback on them yet, but I would like to hear what you think. Here's a pic. The top one is how I leave them in the cache. The second is a side view. if you remove the safety band, and squeeze the clothespin, the blade swings out, giving you the third one. I posted this is a different thread about sig items too. Quote Link to comment
+Sparticus06 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 If your going to try resin, try throwing in some food dye or glitter. Makes it interesting That was the next thing I was going to try. Get that marble effect and all. Quote Link to comment
+Lag Pins Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 Ours are miniature bowling pins with Lag Pins written on them. For our bowling events down here (the Pick Up the 7-10 events), we drill a hole into the head of the pin, label them with the event name and turn them into key chains for each cachers who attends. Quote Link to comment
snow.bunny Posted July 22, 2008 Author Share Posted July 22, 2008 Ours are miniature bowling pins with Lag Pins written on them. For our bowling events down here (the Pick Up the 7-10 events), we drill a hole into the head of the pin, label them with the event name and turn them into key chains for each cachers who attends. I love the pic you have with the travel bug as your avatar! So cute! Everyone has got some great ideas. I can't wait to actually find some Quote Link to comment
+TotemLake Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 WOW! I am gettin bombarded with Pms and emails about the stuff I use for my sig items. I really hate to give out to too many what its but what the hey, might as well. Wanted to keep it as an original. Oh well. Here you all go: The stuff is called EnviroTex Lite Pour-on. It's main use is coating tabled tops to give them a durable surface and shine. I have seen it at an Outback restaurant on the tables. Anywho, it is a 2 part resin. You have a hardner and a resin that you mix together 1:1. Whatever mold you use, you must coat it with an extremely thin thin thin layer of Vaseline or silicone spray. Pour just a little resin in your mold, place you gem, item, whatever into the mold and wait. It takes about a day for the stuff to fully harden. When they are solid, pop outta the molds and there ya go. The biggest problem I ran into this when I was trying this last year for my failed sig item, was it would either be too warm and harden too fast to properly off gas, or the weather would cool down to fast and make it cloudy. There is a window of a good temp range of about 65-75 degrees F where this will work nicely. Quote Link to comment
+NeoAddict Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 I use Pathtags as my signature item. I now have 4 designs and I love leaving them and getting messages from people who pick them up. Quote Link to comment
crawil Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 We took a small craft baggie and filled it with a business card-sized piece of paper with our name (each custom colored by my 11-yo daughter), a band-aid and an antiseptic wipe. Instant cheap, first aid kit! Quote Link to comment
+samsonov88 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 After seeing everyone's homemade, crafty sweet sigs, I'm slightly embarrased to reveal our sig item. Ours isn't home made, and in fact doesn't even have our name on them - We use instant scratch tickets. We like them for a variety of reasons, like they're only $1 so the kids can trade for something without spending a lot, an adult might actualy get to trade for something other than mickey d's toy, and someone might just get a great surprise and win something. We try to use the tickets that support the state's wildlife fund (Maine) so it works out great all around. Quote Link to comment
+samsonov88 Posted July 22, 2008 Share Posted July 22, 2008 After seeing everyone's homemade, crafty sweet sigs, I'm slightly embarrased to reveal our sig item. Ours isn't home made, and in fact doesn't even have our name on them - We use instant scratch tickets. We like them for a variety of reasons, like they're only $1 so the kids can trade for something without spending a lot, an adult might actualy get to trade for something other than mickey d's toy, and someone might just get a great surprise and win something. We try to use the tickets that support the state's wildlife fund (Maine) so it works out great all around. Quote Link to comment
snow.bunny Posted July 23, 2008 Author Share Posted July 23, 2008 After seeing everyone's homemade, crafty sweet sigs, I'm slightly embarrased to reveal our sig item. Ours isn't home made, and in fact doesn't even have our name on them - We use instant scratch tickets. We like them for a variety of reasons, like they're only $1 so the kids can trade for something without spending a lot, an adult might actualy get to trade for something other than mickey d's toy, and someone might just get a great surprise and win something. We try to use the tickets that support the state's wildlife fund (Maine) so it works out great all around. You shouldn't be! I think that is actually a really good idea, especially since it is supporting a good cause! Who knows? The next big winner could be a geocacher!!! Quote Link to comment
+RichardGo Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 My new Sig item. My 3 year old loved helping me make these last night. Image as they are to be released. Quote Link to comment
+niraD Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 There are photos of a variety of trackable sig tokens (including my own) at sigitem.com. When did you get these hosted on this site? I have contacted that site owner 3 times over the past several months about getting sig items listed, but they never respond. I thought they must have stopped doing it. But I'll ask him the next time I see him at an event (or unevent).As I suspected, Marky is still adding new accounts, but the turnaround is often slower than it used to be... Quote Link to comment
+LDove Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 Richard, those are awesome. How did you make them? May I make one suggestion (we do this) we print out a batch of labels and put them on the INSIDE of the small baggie so people know who they are from. You should take credit for such a nice sig item you are leaving! Quote Link to comment
+Street Doc Posted July 24, 2008 Share Posted July 24, 2008 I have something that I haven't seen before but seemed like a good idea to me. I had a batch of golf pencils made. they print 3 lines. one has my name on it the second has the website address and the third says thanks for the cache. got 700+ of them for around $50 Quote Link to comment
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