So having my concept, I needed a trustworthy coin that would lead me for many months to come. I didn’t want to use any coin but rather one that has a special meaning to me. I felt I had to create it myself. I have no idea how to do it, I don‘t have the skills or resources for that. I wanted a nice metal coin with my own design, heavy and sturdy. So I started asking around.
Ideas that popped up were about the material: metal, wood, plastic. The crafting: moulding, stamping, cnc milling, carving, 3D-printing. I found a flyer of somebody who has a metal workshop and helps people with their projects. So I contacted him. He told me about one of his friends who has a cnc milling machine. He needed a design to see if it was feasible. I, therefore, started looking into symbolism and tried to sketch something I liked.
Requirements: two different sides, showing different directions (forward/back, left/right, up/down) and, inspired by the Alchemist, yes (black) and no (white). It should as well be in alignment with my idea for Die Mut., which is rebalancing the feminine and masculine. Here‘s the result:
It‘s a modern yin and yang. Let‘s look at the feminine side. The triangle pointing down is the symbol for the feminine. The triangle inside is the balancing masculine. The dot is to differentiate sides. So if this side appears after a toss, it could either mean: go back, go down, go left (the left side of the body is the feminine side) and no (I attributed white to the feminine as a symbol of purity, which means no in the Alchemist). The masculine points to opposite answers.
As good ideas are often not realistic, it turned out that metal was a bit complicated. I got up one morning with the feeling I should just try to carve it out of wood. So I went into the cellar and went for it. After hours of youtube tutorials and some trial and error (wrong tools, not sharp, bad wood, no skills), I managed to produce something.
Different type of woods 
Pyrography 
Various tools 
Broken saw
The satisfaction about the result came only a few days afterwards. First, there was a whole lot of frustration because I couldn‘t reach the standard I had set for myself.
Carving 
Handsaw 
Sanding
I gained an important lesson then. This is what happened: I really enjoyed myself discovering, learning, trying out, sawing, sanding the wood. I had a blast! Nevertheless, I wasn‘t happy with the result. I sat down and reflected. Why am I frustrated right now, after having had an amazing day? I was putting myself in a mental state due to a result, totally omitting the creation process, which was a lot of fun and made me happy!
After a few days, I adopted my coin. It is hand-carved out of oak wood.
