August activities

'Allo folks, and welcome to season 3!

As usual, I cannot thank you all enough for the continued support. We've got interesting times ahead!

I mentioned on the public FB season plan post (https://www.facebook.com/awalonsstuff/posts/3211453862406866) that I'd deep-dive a bit more on Patreon, and here we are. As usual, let me know if I gloss over anything interesting, or if y'all have content suggestions! Still a bit 'til I can kick off the media blitz, but a bit of idea-collecting's always good. Also there's waaay too many technical bits I could dig into in the meanwhile, so if you think something's interesting there's always the possibility to highlight it. 

 Y'all know that we're aiming for full suits. Fancy looks, comfy wear and various levels of features. Right now we've got the hitch that spray-casting seems to be at its limits, so a full submersion cast of the suits are needed. The hood production system is a perfect way to shake out all the miscellaneous issues in a lower-cost environment, and I think I've managed to discover a few interesting problems I'd otherwise encounter in the big-rig for sure. Have a gander. If these are the last, I reckon we can try scaling up the process to full-suit immersion casts during the autumn without too much hesitation. Plus, general restocking of things in the shop and a round of patreon-packages!

- SUIT-74, "Microbubble  imperfections". I'm fairly certain this is caused by small free-floating air bubbles that get stuck below the surface in the latex over time. Of course it's made worse if you've got visible ones on the surface, but there's a clear correlation between me whisking the casting soup with a power-drill and micro-bubble-issues appearing. It should be possible to shake 'em up to the surface by agitating the casting bucket with a vibro-pad of some sort, so I'm trawling the second-hand market for cheap stuff right now. I had a theory that it might be caused by microbubbles getting trapped due to the slow dip insertion process and coagulant unevenness too, but seems unlikely - the acid deep-cleaning gets a punt for now. Might still come in handy though!

- SUIT-96, "Drip slicing". Once the latex cures, some sections end up with weird 'spots' that have a clear runny path downwards. The edges are "sliced", i.e. it's almost like they were cut into the latex about 50% of the way through it. The inner piece can have a completely different surface feel - the middle one on the picture here feels matted like talcum'ed latex, whereas the surrounding surface has the oven-fresh tacky feel. Just from the fact that it has distinct "runs" downwards it's clear it's something with the coagulant, as that's the only time liquid is allowed to sit freely on the mold out in the open where it can drip and run downwards. The cleaning-prep is immediately wiped off, and the actual latex dipping goes bottom-to-top now when the molds are right-side-up. Based on the surface difference it's probably a contamination of some sort - the coagulant supposedly diffuses outwards in the latex as it coagulates, so if it's contaminated it could possibly alter the cast all the way out to the surface. No clue how that results in the sliced edges, but eh. I can probably fix it with a bit of filtering, or otherwise try to source higher-purity raw materials. 

- SUIT-95, "Surface drizzle". It only ever happens at the very top of the cast... and right now, there's no scenario where the cast is ever held upside down for a while. I suspect it may be a different expression of the "drip slicing" where there are impurities in the coagulant, but the top of the mold is flat enough for it to remain stationary and concentrated. Hopefully it'll disappear if I solve the drip slicing.

Anything I missed? Anything interesting I glossed over? Comments always appreciated!