3/7/07
All open orders, with the exception of 1 local pickup, and a single international order (need packing supplies) have shipped. Got the latest Geohana samples and they look ok, so we're just waiting for final blessing from the folks in Hawaii. Symbology production has started, and once I get confirmation on the ship date I'll turn on preorders.

3/5/07
Move complete, and most domestic and Canadian Three Rose orders have shipped. Other international is next. Thanks for everyone's patience.

2/28/07
All the Roses are here, and I've shipped quite a few already. I'm working my way through orders now, but will pause shipments for the next 48 hours due to relocation. If everything goes as planned we'll catch up this weekend!

2/20/07
I have Autumn and Ice Rose coin/magnet sets in stock. However the Midnight coins were not shipped because of quality issues. I expect these will ship early next week. In the meantime I will ship all orders that don't require Midnight Roses.

2/16/07
Thus just in... FedEx plane sighted with Rose coins... Midnight coins mysteriously not included... More details after New Years... Yeah, that's late next week... Ugh....

Geohana fans please be patient. The mint did not get the die replaced prior to the break.

2/3/07
Well, Chinese New Year is playing havoc with production. Ice and Autumn Roses are in production, but delayed due to the rush. Midnight is held up due to quality issues. In addition I got photos of the Geohana die changes and something very odd happened to the die that will require investigation. Hang tight.

If you want a Global Caching geocoin, better hurry up. I've only got a few left, and I need to clear off shelf space for the new arrivals :)

1/30/07

I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it:

Symbology

1/27/07
No changes to Midnight Rose - We're going to production as-is! Also, Geohana photos!

1/23/07
Midnight Rose is changing to a printed process. Thus the palette is changing. I think for the better... so stay tuned for new samples.

1/18/07
I was hungry and while grabbing some food I saw this on my fridge door.

The three roses!

Yes - the midnight rose doesn't look like all that in daylight. That's because the colors were selected for their glow-in-the-dark properties. I have to say it looks pretty sharp when glowing! The pieces come as a set - the coin and a magnet with the tracking number engraved as proof of ownership.

1/17/07
After adjustments were made to reservations I have 12 sets of "12 Days of Caching" available.

1/16/07
Or maybe not? Looks like some of the issues on Midnight can be resolved afterall. Stay tuned!

1/15/07
And then there were two... I'm dropping Midnight rose as I'm not happy with the how these came out. Ice and Autumn look great and the magnets are quite strong. I have them on my fridge now! I'll adjust pricing to give a discount for sets of two. NAVSTAR 2.0 also needs some adjustments, so that will go back to the drawing board for tweaks.

Those who have been following my work might recognize something here. I refuse to release designs that don't meet my quality standards. Sometimes this means that concepts that I talk about take a while to materialize. But this is why I insist on having coins in hand and designs approved prior to taking orders!

Maybe this means Symbology will arrive sooner than originally intended? Hmmm...

1/14/07
I currently have 16 sets of the "12 Days of Caching" without a reservation. Email me if you'd like to reserve one.

1/13/07
Symbology design is complete. Roses might require yet another die (this time NOT my fault). I'm going to put on my perfectionist hat (do I ever take it off?) and keep iterating until I get it right. Thus it will probably be delayed a bit.

Here's my best guess for upcoming coin availability:

12 Days of Caching (for those who requested coins): Orderable week of Jan 15, ESD Jan 29
NAVSTAR 2.0: Orderable week of Jan 29, ESD Feb 12
Hawaii Geohana: Orderable week of Jan 29, ESD Feb 12
Symbology: TBD
Roses: TBD

1/10/07
I've been working on my follow up to last year's Tracking Time, and it now has a name! It will be called "Symbology". No, you can't see the artwork.... just yet :). But you won't have to wait long!

1/8/07
Here's Hawaii Geohana as approved and now in preproduction. This concept came from the folks in Hawaii and I'm proud to be able to help make it a reality for them.

1/7/07
12 Days has been reordered. Also should expect Hawaii Geohana samples here in about 10 days! NAVSTAR and Three Roses photos this week as well.

1/2/07
Wow - there has been some continued interest in 12 Days of Caching. So I will dust off my Geocoin Philosophy and throw the design back into the hat for a possible 2nd run. You can place your request here.

1/1/07
Happy new year! More Astrolabes are back in the store! Also drew up artwork for an upcoming Hawaii coin. It is going to be busy around here!

12/29/06
Password wasn't worth the trouble.

Another delay on Three Roses. The term "Travel Bug" is trademarked and Groundspeak has asked that I not use this term on the coin. So maybe its a good thing the dies were damaged :)

12/28/06
I finished the Suncatcher 2007 concept drawing today. Still not quite happy with it, but that'll give me something to work on over the next few days. I also have a sketch of the Wildflower coin... you can think of it as the follow-on to Bluebonnet. I want to see how well the magnets in the Three Roses works first though, because I may want to do more coins like that.

NAVSTAR2 went into preproduction. Here's the artwork:

The front is new, and actually is quite close to what I originally wanted for NAVSTAR. The back is almost the same, but I added the text NAVSTAR GPS that was removed from the front. The stars are polished nickel coming out of the enamel. I hope the effect works!

12/27/06
Just got word that the dies for the magnetic "Three Roses" geocoins was damaged, so that'll push back the production dates a bit.

12/26/06
I created this web page so that I give people a behind-the-scenes view of what's going on in the Crake design center (ok, so its more like a desk in the corner of a very messy room flanked by old broken computers and empty cans of Coke Zero). Christmas break was quiet for the hobby, which is a good thing because it meant I could spend quality time with the family. The past couple of days things have picked up though. The Three Rose geocoins are in preproduction and I should have samples here in a few days with photos soon to follow. NAVSTAR is undergoing a facelift (ver 2.0), and I've got some side projects for other cachers to keep me busy.

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