Supplies needed: (see bottom of page for some links to Art Supplies)
blank paper
transparent tracing paper
pencil & pen
carving material - rubber or plastic eraser, artists carving block, etc
ex-acto knife, speedball cutter, or other cutting tool
tweezers
polymer oven-bake clay (Sculpey, Premo, etc)
acrylic craft paints
brushable varnish or spray sealer
Designing and Drawing:
The first part of creating a geocoin is the design phase. Carefully consider what images and text will appear on your coin. Visualize how you want the final coin to look. Don't forget that you will be carving these details by hand, so the less complicated your design is, the easier the carving will be. Decide on the size of your coin, draw some circles that size, and make a few sketches. My coins pictured at the top of the page are slightly smaller than the photo - about 1 inch in diameter, the same size as a US gold dollar. You can either design your images by hand or on your computer, which is what I chose to do - this is especially good for those who aren't confident with free-hand designing. My own handwriting is terrible, so printing text from my computer was almost mandatory. Don't forget coins have two sides, so you'll have two images to design. Note: You don't need to design your image in reverse. It will get reversed in the transfer process, so just draw it and write it normally.
Transfering:
Once you have your designs drawn or printed from your computer, its time to prepare them for transfer to your carving medium. Remember, the words should still be facing so you can read them - they'll be reversed in another step soon. You can do this one of two ways: you can use a sheet of tracing paper over your design to keep the original design unmarred, or you can trace directly over your design with pencil and eliminate the tracing paper sheet.
When using the tracing paper method: Place your design image paper on your worktable and secure it to the table with masking tape so it won't slide around. Put the sheet of tracing paper over the design sheet, and tape it down, too, so it doesn't slide. Now you're ready to trace your designs by drawing over them with your #2 pencil. Keeping your pencil sharpened to a fine point as you work will help keep your transfer neater and more precise. Trace firmly and steadily. Once you've traced over the design, check to make sure you've traced ALL the lines by carefully lifting up one corner of the tracing paper away from the white paper. Its really hard to re-align the two papers if you remove it too soon and if you've missed a line or a letter, so take the time to check before you remove. Satisfied with your tracing of the design for one side of the coin, now trace the flip-side design in the same fashion. You now have two handmade "graphite transfers".
Ok, the tracing is done so now you're ready to get the design onto the eraser that will be the mold for your geocoin. There are many different kinds of carving materials you can use for stamp or moldmaking - these include Pink Pearl erasers, white Staedtler Mars plastic erasers, Speedy-Cut Soft Carving Blocks by Speedball. Some office supply stores carry a variety of erasers that are suitable for carving, although they are often smaller than you might need for this project - doesn't hurt to shop around though. You may try a few different kinds of carving media before you find one that works for you. Once you've chosen your eraser or carving block, place your tracing paper graphite side down onto the eraser and hold it there firmly. Its important not to let it slip while you're working as it is difficult to re-align the designs.
While holding the paper down with one hand, rub over the back of the design area with the butt end of a ballpoint pen, tongue depressor, or some other blunt object. This pressure will cause the graphite to transfer in reverse onto the eraser. Be sure you rub over the entire design before you remove the tracing paper. Do this for both sides of the coin. You should now being looking at your rubber eraser with your reversed images on it, and you are ready to begin carving.
Carving:
Assuming that you've made a round coin, you'll now want to cut your circular designs out of the rectangular eraser. Using your ex-acto knife and leaving an extra space of about 1/16 inch around the outer circle of your design, cut straight down with the blade like you're cutting a stick of butter with a knife. Cut evenly all the way around each coin. This extra space around the edge will form a rim around your coin, giving it a nice finish. Once you've cut out your circles, save any large, excess eraser bits (from these pieces you can carve small designs to stamp into logbooks if you choose).
Now you're ready for the meat of the project - serious design carving. This is where you'll definitely want to take a break, rest your eyes and fingers, have a snack. Being fresh before you start carving significantly reduces careless errors. Carving the design is not hard, just tedious and careful work. You will be removing the areas of the design that are dark and leaving the areas that are white. All of the areas that you are cutting away will be the raised areas on the actual coin. When you carve away letters themselves from the eraser, they will be raised up texture. When you carve out the space around the letters, then the letters will be sunken down in the clay.
Cutting technique is important here. You want to cut downward at an angle, so that the parts of your design that will remain have a nice fat base to support them. You are cutting away the black parts, so cut at an angle toward the center of those black parts. Also, you don't want to cut excessively deep as the clay might sink way down there and get stuck, causing bad impressions and trouble removing clay from the mold. Be careful when using sharp blades.
Continue to carve out the reversed design, plucking away tiny bits of eraser with tweezers. Once you get the entire piece carved, you'll want to do a test-print to see if there are any areas that need a little more attention with the blade. Simply flatten out a piece of polymer clay and press the newly carved coin-side into it. Carefully pull the clay away from the stamp and check out the impression. Is it good? Is it great? Needs a little more work? You're the judge and jury here, unless you decide to enlist other opinions..... nah, who needs those?! Once you've finished carving out both sides of the coin mold, you'll need to make a few matching pen marks on the sides of each mold to indicate proper alignment in relation to each other while you are pressing coins.
Using Polymer Clay:
First a few important words about polymer clay. It is not toxic to the skin, but some people like to wear rubber gloves while handling it. Clay should not be eaten (duh). Do not put raw clay on household surfaces - put down some typing paper to lay your clay out on while you're working. Do not bring clay into contact with any cooking utensils that you intend to use for food ever in the future. *Kitchen tools for cooking, clay tools for crafting*. This goes for rolling pins, cookie sheets and baking pans as well. Raw polymer clay leaves an oily residue that is extremely difficult to remove from surfaces, so its easier just to avoid contact with anything other than clay-dedicated tools.
Pressing Your Coin in the Mold:
Now let's get to pressing coins. If you're making them around 1 inch in diameter, you really don't need a rolling pin unless you think it helps you. I use a clear acrylic rolling pin made for polymer clay use by Sculpey. It helps give a more uniform thickness to the coins, but is not necessary. A pasta machine (soley dedicated to polymer clay) is also a good tool for making uniform sheet of clay. To flatten clay by hand, tear a piece off the block and work it into softness with your fingers. Roll it into a large grape-sized ball, then flatten it gently between your thumb and the paper-covered work surface. Press the clay out into an even thickness a little thicker than about 1/8 inch, then press one half of the coin mold into the clay sheet - not too hard! You don't want to mash the clay too thin, just press enough to make the eraser stick to the clay surface. While making sure the mold stays in contact with the clay, lift the clay off the paper and line up the molds visually based on the pen marks you made earlier on their sides. Press the molds together, using all your fingers, then between your palms. You're not trying to crush the clay out the sides; you want to apply an even pressure to ensure all parts of the design are equally impressed into the clay.
Once you're done pressing, don't take apart the molds yet. You'll want to trim away the excess clay hanging around the sides with your ex-acto blade. The easiest way is to hold the mold in your left hand and slice the piece of clay away like you're peeling an apple. To remove the remaining clay disc from the molds, gently shift the molds around to kinda release the clay a little, then pull one half of the mold away. Carefully pull the clay off the other side of the mold and smooth the trimmed sides of the coin with your finger. You've pressed your first geocoin! You may practice these steps a few times before you get a successful, consistent print. It takes some practice removing the clay from the mold without warping it or making fingerprints in it. You'll develop a lighter touch after a while of working on it. Press out a bunch of coins and you're ready to pop them in the oven!
Baking:
You must follow the instructions on the package of clay you purchase. Most brands call for baking in a conventional oven for around 12-15 minutes at about 270 F degrees, but please read the package and make sure. Many polymer artists extend the baking *time* to an extra 15-20 minutes, but never raise the *temperature* about what the manufacturer recommends on the clay package. Once again, do not put your unbaked clay on any baking sheets that you plan to use for food in the future. Dedicate one pan for baking polymer clay only, and make sure others in the house know about this (or hide the pan out of the kitchen).
You can put your coins directly on the surface of the baking sheet or put them on a piece of baking parchment paper or a small piece of white polyester batting like quilters use. Why, you ask? Wherever the surface of the clay touches the surface of the baking sheet while it bakes, when it comes out of the oven that small contact area will have more of a gloss or shine to it than the rest of the clay surface. If you're painting your coin this won't matter and you can choose to skip the batting. Its not much of a shine and most probably wouldn't notice it if you didn't mention it.
Ok, the coins have baked for the recommended time and you've remove them from the oven to cool. When they first come out they'll still be sorta bendy because they're warm. Don't worry, they're not "undercooked", they will harden as they cool off. And there you go - a solid, sturdy, original geocoin!
Painting and Sealing:
You can leave your coins the plain color of the clay you've chosen, or you can mix it up a bit with paint. I like to start with a black base color for my geocoins, so I use either black-colored clay or paint my baked-and-cooled coins with a black basecoat. Using craft store variety acrylic paints, such as Delta or Folk Art, I dab the paint into all the recesses of the surface with a small piece of sponge. I prefer to use a sponge over a brush because sponges leave a more natural texture, whereas brushes leave more evidence of strokes. Be sure to cover front, back, and sides of your coin letting each side dry between steps. Once the black coat is dry, I lightly sponge a layer of antique gold acrylic paint onto just the raised areas of the coin surface (which is easier said than done). Blot excess paint from the sponge onto a paper towel before dabbing straight onto the coin - that could cause a blotchy mess. This also takes a few tries to figure out just the right touch. You can really get wild with the color here, so you might want to plan this into your design ahead of time. I chose to make my geocoins imitative of antique, old-world coins. This has the added benefit of making their irregularities in shape a little more charming rather than just sloppy-looking.
Once you've painted your coins and let them dry, you're ready to seal them. I originally sealed my coins using Krylon's Satin Crystal Clear acrulic spray sealer. Over time I found a few items to become somewhat sticky, so I've now switched to brushing on varnish. Delta Ceramcoat Satin or Matte Interior Varnish works great, and so does Folk Art Outdoor Sealer by Plaid (both are found in most arts/craft stores and some superstores' craft depts).
Carefully brush on a thin coat on one side of the coin. You may need to use a needle or toothpick to pop tiny bubbles that occur when you brush. I often hold the item close to my mouth and puff a few quick bursts of air against it right after I brush on the varnish to smooth out the liquid and pop some bubbles. Do one side at a time, letting each coat dry very well in between (don't forget to varnish the thin edges of the coins, too!) I usually apply at least 3 coats just to be on the safe side.
Once you've sealed and dried your coins, that's it! You're done! GO CACHING!!
Please feel free to contact me with questions, comments, suggestions, or success stories about your handmade geocoin ventures - photos are welcome!
Thanks for visiting!
MountainMudbug