Appropriate Signature Item?

[+CacheTestDumbEase]

Tomorrow will mark 2 months since we've started geocaching and I still have no signature item. Initially I got all excited and ordered business cards to leave in the caches to just show we'd been there but when we got them my excitement soon wore off when I realized that A. It's been done before many times, and B. The ones I got are kind of plain and not at all my personality.

 

Then I ordered post cards which I really like. I have an entire stack of them. But when I had them made I put my blog address on them and then later read on the forums that it's bad etiquette to do so. Which, I understand...although I'm not really advertising because I'm not selling but I get it.

 

For the past two weeks I've been pondering what I could use as my signature item because, well, I want one too! Then a friend who is also new to geocaching called me and said she'd found one of my bookmarks that I made. I had left it in a cache as a trade item. I told her I could have just made her one but she thought it was cool to find it in the cache.

 

So...I decided maybe the way to go is making something. I crochet all kinds of things and today made a lanyard. The hubby says I should use these as our signature item but I'm not sure. I think on one hand it's a great idea because it represents me and people could actually use them. Then again, signature items that we've found tend to be coins or wooden nickels or business cards. I'm having some decision making troubles with this. What do you all think?

[+StarBrand]

I'd LOVE to find something like that - especially handmade by you!!

 

My sig item is a small golf pencil - lame by comparison.

[+autigerman]

I'm braiding survival bracelets in colors to match my avatar and leaving them as sig items.

[+Chokecherry]

Honestly I would probably pick up a little crocheted doily thing over lanyard (just have too many of them) but I know it would be terribly time consuming. Or a little crocheted bracelet in a nice baggy with a card saying who made it and what it was. My sig item is my pathtag. However, I started making beaded flowers last winter and plan on leaving some of those around too but those are terribly time consuming and I want to leave them in caches I really love. Won't be putting my name on them. Just trading like swag.

 

Someone here used a business card site where you could get your own photos put on business cards. Can't remember the site but saw it mentioned in other forums for other purposes. I thought that was pretty darn cool for a business card idea.

 

Anyhow, be yourself and find something you really like and I'm sure you'll do good as far as sig items are concerned.

[+TreasureFerret]

I'm braiding survival bracelets in colors to match my avatar and leaving them as sig items.

 

Handmade AND practical, I love it!

[+popokiiti]

We still haven't sorted out a signature item......you put us to shame!

[+DazeDnFamily]

I'm braiding survival bracelets in colors to match my avatar and leaving them as sig items.

 

They'd be better in Scarlet and Gray. Just saying. J/K

 

Mrs. DazD makes signature coins out of polymer clay for us. There's a pic of a few she made on another sig itme thread.

 

Later!

[+rav_bunneh]

My sig item are wooden nickels that I make myself.

[racingspider]

Yeah, I plan on hand making items for my 4 year old daughter to put in. She'd love putting in something that was made with our own hands.

 

Keep it simple though! Right now, I'm just using small collectable pirate ships from the game "Pirates of the Spanish Main". They're pretty neat, but a personal item is so much cooler, in my opinion.

 

I like those nickels. Unique, personal items are a nice find.

[+autigerman]

I'm braiding survival bracelets in colors to match my avatar and leaving them as sig items.

 

Handmade AND practical, I love it!

That's the thought. In this state there are a lot of people that won't appreciate the colors, but those that pull for my Tigers should love it!

[+BigAl437]

What I find most are the nickles, pathtags and cards. A family I know also has whistles with their caching name on them. I am making what I call antler buttons. They are made from deer antlers and will be sliced like a nickle. They will have my caching name on them and a chain so they could be used as keychains or whatever.

[+GaRocketMan]

That's the thought. In this state there are a lot of people that won't appreciate the colors, but those that pull for my Tigers should love it!

 

Are they smart enough to run a GPS?

 

War Eagle!

[+L0ne.R]

So...I decided maybe the way to go is making something. I crochet all kinds of things and today made a lanyard.

 

I'd LOVE to find something like that - especially handmade by you!!

 

My sig item is a small golf pencil - lame by comparison.

 

My sig item are wooden nickels that I make myself.

 

I'm braiding survival bracelets in colors to match my avatar and leaving them as sig items.

 

So creative. I love personalized and handcrafted swag.

Here are some photos of handcrafted things that what I've found:

 

Crocheted finger puppets

 

Parachute cord bracelet

 

Beaded bracelet

 

And here's a wooden nickle that I made:

 

[+darknight*]

This got me thinking today, i do some graphic design so thought of cards, BUT, my wife does origami and so she has said she will make little butterflys so we can write darknight* on the wing and leave them, ill post a pic up in the next day or so

[grimaxe]

Darn it! Wish I hadn't clicked this post. Last year I placed bubbles, but didn't really consider how they would handle the cold. All thought of signature items faded.. until now. I think lucky fused glass geocoins might be the way I go. Too many options.....aaaaaaa

[+A & J Tooling]

My kids, 8 & 10, always bypass the toys and grab the handmade stuff first. They understand the time and effort put into making something themselves.

[+L0ne.R]

Darn it! Wish I hadn't clicked this post. Last year I placed bubbles, but didn't really consider how they would handle the cold. All thought of signature items faded.. until now. I think lucky fused glass geocoins might be the way I go. Too many options.....aaaaaaa

 

Fused glass - very nice idea. I was curious to see if anyone has created fused glass gc items, tried a web search and found these:

 

[+Ry Dawg]

I would love to find homemade signature items. I have been leaving homemade survival bracelets myself recently. I haven't heard the reaction on this. But I like them.

[racingspider]

I made these:

 

 

The "Zoe Beans" are for my 4 year old daughter to put in the cache. The "runes" are for me to put in. I'll get better at making stuff as time goes on, this was fun too!

[+MikeAndHike]

I made these:

 

 

The "Zoe Beans" are for my 4 year old daughter to put in the cache. The "runes" are for me to put in. I'll get better at making stuff as time goes on, this was fun too!

 

Those look awesome! Would you mind sharing how you made them? I have been trying to come up with a sig item idea for ages and these gave me an idea but I have no idea how they are made. If you want to keep it a secret no hard feelings!

[+chachi44089]

I made these:

 

 

The "Zoe Beans" are for my 4 year old daughter to put in the cache. The "runes" are for me to put in. I'll get better at making stuff as time goes on, this was fun too!

Very cool! Care to share how you made those? By the way, I think lanyards are great! Mine just broke and I would love to find a new "unique" one..

[+roziecakes]

We make ours with shrinkie-dink sheets. It's cheap and works great; totally weather proof and we make lots of different sizes. I love finding handmade sig items. Much more fun for me than swag.

[+The Kings!]

These are great ideas. I love the idea of leaving something specific to us at our finds. I've got some brainstorming to do...

[+TheSapaFamily]

We make ours with shrinkie-dink sheets. It's cheap and works great; totally weather proof and we make lots of different sizes. I love finding handmade sig items. Much more fun for me than swag.

 

Great idea. I'm going to try that because I have sheets left over from a crafting craze a couple of years ago.

 

Right now I leave pin buttons with my pathtagger avatar. If the cache is really awesome I leave my signature pathtag.

[+Shelly69]

It makes me happy to read how much people like the homemade swag. For the last couple years I have been hand painting wooden tokens and sometimes think before I drop one in a cache " I wonder if people think these are dumb/junk." But after reading all the nice things you all say about such items, I feel pretty good about leaving them.

[racingspider]

I'll give away my "secret". It's super sculpey - a clay that you bake after you shape it. So, for mine, I shaped them and cut the grooves - then baked them. After they cooled, I painted them black, then dry-brushed them gold. Works great. You can also sand and use a craft knife when they cool. It's really easy.

 

I like the shrink paper too, that's a great idea that will be resilient as well.

[+GrizzlyW/Cubs]

I'm happy to read this thread. We are just getting started with Geocaching and I had thought that it would be cool to leave something bear-themed whenever we trade, because of our name. I even thought that was an ORIGINAL idea. HA! Show's what I know. I was thinking of getting some charms/pendants that are shaped like bears (not the Teddy-type) and making them into keychains. I was conflicted as to whether that would be lame, but I think now it would be cool. I just need to think of a way to get "GrizzlyW/Cubs" on the keychain in a way that won't rub off or come off when it gets wet... because almost every cache we have found so far is very wet inside (hey, it's Oregon).

[+KristenSh]

May I ask a question about signature items? Are they intended strictly for the cache owner as a thank-you, or can any later cacher claim them? (I recently collected a little button pin from a cache that was a signature item, those aren't too terribly expensive on CafePress, btw, and now wonder if perhaps I wasn't supposed to. It was getting rusty though so it probably needed removing ... but I'd love to know the proper etiquette!)

 

Love all the suggestions! I bet my kids (and my Scouts) would love to make some of those. And they sure look safer than carving stamps for letterboxes ... I am so NOT good at that yet.

[+BuckeyeClan]

May I ask a question about signature items? Are they intended strictly for the cache owner as a thank-you, or can any later cacher claim them? (I recently collected a little button pin from a cache that was a signature item, those aren't too terribly expensive on CafePress, btw, and now wonder if perhaps I wasn't supposed to. It was getting rusty though so it probably needed removing ... but I'd love to know the proper etiquette!)

 

Love all the suggestions! I bet my kids (and my Scouts) would love to make some of those. And they sure look safer than carving stamps for letterboxes ... I am so NOT good at that yet.

 

Signature items are just like any other trade item; any cacher is free to trade for them. Just trade up or even, like you would for any bit of swag, and you are fine!

[+photonut4]

Hi, We also have a item that we put in caches, it is a "Support Our Troops" USA flag lapel pin. How many caches does everyone put their sig items in? How do you select your locations? Due to cost, we do not put one in every cache, but we do place one in a cache that we really liked (ie, fun hide, creative containers, orginality, etc.)

[+KristenSh]

 

Signature items are just like any other trade item; any cacher is free to trade for them. Just trade up or even, like you would for any bit of swag, and you are fine!

 

Thank you! I feel much better about it now! And I can't wait to make some of our own and pass them along too.

[+niraD]

How many caches does everyone put their sig items in? How do you select your locations?

I leave one of my trackable sig tokens for every cache I find. If the token won't fit in the cache, then I just drop it in the next cache I find that is big enough to hold it.

 

But I make my sig tokens myself, from polymer clay. Even with the little plastic bags I put them in, the material cost is just a few cents apiece.

[JamesPullan]

I suppose what you want is, like you said, something that reflects your personality. For my first couple of caches I'm leaving some wooden beads to wear/fiddle with. Then I'll probably (attempt to!!) start carving little animals or something quirky - keep your eyes peeled if your in my neck of the woods

[+dirt_empire]

Custom dice? Not too offensive to anyone, and more so a personal history thing for me than a gambling tool.

[+W4G_SOTAGoat]

]I leave one of my trackable sig tokens for every cache I find. If the token won't fit in the cache, then I just drop it in the next cache I find that is big enough to hold it.

 

But I make my sig tokens myself, from polymer clay. Even with the little plastic bags I put them in, the material cost is just a few cents apiece.

 

Picture?

[+BMndFul]

 

Fused glass - very nice idea. I was curious to see if anyone has created fused glass gc items, tried a web search and found these:

 

 

Wow...those are very nice. I wish I was as creative. I opted for wooden nickels, my design, professionally created. Much nicer to have home made items. I accept I don't have any craft genes. My sig item is pretty plain. I have them made with my avatar on the front with my name, city, state and with different quotes I like on the back.

Edited November 14, 2011 by Russ!

[+niraD]

I make my sig tokens myself, from polymer clay. Even with the little plastic bags I put them in, the material cost is just a few cents apiece.

Picture?

Here's a photo showing an example of each type of sig token:

The yellow and green tokens (at 3 o'clock and 11 o'clock) are examples of the stamped tokens I left before 2006-08-04. I made them in various colors and wrote the GCxxxx ID of the cache on the back.

 

The oval beige tokens (at 5 o'clock and in center) are examples of the canework tokens I left starting 2006-08-04. I wrote the GCxxxx ID of the cache on the white stripe.

 

The round white token (at 9 o'clock) is an example of the canework tokens I left starting 2009-06-20. I wrote the GCxxxx ID of the cache on the beige stripe.

 

The rectangular tokens (at 1 o'clock and 7 o'clock) are examples of the canework tokens I left starting 2010-06-23. I wrote the GCxxxx ID of the cache in the blank space below my name.

[+The Frosties!]

here's ours.

Sadly lack of decent tools (drill press for starters) prevented us making our own discs, but at £0.16 for each 32mm disk it's not too bad.

 

We had the stamps made ("borrowed" the compass rose and edited the frosty) then, when they arrived discovered that self-inking stamps might be a great idea in theory, but no good if they don't fully rotate before hitting the thing to be stamped, or if you can't centralise correctly.

 

So, limited skills and tools in hand I cut out (hole cutter + chisel)concentric rings in a piece of wood, the outer circle neatly holds the stamp, and the inner, deeper circle holds the blank, I made 2 so I can stamp 2 at a time. The ones shown (one design on each side) still need varnishing, not too sure how I'm gonna do that yet...might just drop them in a ziplock bag instead

Thought about adding a keychain, but can't really imagine anyone wanting to carry one around.

 

 

With hindsight, we should have had the stamps made a couple of mm smaller...

Edited December 23, 2011 by frosty68

[+kiowa scout]

great thread got to get my thinking cap on and think of something for me to use

[diggingest_dogg616]

These are so neat!

 

To CacheTestDumbEase, I think you should definitely crochet something and put it in a little bag with something saying who made it Even if it's like, a little keychain fob or a bracelet, it would be really cool. I think a lot of people like neat personal items, but everybody likes neat homemade items.

[+sholomar]

it may be done, but I have thousands of wheat cents.. I will leave 1 in each cache I come across from now on, at least ones done by casuals and not the power cachers who have 500 in a 20 mile radius. Since I've always and still am into numismatics, I will somewhat reflect my personal interests.

 

The pencils are a good idea and cheap. A person could even engrave them with their hometown and encourage people to take them to another cache in the engraving. Cheaper than trackers.

Edited January 8, 2012 by sholomar

[+Peeka-Chew]

I'm still new to geocaching, so I haven't had time to develop my signature item just yet. Right now, I'm leaving behind pokemon cards that go along side with my name. They're all older cards, back when the pokemon card game first came out (I was about 10 at the time), so they're probably nice for the kids who weren't around to get some of the very first cards.

 

In the future I think I might make some clay keychains. I like making faux cookies out of clay, so that may be what I do in the future. Maybe a combination of the two like a pikachu "cookie" keychain or something along those lines.

[Growl3th]

Very new to geocaching (just got my GPS two days ago) and haven't managed a find yet. However I'm also a photographer first and use another site to display one pic a day (hopefully).

 

I was intending to put a Blipcard (http://www.blipfoto.com/shop/blipcards/) with one of my photos on into caches that I find. On the back of the card is my name (real name), my email address and a link to my Blipfoto page. Etiquette-wise is this OK?

 

TIA

[+W4G_SOTAGoat]

As long as it's non-commercial, I don't see why anyone should have an issue with it. People have had "trading cards" made up that they leave as their calling card. Just be sure you leave it IN the cache, not ON it.