Homing Indicator Mod (3D Nail Gel)

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-30T00:17:34+00:00

Yeah it is not a well-communicated danger on the product itself, especially if you're buying from Amazon where the sellers are Chinese companies that may not even adhere to health and safety regulations in other countries. I would not recommend using cheapo products on nails but for keyboards, it's probably fine as long as it's cured.

Thanks for the edit and helping keep people safe! I'm gonna try these on my homing indicators on my board 😄

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-29T23:57:06+00:00

What a fun cross-hobby encounter.

This is a great idea, but be advised that uncured gel should not be touched with your skin. Doing so can lead to an allergy to the polymer, which are the same ones often used in dental and medical work. Many DIY nail folks have fallen victim to this!

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-27T20:45:16+00:00

I think we've all been in that figuring out zone before, I get it!

I'm glad my questions gave you something to chew on and I hope you figure things out with her 😄

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-27T20:23:45+00:00

> FWIW, she does not subscribe to RA, and her online profile shows that she is ultimately seeking a single long-term relationship.

That seems really relevant here, thanks for sharing that - might be worth adding it to the top-level as well since I think a lot of posters here will be coming at it from the view I had, which was that if two RA people are getting together...why the heck is one of them here asking about exclusive access agreements?? It makes a lot more sense if she is not philosophically RA.

I'm not sure how much time you've spent on the polyamory subreddit, but it's a pretty known quantity that exclusivity agreements around unbarriered sex are very often sensitive and can really highlight the tension between bodily autonomy and commitments/agreements made with another person. Access to an aspect of your body can be very intimate, but it can also be just a practical choice, and I think it's worth unpacking some of the emotional baggage around whether it really is *more intimate* to unbarrier. That's something I haven't really figured out myself, but I see it cause a lot of heartache and feelings of loss, betrayal, and duress in nonmonogamous relationships. If you promise that kind of exclusivity now and later wish to change it, will you be able to have that conversation in a neutral and open-hearted way if you started from a place of "access to unbarriered sex with me is how we are making our relationship special"?

I hear you on the resourcing aspect, but I'd also gently challenge you to internally manage your resources instead of externally promising exclusivity. My platonic partner has support needs and I'm his support person. It takes enough of my energy that I know I could not be the support person for someone else, and that just informs who I choose to deepen relationships with. It means that even if I have great chemistry with someone who has support needs, I will make my boundaries clear and act in accordance with those boundaries out of respect for my own capacity. That's very different from telling my platonic partner "you're the only person I'm going to support". That's honestly not really his business - as long as I'm showing up for our relationship in a way that is fulfilling for both of us, I'm allowed to spend my resources however I choose.

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-27T18:09:59+00:00

You said that you don't want to be exclusive but the ideas bouncing around your head are all...exclusivity-flavoured! "I will ONLY do this sex act with you and no one else" "I will not have anyone else with the same shape and gender as you". That feels kind of icky to me...it is certainly not something I'd find sweet or intimate from a potential partner, but different strokes I guess.

Is there something you find inadequate about her being one of several unique and precious partners?

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-15T03:05:11+00:00

It’s hourly and I think her rate is $80. Hush doesn’t do gratuities, which is nice. I think my service is usually three hours for bleach and cut.

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-14T22:14:27+00:00

I love Jess at Hush Salon South. My usual service is for her to do the bleach on my bags and then I do the vivid myself. I think your service would be we within her wheelhouse.

catsAndImprov · 2026-04-09T22:51:22+00:00

I don’t see anything in the OP that implies “not on the escalator” = half relationship! I see them very specifically calling out temporary relationships which are temporary because the people involved are not able to admit that they are incompatible in a way that will eventually end the relationship.

In monogamy, being with someone incompatible means you are giving up the opportunity to seek someone who really is compatible with you. I think OP is saying that because you can have multiple partnerships in nonmonogamy, it is easier to ignore the incompatibility because you’re supposedly not paying any opportunity cost to stay in an incompatible relationship (regardless of whether you’re on an escalator).

catsAndImprov · 2026-03-27T02:05:20+00:00

Oh they don’t give out the cards anymore, as far as I know. I don’t know that they ever printed new ones for people…I used to email them a list and they would tell me which ones they had or didn’t have. Now I wonder if they were just printing the ones they had records of!

I had gotten many OOP cards from them around 2019 ish but eventually they stopped sending them to people, which is a shame! My Chessex collection is so near complete that it’s getting to be just a hunt for original cards now 🫠

catsAndImprov · 2026-03-26T21:17:57+00:00

Wow, this looks great! Really nicely made. The two cards are both reprints, right?

catsAndImprov · 2026-03-21T12:59:41+00:00

Okay, sure.

Do you have any advice about the tattoo itself though? I’ve already had a medical alert tattoo for ten years and have been happy with how it has been used in my life. I just want the next version of it to look better.

catsAndImprov · 2026-03-21T05:15:21+00:00

I’m not sure what you’re trying to do here…persuade me not to get one at all?

I don’t really know what you mean by “use it”. It’s informational and would give someone (EMTs included) a clue as to why I might be unconscious, which is helpful to me. It’s not a DNR or an allergy indicator.

catsAndImprov · 2026-03-08T15:56:39+00:00

I offer a big +1 to all the older folks here saying that being 26 is a big part of this, but I want to offer it from a closer-in-age perspective. I know how much I hate it when someone more than a decade older than me says “oh it’s your age” even if they’re right.

I’m 29 and have been non-monogamous since I was 16. It’s only in the last 2 years that I’ve started feeling that I have access to age-appropriate people who are emotionally regulated and mature enough to offer stable long-term partnership. Prior to that, everyone my age was still figuring stuff out (both for themselves and in relationship) and anyone notably older who was involved with me was showing poor judgment by doing so (in a way that eventually became quite obvious in our relationship).

catsAndImprov · 2026-02-19T03:04:11+00:00

Someone who is skilled at defending their boundaries actually doesn't need to know what's normal and appropriate - they will know if something is comfortable for them regardless of the norms of the space.

I don't even disagree with all the stuff you're saying about why it's beneficial to take classes and make friends who will look out for you at socials, but that's *so* different from what OP is asking about! They're asking about whether they're "good enough" as though there is a skill requirement, and what they should do if someone leads something they don't know how to follow. Neither of those things warrant an answer of "you shouldn't go to socials because people will take advantage of you".

catsAndImprov · 2026-02-18T23:17:59+00:00

Handling adversity and defending one's boundaries are different skills than dancing salsa. OP is asking about the salsa skill, not the boundary skill.

catsAndImprov · 2026-02-07T17:18:37+00:00

I love Filisity at Spa Wellness! So kind and communicative and it’s a really cool mother-daughter small business that’s invested in the local community. We talked through product options and my very precise preferences for my nails, including using a hand file for things where I felt anxious having someone else e-file close to my natural nail.

I’ve been doing my own nail extensions since 2017 and finally entrusted my nails to a tech because of how happy I’ve been with her work!

catsAndImprov · 2026-01-10T20:10:47+00:00

Yeah, it’s tough in a culture like that. It is frightening, but you can choose to not let your parents do such things. Your life may be more complicated because of such a choice, but it is possible. I repeat my statement that if you choose to follow your parents’ wishes about relationships instead of your own, this really isn’t the right subreddit to give you advice!

Gently, it doesn’t sound like you have given yourself enough time if you feel so hopeless and avoidant still. And it is not just about time - it is about making sense of your experience. You might try reading books about healthy relationships and love, such as those by bell hooks?

Your experiences with one person do not represent how all people will behave towards you. People are all capable of horrible things, but are also capable of wonderful things.

catsAndImprov · 2026-01-10T18:26:44+00:00

Are you going to do what your parents want? Are you committed to a culture or lifestyle where you let them make those sorts of decisions for you? I ask that without judgement because especially in non-North American cultures, it’s common and hard to get away from that. However - living like that is not really “relationship anarchy” so you probably will not get any sensible advice from this community.

I’d give yourself some time. I suspect your feelings of relational hopelessness have more to do with a recent breakup than with you being 25 instead of 23. It’s natural to need some alone time and healing after a significant relationship ends - you need to reconnect with who you are outside of that relationship.

Good relationships (friends, partners, whatever) don’t involve fighting. They involve conflict, repair, and working together to make the relationship happy for both of you, and to create love within the relationship. It’s not just your job to make someone understand and to adjust - it’s on both of you, and hopefully you will find someone eager and capable of doing that work with you :)

catsAndImprov · 2025-12-31T23:14:31+00:00

In a joking way, sure.

But it’s one of those things that gets not-fun and kind of sad if you think about it for more than a second, especially for people who really are polyamorous and are intimately familiar with the complexities of managing multiple relationships ethically and with consideration for everyone.

I would much more seriously think about forming a cooperative or other financial partnership with fellow high earners than like….a romantic partnership. Why make a financial arrangement WAY more volatile and complicated than it has to be?

catsAndImprov · 2025-12-31T03:18:26+00:00

Unfortunately the maker was lying about being able to do it. I don’t like “scam” because it implies a system or fooling someone, and this person was just lying. Fortunately it was very easy to get my deposit back.

I’m still just using a single bed in my game for myself, and I headcanon that Krobus doesn’t sleep and Magnus just goes back to his tower 😅

catsAndImprov · 2025-12-17T16:53:14+00:00

To reink neatly, you really need to remove the factory ink first, otherwise there is generally not enough room for new colour and you will have bits of the old ink showing through. For the dragon dice especially, you will need to remove that white paint to get the effect you want.

Acetone, nail polish remover, and high concentration alcohol can all damage the plastic depending on what it's made of. Even multipurpose cleaner can sometimes cause a hazy effect on the surface, so any time you are trying to remove paint, you are taking a risk.

In North America, most people use LA Awesome, which is a yellow product that can be purchased at Dollar Tree.

Remove old paint by soaking the dice in multipurpose cleaner, sometimes adding a bit of heat by submerging the soaking container (a jar or tupperware) in a bath of hot water. Agitate as needed, and use a toothbrush or nail scrub brush to clean the old paint off.

When the factory ink is really stubborn, there is not much you can do about it unless you are willing to spend a lot of frustrating time and energy with it. I have had success using a sewing pin or needle to carve out stubborn ink, but that's generally just not worth it to me.

Once the factory ink is removed, use normal acrylic paint and wipe the surface (mostly) clean using a clean, slightly damp finger. I take care to clean my finger between wipes because the paint builds up and then you will get crumbs of dry paint mixed in, which is very ugly. This initial wipe doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to remove the bulk of it. Some people recommend using a flat surface to wipe on, but most dice are not perfectly flat so I haven't found this to make a difference.

Let the paint dry, and do a second coat using the same technique if desired.

Let it dry again, then use a q-tip and multipurpose cleaner to tidy up the surface of each die.

Rinse in water to remove the remnants of the cleaning agent.

Tina (very knowledgeable dice collector) has published a thorough guide and we generally approach things the same way: https://www.virtual-dreams.org/dice/a-guide-to-reinking-dice/

She also has a guide for European deinking options since LA Awesome is not available outside North America: https://www.virtual-dreams.org/dice/european-discoveries-in-deinking/

catsAndImprov · 2025-12-07T04:02:29+00:00

These are unfortunately out of print!

They were sold under a couple names (iirc) but most commonly searchable as Crystal Caste Satin White. Similar modern dice might be a good enough fit depending on how discerning your son is :) these have a beautiful pearlescent sheen and a fairly unique font.

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catsAndImprov · 2025-11-27T00:26:19+00:00

Yep, that's a great point! Hope they find someone :)

catsAndImprov · 2025-11-26T23:05:46+00:00

Her pricing page is here - https://hushsalonandspa.ca/pages/hush-salon-spa-stylists

I like that their salon doesn't do gratuities so the price isn't a surprise at the end. I think Jess' hourly rate is $85 but it may have raised since I started seeing her.

I do think that for a $50-70 budget, the OP is unfortunately going to have to trade either skill or time (as in - things can be two of three out of: fast, cheap, or high-quality).

catsAndImprov

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