Alchemy: How Do I Upgrade Gear?

[C_For_Cinnamon]

I managed to combine glasses and ice to get icy shades with the glasses on the right slot of the card puncher and the ice on the left, I did the same for combining cleaver and glasses and that worked p well and gave it more viscosity. Unfortunately when I tried this same placement with a hoodie and a velvet pillow I just got a bunch of pillows no matter how I placed the cards (out of a hoodie now, but it's chill). Is there any way to predict the outcome before hand or any tips on how to do it better? I would very much appreciate any advice.

[Kairose]

The earliest you can predict an alchemy combination is after putting the totem in the lathe, when you can know the item type (but not any stats or abilities) from the shape it makes. If you put the totem in the Alchemiter, you can see the cost, which can tell you which abilities it has based on the special grist, and typically better items have a higher build grist cost, but this isn't universal.

Keep in mind that there are two ways to combine items via alchemy: punching a card twice in the card punch, and putting two different cards into the lathe. If one method produces the wrong type of item, try the other method. It will almost always give you the item of the other type.

[C_For_Cinnamon]

got it, thank you