17.0519-0900 Lorraine's bling appliques and suit repairs
@25.0531-0954.30atx
Dear Marla,
A few weeks ago Lorraine made an unusual request.
"Thalia, could you give me one of your older suits? I'm looking for one that is still wearable but is soon destined for the scrap heap that you won't miss?" asked Lorraine,
"Sure. I've got several old ones that are covered in tape repairs and I just don't have the heart to throw out. Do you want to wear latex now?" I asked.
"Oh, no." She replied. "Sorry to disappoint you." She paused. "Let's just say I'm not there yet."
"What are you going to do with it?" I asked.
"I just want to experiment with an idea." She replied. Then, with a grin, she said "You'll see."
We went to my apartment and I pulled out my box of old, smelly latex garments. "Here you go." I said. "Take your pick. Hell, take the whole box if you want. Don't feel like you need to return it any of this stuff. Just discard it. "
She said thanks as she walked out of the room carrying the whole box of old latex.
After a few hours of feeling curious about what Lorraine would do with that old latex, other things came up and I forgot about it.
I don't remember if I have already mentioned it, but there is an intercom box in nearly all of the rooms and even some of the out buildings, such as Sarah's stable. You just push a button and talk. It broadcasts your message to all of the other units. Simple!
I was in my quarters this morning, making my bed when the intercom burped.
"Thalia, can you come down to the library?"
When I walked into the library I saw a surprise on the big table in the middle of the room.
Several latex garments were neatly folded and arranged on the table.
"I'm returning those old latex garments you gave me. I've made some, ahem, modifications." Said Lorraine.
"These are awesome, Lorraine!" She had glued appliques in various intricate designs in gold onto the latex at the shoulders. They were amazing! I picked one up and examined it closely. The embossed designs were amazingly intricate and some even had a few different colors by layering the materials which appeared to be some sort of dense, molded rubber. The colors were surprisingly bright, especially the metallic ones.
"Where did you get these amazing appliques, Lorraine?" I asked.
She smiled. "I made them. I found a source of liquid latex that is both fairly durable and comes in all kinds of crazy colors. I poured it into molds." Then she paused.
"Hmmm, that's the old fashioned way. I wonder if I could do something like this with a 3D printer."
I picked up one the old catsuits and caught my breath. It was tastefully festooned with bits of the gorgeous bling appliques that Lorraine makes on a 3D printer and them sells on them on the internet.
"Try it on tomorrow morning when you get dressed instead of your usual skinsuit. Just think of this as a prototype. Let's see what you look like in a 'blingsuit'!" She said, excitedly.
The other garments were similarly adorned with the appliques. Then I noticed that she had also attempted to replace some of my tape repairs with proper, matching latex patches.
I continued. "And you've done a great job with the repairs. I used to try to repair my stuff with glue and scrap latex patches. But eventually I switched over to having all of my garments chlorinated, which meant glue didn't work. Besides, I never mastered the art of gluing latex in general so, instead, I started using black, 'super-tape' which has an adhesive that sticks to latex pretty well. It's also easy to do. The repairs look like hell but it can make the difference between throwing a $300 catsuit in the trash or wearing it another day." I said. Then I added. "I've often thought if I were to go to a rave or other gathering while wearing latex I would keep a roll of the tape in my purse for emergency repairs. It could be a life-saver."
Then Lorraine said. "One of the kool things about this is that the adhesive I use is what they call 're-positionable'. When that garment eventually 'dies', we can simply remove these pieces and stick them on a new one."
(and...?)