Our Latex Sheets: Quality

Our Raw Materials:
Liquid Latex & Skin-Safe Pigments

Together with our suppliers, we always work on finding the best raw material. The liquid latex we use is manufactured in Malaysia and transported to Germany in it’s liquid form. There is a number of types of liquid latex with a range of properties. What is important to us, is a smooth final product, easy to work with and as durable and robust as possible. We did try a number of different materials and found our favorite.

Same goes for the colors, we use. We use basic pigments, to avoid any harmful ingredients. We test all pigments before using them, to be sure they are stable in the latex on the one hand, but also harmless to your skin and the structure of the sheets on the other hand. You’d be surprised how many colors just don’t behave well in latex — we’ve done the testing so you don’t have to.

Medical-Grade Vulcanization

We use a production process, inspired by the production of medical-grade latex gloves. This means:

• Steps to reduce natural latex proteins,
  which can cause allergic reactions
• Full vulcanization of every sheet —
  no shortcuts, no “just dried” latex

Keeping the proteins low reduces the risk of letting that allergy manifest. Not all of them can be removed though, but a high percentage. This can reduce the risk of allergic reactions, but not fully resolve it.

All of our sheets get fully vulcanized, we don’t just sell dried liquid latex, but a final product with all properties of industrial produced sheets.

Working on Best Possible Thickness Consistency

We’ve redesigned our setup to improve thickness consistency — flatter tables, better leveling, and constant quality control. Still, slight variations are inevitable with handmade latex.

What to expect:

• Our goal is, to keep variations lower more than ±0.1 mm
• We try not to ship sheets, exceeding that.
• For example, a 0.40 mm sheet might at least range from 0.3–0.5 mm across the surface, sometimes a little more, measured at least on 3-4 points.
• In some areas (especially edges), variation can be slightly more than that
• We try to work slightly thicker than the average thickness to avoid thin areas, unless requested differently

Our advice: Avoid using the outer 5 cm edge of the sheet for high-stress pattern pieces. That’s where most natural variation occurs.

Especially around the edges, the sheets sometimes can be slightly thicker or thinner, this happens as we do finish them in these areas and sometimes material collects there. The area is still useable of course, just be extra careful.

Imperfections & Inspection

As our latex sheets are all handcrafted, we cannot make them as perfect, as a machine could do. Therefore, there remains the possibility of small imperfections within the sheet. These form during mixing and layering — and while we’ve improved our process massively since taking over from Yummy Gummy, it’s not 100% avoidable.

Good news:

• We’ve reduced visible bubble count
  massively with new techniques
• Every sheet is inspected before shipping
• We only send regular quality
  if imperfections are minimal

Air Bubbles: Improved but Never Zero

We did improve all steps, especially the direct after care to reduce the air bubbles a lot, compared to the former quality of Yummy Gummy.

Still, some air holes can occur, those are impossible to avoid during production. We recommend to avoid them when cutting pieces for your clothing. Same goes here, we recommend to avoid an area of about 5cm from the edge, also bubbles love that area.

Don´t panic on air bubbles

We know — seeing a bubble in your sheet can feel worrying. But don’t panic. A small, round bubble is not like a cut.
Latex rips easily from sharp edges, but a sealed bubble has no tear point — it doesn’t automatically weaken your garment to the point of ripping.

That said, we still recommend avoiding visible bubbles in tight or high-stress areas (like catsuits, elbows, or stockings) — not because it’s dangerous, but because it’s better to be safe, and feel secure in your final piece.

The best method

Actually: lay your sheet on a glass table with a light underneath, best when it is dark outside.

With that, you can see all of them, they are very easy to locate. You don’t have a glass table? No problem, a window or glass door during day will do.

You are looking for:

• A smooth, even tone across the sheet – that is perfect
• Brighter areas can be slightly thinner, but don’t be betrayed by translucent colors!
• Dark spots and clusters can be impurities or pigment buildups.
• Bright white dots – these can be air bubbles, but don’t mix them up with stars in galaxy sheets^^

Be careful on Colorful Patterns

The more colorful a pattern is, the more difficult it is to spot things. If you are unsure, you can double check. If an area does not feel thinner, it might not be, if the color is brighter or more translucent in this area. Also, if you see a white spot in light hitting from above as well (i.e. on galaxy sheets), you may have found a star, instead of an air bubble.
However: we recommend to avoid an area of about 5cm from the edge, also bubbles love that area.

Mark off any spots you want to avoid before cutting — it’s quick and makes your work much more reliable.

How to Use our Sheets for your Handcrafting

Handcrafted sheets need a little extra caution while working with them, to have a lasting, nice experience with the results. Nothing can be more frustrating, then a new piece of clothing breaks during first use, we know that.

Every sheet is unique. That means a little extra attention goes a long way, with each sheet.

For high-stretch garments (catsuits, tight sleeves, stockings):

• Avoid visible bubbles or edge zones
• Use slightly thicker areas for your cuts
• Work gently — handcrafted latex behaves differently than industrial sheets

And if there is less duty on your pieces?

It is always better to avoid slightly thinner parts for more strained pieces, like shoulders or around the hip. Also, if pieces are very tight fitting, we would always recommend you to avoid bubbles and impurities.

For looser pieces (tops, skirts, wide panels):

• Imperfections are usually not a problem at all
• Just avoid areas, where things gather, especially the outer areas, just check double.

In short: the more strain the area will see, the more carefully you want to cut.

Besides that, our latex sheets do the same, line manufactured sheets will do, there is no special needs in glue, thinners or preparations. Just be as careful as you always are with latex.

Handmade latex isn’t perfect.
But that’s what makes it yours.