found it, at least where it works for me, in app\code\core\Mage\Sales\Model\Convert\Quote.php there is a line $orderItem->setProductOptions($options);, in setProductOptions or in a function called by setProductOptions is where it serializes the data so all i needed to do was array_push into $options['attributes_info']

this is useful if you want to add other attributes like material only as a cosmetic thing for orders

found it, at least where it works for me, in app\code\core\Mage\Sales\Model\Convert\Quote.php there is a line $orderItem->setProductOptions($options);, in setProductOptions or in a function called by setProductOptions is where it serializes the data so all i needed to do was array_push into $options['attributes_info']

this is useful if you want to add other attributes like material only as a cosmetic thing for orders