Shamelessly seeking affirmation of my Signature trade item

[+GrizzlyW/Cubs]

We are fairly new to Geocaching with just under 30 finds over the past few weeks, but I wanted to come up with some trade item that was "unique", even before hearing about others' signature items. So, I've been working on these for a couple of weeks now, between brainstorming and shopping for components, and just assembled the first one this evening.

 

It's a little trinket about 2.5" long. Each member of our family (myself, wife and our 2 small kids) picked out one color of glass bead, so there's a bead to represent each of us and the grizzly bear charm, of course.

 

This first one has a tiny little ring on it so it could be attached to anything. Originally, I was thinking of putting on those little cords that one uses to hang things on their cell phone or GPS etc, specifically so that they could be put on cachers' GPSr units, but then I thought that hardly anyone would actually DO that with them, so I opted for the little generic ring instead.

 

We are going to put them in 2" zip-lock baggies with a note saying who they are from, since we didn't manage to put "GrizzlyW/Cubs" on them, and maybe even numbering them so we could keep track them if someone who found one contacts us.

 

I kinda want to know what people think of them, though. Lame idea? Cool idea? Would you actually "use" one, by hanging it on your GPS, etc? If you like them, and you found one in a cache, would you prefer a little generic-tie-it-to-anything ring like this one or something more task specific like those little lanyard attachment cords I mentioned? See this photo if you aren't sure what kind of cord I'm talking about.

 

Here's what our prototype looks like:

[+niraD]

I wouldn't use it as a GPSr (or phone) decoration. But I would trade for it and add it to my signature item collection.

[+snapshot11]

I think they look fantastic! I would definitely trade for it

[+Max and 99]

That is an awesome signature item! I kinda prefer the lanyard cord over the ring, but I'd use either one. I think your sig. item is absolutely wonderful just as is. Something to just think about for future sig. items is to use the tiny letter beads on the string and spell out your Geocaching nickname. But the note in the baggy works too, except once I take it out of the baggie to put on my key ring, I might forget who made it.

 

Great job on the signature item. Love it!

[+RhinoInAToga]

I would definitely trade some good swag or a signature item for that. I'd also put it on my key ring *just in case* I ever had the opportunity to meet ya'll (if you were caching in my area, it could happen) so ya'll could point to it & say "that's our sig item, where'd you find it?" Because that would be fun. I have a signature item that I found on my key ring right now actually. It's always fun to spot a little detail that lets you know a person geocaches. We're still new as well- but we've found it a fun aspect of the game.

[+fuzziebear3]

Very nice! I'd swap for it and attach it to my GPSr.

[+t4e]

that is very pretty, great job

[+GrizzlyW/Cubs]

What great feedback!

 

Max and 99 - I actually bought a bag of those little letter beads to play with but decided not to because I thought this looked a little classier, especially if I was hoping others might use them by putting them on something. The only letter beads I found that were small enough were plastic (which I thought was cheap looking) and I figured no one else would want someone else's name hanging from their GPS.

 

RhinoInAToga - That's what I was thinking when I thought about something to hang on a GPS (or 'Geocaching bag', etc.). If other cachers, especially in my area, of course, had it on them when I bumped into them, it could be more fun. I even thought about making a sort of game about it by saying on the included card that, if I met them and they had the item on them, I'd keep a special stash of a few prizes in my Geocaching bag that I could hand out in those rare instances. Nothing too fancy, but I was thinking of something such as a small stone carving of a bear.

 

Everyone else - thanks for the positive feedback. I really do appreciate it. Being creative is not my stong point, so this is a little outside the box for me.

[+MikeAndHike]

Looks great! Is it strong enough to be used as a zipper pull? Would look good hanging from my caching bag.

[+GrizzlyW/Cubs]

Looks great! Is it strong enough to be used as a zipper pull? Would look good hanging from my caching bag.

 

I really don't know. I've give a pretty good pull on both ends (not TRYING to break it, but pulling pretty hard for what it is) and it's held up okay. I fear that it would probably give out over time if used as a zipper pull, but I'm not sure. It's made with .018" 7-strand stainless steel bead stringing wire and it's only held together with 2mm crimping tubes.

[+StarBrand]

Very cool! I'd like one.

[+webscouter.]

I will be on the lookout for one to add to my sig item collection. I haven't added anything to it for a very long time as cool sig items are sadly becoming a thing of the past.

 

I like it!

[+Fianccetto]

It's great, and gives me an idea of what to do with some charms I just ordered randomly (although they won't be sig items, I can make them into nice trade items).

I love the bear charm you use, and would most definitely attach it to our geobag with pride. Mr. f would want to use it as a zipper pull if it were strong (and maybe a little shorter).

 

Thanks for sharing!

[+KristenSh]

That is so awesome! Makes me want to rethink our signature item plans... If you do label them so folks know it's a handmade item and not just generic swag, those will go in a heartbeat. They'd probably go fast even if they're not marked as signature items. And I'd defintely add it to the keyring where I keep things like that (we have beads on a string from a geocache trail from an event last year, so it wouldn't be the only dangly in our collection).

 

Very clever. Awesome. Two thumbs up.

[+Darick]

Very nice item! I would trade for it for sure, and probably add it to my collection of "cool things I've found in caches". How much does it cost to make each one?

[+GrizzlyW/Cubs]

Very nice item! I would trade for it for sure, and probably add it to my collection of "cool things I've found in caches". How much does it cost to make each one?

 

In it's current form, exactly 80 cents each in materials. That includes the plastic baggie, which is the most expensive component at 29 cents each. I have enough to make a few dozen, at which point I would have to start buying more beads, but, now that I know what I want, I would buy the additional beads on eBay or someplace else much cheaper than the local craft store, so the cost would go down.

 

That's not including printing a paper or card to insert into the baggie, but that would be very cheap on my laser printer, so maybe add an extra penny to the cost.

 

Edited to add that I was way off on the math (danged decimal!), because the baggies were MUCH cheaper than I had calculated... the whole thing costs me 57 cents each, including the bag, in their current form. It will cost me about 2 cents each to add the little lanyard cords to them, which I think I'll go ahead and do.

Edited May 14, 2011 by GrizzlyW/Cubs

[+niraD]

In it's current form, exactly 80 cents each in materials. That includes the plastic baggie, which is the most expensive component at 29 cents each.

FWIW, I've found small plastic bags locally for 2-3 cents each in quantities of 100. TAP Plastics has them. So does Michael's (or any other craft store with beading supplies).

 

It's hard to value hand-made sig items. My polymer-clay sig tokens are worth maybe 10 cents in material (including the plastic bag), but there's a lot of time invested in creating the design in the cane, reducing the cane, and then slicing and baking the tokens. But when I trade, I tend to value most sig items at about $1. I got that value from the metal disks that some locals have made at a trophy shop (thin metal the size of a quarter, with a 4-color design printed on it). If you ignore the setup fee, pathtags cost about a dollar too. And of course, trinkets sold individually at a dollar store are worth about a dollar.

 

That's not including printing a paper or card to insert into the baggie, but that would be very cheap on my laser printer, so maybe add an extra penny to the cost.

Using a laser printer is good. If you print the little slips with an inkjet printer, then the ink will run when the paper gets damp. I print a sheet of notes and then use a paper cutter to cut them into squares that are about 1/4" smaller than the bags in both dimensions. Then I stuff the slips into the bags while watching TV.

 

On one side, I print info about my sig token (what they are, who made them, and where they can be tracked). On the other side is the name and URL for the local geocaching group (Geocachers of the Bay Area).

[+GrizzlyW/Cubs]

FWIW, I've found small plastic bags locally for 2-3 cents each in quantities of 100. TAP Plastics has them. So does Michael's (or any other craft store with beading supplies).

 

Oops! Thanks for prompting me to double check my math. I went and got the paper that I scribbled all the numbers down on late last night and I was off a decimal place. The baggies are 2.9 cents each, not 29. My bad.

[+RhinoInAToga]

If you added the fun of "If I meet you & you have it on you, you will be handed an additional small sig item" that would just make it even better. Especially if you attended events. We haven't yet, but we are planning on going to a CITO event tomorrow hopefully, & can't wait to meet other cachers. We've run into a LEO cacher in our hometown, and that was great fun. He finds us every night we're out now just to say "hello", which we think is so nice.. If you added an extra element of coolness to meeting another cacher (as you are planning) it would be like icing on a cake.

Do you mind if others use this idea as well? (Not necessarily the same kind of sig item- but the meet & greet part of it)

[+Thrak]

Hmmmmmmmmmm...... Pretty lame................ NOT!

 

I'd actually snag one in a heartbeat. I have a number of sig items I've collected. That one might make it onto my cache bag or it might go into the regular collection. Either way - yes, I'd snag one for sure. Very nicely done.

[+The Chaos Crew]

Very nice!

 

I'd 100% trade for one of those.

 

Our sig item is also a little charm - you can see it on my profile page

 

I do put those tiny phone charm attachers on ours - and have run into two cachers in the field now with one attached to their GPSr, which is a nice feeling

 

We put ours in a teeny tiny ziplock bag with a laminated cardboard closure that says who it's from and what it is and what they can do with it (phone/GPS charm/zipper pull/charm bracelet charm etc)

 

I've had lots of good feedback about them

 

I'm sure people will really enjoy your sig items too

[+Jhwk]

Dude! That thing is totally sweet and trade worthy.

 

I am always intrigued by new and exciting swag, particularly the kind that has some application to the game...

[+popokiiti]

I love it! That must take quite a bit of work too.....thanks for sharing.

[+Vexidus]

I'd trade for that, and then hang it on my backpack. Very cool!

[Pup Patrol]

That's a wonderful sig item! I would love to trade for something like that.

 

But I don't feel that my typical trade items have a value "equal" to something handmade and so nice.

 

Don't spose you will be headed to Ontario, Canada any time soon?

[Dendro71]

This is a great idea - have been making a similar sig item for several years now using a "cell phone charm" finding (metal ring with short nylon cord attached), then hanging the beads off the ring. I have made ones with a Steelers theme (black and gold with football bead - I live in Pittsburgh), and have one with green beads and pewter leaf charm at the end for the FTF of my caches. I use the alphabet beads to spell out FTF on these. For the FTF prizes, I have attached a mini cutout of a GPSr with a hole in it and attach the charm in case the finder doens't know what it is for. I have one on my GPSr, can also be zipper pulls, cell phone charms, etc. The idea seems to be liked here in Pittsburgh, as I've had several cachers say they've found one and then started making their own version. I'f you'd like my "mini GPS" file, send me your email address and I'll forward on. I print on a sheet of adhesive label paper, then stick to card stock, cut out, and punch a hole to attach the charm. Good luck, maybe will find one in the field one of these days. I would rather find one in the field by chance rather than at an event, feel like I've earned it that way! For beads, charms, etc, try Fire Mountain Gems on the web....great company and any color bead or charm that you'd want.

[+BlueDeuce]

We are going to put them in 2" zip-lock baggies with a note saying who they are from, ...

 

Cool! Adding a printed note saying who it's from and why you choose this as your sig item makes it that much better. Geocaching is a community and getting to know people is the best part. Even if it is just through a dropped signature item.

[+GrizzlyW/Cubs]

Well, we started dropping them in some caches today. We printed out a small note with the following on it:

 

"This is a hand-made charm for your GPSr or geobag from GrizzlyW/Cubs. Find us on geocaching.com and let us know what you think of it. If we meet in person while geocaching and you have this charm on you, show us! We might have an additional gift for you if you do!"

 

On the back side of the note, it says what number (like a serial #) the charm is, so we can keep track of which cache we left them it, just to see if they travelled before someone actually kept it or contacted us to say they found it.

[+Stoka]

If they were over this side of the pond I would definitely use it on my GPSr. They look very classy and well made, I may do something similar myself.

[+BigAl437]

If they were over this side of the pond I would definitely use it on my GPSr. They look very classy and well made, I may do something similar myself.

 

That is very cool. I would trade one of mine for it for sure. Check out my avitar and you'll understand.

[+PurpleCatPaws]

I actually bought a bag of those little letter beads to play with but decided not to because I thought this looked a little classier, especially if I was hoping others might use them by putting them on something.

 

I know what you mean. I just came up with my own item and was agonizing over whether or not I should have my name in the design somehow, but I wanted it to stand alone as something that could be displayed as simply a decoration. This is what I came up with:

 

 

I can't put my name on the back because they're magnets, so I'm printing a little card to put with each one and then both will go in a baggie (like yours).

 

BTW, I *love* what you came up with and I'm hoping you visit Connecticut soon!!

[+L0ne.R]

 

 

I can't put my name on the back because they're magnets

 

How about signing the magnet with a metallic sharpie? I have used them on rubber boots and they do a good job of binding with the rubber.

 

[+PurpleCatPaws]

 

How about signing the magnet with a metallic sharpie? I have used them on rubber boots and they do a good job of binding with the rubber.

 

 

Neat idea. I wouldn't have thought it would "stick" to the magnet material, but I have a silver one and will try it out. Thanks!

[+GrateBear]

Thumbs, err, paws up from me!

[+TheMayfieldFamily]

I think it's cute! If i were to find it I would trade for it and put it with my other sig items that i have collected... i possibly could put it on my caching bag as well if i had a key ring with me

[+BStheTech]

That's great. And a much better treasure than a moldy McDonalds coupon etc.

And the small investment is perfect. Hopefully your endeavor causes people to pick up their

trade game in your area.

 

B.