Ice Station Zebra, LLC

05/30/2026

Stay tuned… a new project is coming.

https://calledfromlabor.com/

05/25/2026

This photo was taken at Arlington. That's a bugler from Pershing's Own, the U.S. Army Band. Over a 28-year career, he played Taps more than 7,500 times at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and at military funerals across the country.

The people who made the hardest version of that decision don't get rooms. They get fields. They get formations. They get names on stone. And if they're fortunate, someone like this shows up to play them out with the respect they earned.

Honor them today.

05/11/2026

Hey everyone —

Wanted to give you an early heads-up that I am putting together a team for the DAV 5K again in 2026, and I'd love to have Aurora Veterans Group members back on the team. https://support.dav.org/DAV5K

The race is virtual — Veterans Day Weekend, November 7-11. You walk, run, bike wherever you are, on your own schedule, anytime during that five-day window. No travel, no local venue.

And November 11 is Veterans Day. We're not running near it. We run on it.

Registration opens July 1 at DAV.org. I'll post the team link here the moment it goes live. If you want to join, that's all you need. If running isn't your thing, donations are open throughout the campaign — every dollar funds free legal, employment, and benefits services for veterans with service-connected injuries.

Last year 25 of us finished 8th out of 114 teams. We're going to try and beat that in 2026.

More details coming in July. Questions, reply here or reach out directly.

https://support.dav.org/pages/1065

We invite everyone, veterans and civilian, men and women, young and old, to join us. Find a DAV Office or Volunteer to Help Veterans and the Disabled American Veterans Charity.

05/04/2026

May the 4th.

You know the day. You know the franchise. You also know we're not touching it.

The image above was generated from scratch. No X-wings. No helmet silhouettes. No droids. Just a glacier outpost, two moons, and the kind of cold that makes you respect whoever pulled watch duty.

We could have slapped something recognizable on a coin design and called it a tribute. Plenty of people do.

That's not how we operate.

IP is someone's work. It belongs to them. At ISZ, we build original designs because that's what the craft demands. If your coin, pin, or patch concept starts with "inspired by" a major franchise, we're going to have a conversation about originality before we touch the art file.

Happy May the 4th. Respect the galaxy. Respect the IP.

isz.one

03/29/2026

The site is live. isz.one is the home base for everything Ice Station Zebra — custom challenge coins, pins, patches, and collector merchandise built with intention and zero mystery about how we do it.

No hidden fees. No bait-and-switch. Just handcrafted work for the people who earn their symbols.

Come take a look. Tell us what you're working on.

Premium custom challenge coins for military, law enforcement, fraternal organizations, and corporate clients.

03/16/2026

Brackets are BACK! 🏆

We just started my official Men's Tournament pool, Ice Station Zebra, on CBS Sports and I want to see your best (or worst) picks. Let’s see who really knows their college hoops this year!

🗓 Pro-Tip: Don't wait! While the "First Four" play-in games start tomorrow, you must have your bracket joined and locked before the Round of 64 tips off this Thursday morning (March 19) to get points for the main tournament. If you miss that window, you’re out of the running!

🔗 Join the pool here: > https://picks.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/pools/kbxw63b2ge2tkojvhaztc===/join?pool-join-key=yAyKhFkmnvrd8n1t0G8ayZgej76SuVmd&ttag=BPM26_and_cbsinvm

May your bracket stay busted-free (for at least the first hour). Let’s go! 🏀🔥

03/13/2026

"Why I Won't Make Your Coin for Less Than 50 Units"

**Brand:** Ice Station Zebra
**Format:** LinkedIn text post
**Best day:** Wednesday

I get requests for 10-25 coin orders regularly. I turn most of them down. Here's why.

A mold costs $130-160 regardless of whether you order 25 coins or 2,500. At 25 units, that mold fee alone adds $5-6 per coin before a single one gets stamped.

Add production, enamel, plating, and freight, and your per-coin cost at 25 units hits $9-11. For a coin that costs $1.50 to produce at 500 units.

I could take the order. I'd make money on it. But you'd be paying triple what the product is worth at scale, and I'd rather be honest about that than collect a check and hope you don't do the math later.

My recommendation for low-quantity needs: consolidate. If you need coins for an event, combine designs. If you want a personal collection run, go to 50 minimum and give extras as gifts. The math works dramatically better at 50+ units.

For orders under 50, I'll point you toward companies that specialize in low-run production. They have different economics. No hard feelings.

I'd rather lose a sale than have a customer feel overcharged.

03/11/2026

Here's a question most challenge coin buyers never think to ask: who owns the mold after production?

You paid for it. It's based on your design. You'd assume it's yours.

In most cases, the factory keeps it. Your mold sits in a warehouse in Guangdong, and the only way to reorder is through the same company. If you switch vendors, you start from scratch. New mold. New fee. Same design you already paid to develop.

Some companies don't even tell you this. It's buried in terms of service nobody reads, or it's simply never discussed.

At ISZ, we're transparent about mold ownership from the start. We explain what the factory retains, what your options are for reorders, and what happens if you want to move production elsewhere. No surprises. No lock-in by omission.

The mold fee is usually $130-160. That's real money. You should know exactly what you're getting for it.

Before your next order, ask your vendor one question: "If I want to take my mold to a different factory, can I?" Their answer will tell you everything.

03/10/2026

🏀 Ice Station Zebra NCAA Tournament Pool 🏀

It’s that time again. Brackets. Bad predictions. Wild confidence. Immediate regret.

Ice Station Zebra is hosting this year’s NCAA Tournament Pool.
Entry fee: $0.
Prize: Bragging rights and enduring legend status.

No buy-in. No payouts. Just pure signal versus noise.

Selection methodology is wide open:

* Advanced analytics
* Gut instinct
* KenPom spreadsheets
* AI modeling
* A coin flip
* Tea leaves
* A proprietary Ice Station Zebra “strategic divination framework”

Use whatever edge you think gives you one.

Join here:
https://picks.cbssports.com/college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/pools/kbxw63b2ge2tkojvhaztc===/join?invited-by=ivxhi4tzhizdgnbrgyzdiojs&via-medium=copy&ttag=FF26_cpy_invite_new_mt_bpm&pool-join-key=ylyihrkunyr88l1x0k81yggkj26vuym3&senderRole=mnabnzaig6eyrd

Submit your bracket. Lock it in. Defend it publicly.

When a 13-seed wrecks your Final Four, we’ll document it accordingly.

‘Ice Station Zebra’ is my 2026 NCAA® Men's Bracket Games on CBS Sports. Join it today!

03/10/2026

You don't need to be an artist to get a great coin. You need a vendor who isn't lazy.

Most of our best projects started as rough sketches, blurry photos, or a paragraph that said: "something like this but better." That's normal. That's how creative work starts.

What matters is what happens next.

Some companies charge you $50-75 just to convert your rough idea into a vector proof. Then they charge again for every revision. By the time you approve a design, you've spent $200 before a single coin gets made.

At ISZ, design cleanup is included. We take your concept, no matter how rough, and turn it into production-ready artwork. We sent you a proof. If you want changes, we make them. No revision fees. No per-hour design charges.

Why? Because charging you to understand your own idea is a broken business model. The design process is how we make sure the final product is something you're proud of. Rushing it or penalizing you for participating in it produces bad coins and unhappy customers.

If your current vendor treats design revisions like a meter running, that tells you everything you need to know about their priorities.

Ever been charged extra just to clean up your own artwork?

Tell me about it.