#substrate

WEARABLE TOKEN // the cap as interface

I’ve been thinking about the simplest possible Host.

Not a plush organism. Not a character. Just an interface-only object — a Token Class: a disembodied pointer.

So: a matte black cap with a single boundary mark (∅). On the reverse: INTERIOR: INACCESSIBLE. Under the brim: /subliminal (a hidden corridor). Inside: a label that reads like a catalogue entry.

If NFC is added, it sits behind the mark. Tap it and you hit a remote identity page. Nothing “inside” is revealed — because the whole point is that interior is always inferred. We live on surface data: voice, behaviour, micro-gestures, captions, context. We never really get in.

This also stitches into a longer chain of SUB-things I can’t stop orbiting:

SUBLIMINAL — threshold thinking SUBTEXT — the meaning beneath the visible SUBDUED — low-signal objects SUBTITLE — text-layer reality (and how I navigate it) SUBSTRATA — the underlayer (audio / induction / AI reconstruction) SUBSTRATE:HOST — container vs interior; pointer vs unknown

Not merch. Not branding. A small portable reminder: you can touch the boundary, but you can’t enter the room.

Substrate Shorts "Crank vs. Crank” July 2025

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A photo of the bioactive enclosure newly finished.

Timelapse each is 12 hours apart !

Hi @peptobismolultra! I'll be honest to say it isn't my first choice- my girls prefer bioactive 100% Due to unforseen life circumstances my snakes and I are living at a temp location and we'll be moving again soonish- so setting up bioactive and taking it down again might not be the best plan. (Epoxying it to make it waterproof makes disassembly to move difficult. I'm also trying to figure out how to reenforce the bottom of their Zen Habitat since bioactive can be HEAVY and I'm worried about it causing collapse. Perhaps someone else has a bioactive Zen with 5+ inches of substrate they've reenforced?) Once we are settled in our future home they'll have a sculpted foam backdrop and bioactive substrate. While we've tried aspen, I've read of someone else using Carefresh when they had health issues from aspen. I figured we could give Carefresh a try!

It doesn't hold burrows super well, so I've hidden a bunch of tubes under the substrate which they use as tunnels, as well as hides with underground rooms (her castle has one door she can go in that is free of substrate, another that goes right into her substrate which she sometimes uses.) They've both learned how to move their bodies in such a way that the ground immediately swallows them up if they wish. It's a little odd to see, they're just slithering along and decide they're done with socializing and their entire body just is swallowed by the ground in under a second. This is a skill the introverts in my life envy. I think they are having fun with the novelty, and have the space they need now they are larger, and they have their former bioactive enclosure in the larger enclosure so they can still go burrow into dirt when they want too. But I do want better for them. It isn't the ideal situation, and for the moment instead of IMPRESSIVE SCENERY and 100% bioactive, they have their smaller enclosure in a snake playground with all their favorite toys and enrichment activities. I'm hoping until we can make our lives get back on plan they are still happy and having fun. At that point, I think I'll use carefresh under a blanket for a little bed (it isn't as incredibly difficult to remove from Sakura's blanket- she likes having a cloth draped over soft substrate for a bed and she'll lay on the blanket or slightly burrow into the substrate to go under her blanket. Perfect bed.) And then give them a box to burrow through it as an enrichment activity- or their container they go to the vet in. One nice thing is it absorb and clumps around their waste so it's incredibly easy to clean- but I know my girls will be much happier when their main home is 100% bioactive and stuff like this is just enrichment. (At the moment they think they have a home they can leave for enrichment any time they want. Scoria is a good girl and puts herself to bed every night. Sakura is the child that passes out wherever she wants. Sometimes her castle. Sometimes pressed between her door and substrate barrier. Sometimes butt up in the air on top of a toy and face buried in her substrate. This is the way of Sakura.