Rolling out Rowan...

Earlier this week I finally got my act together and launched an extended range of colors for the dDx hairstyles... starting initially by retinting Ursula into the new 36-color range, and I also finally made a new men's whole-head style called Rowan:


Definitely a new direction for me... I've not made a slightly longer men's do before and it came together remarkably quickly... so no bad thing. However, with any long men's do, it works equally well as a short women's do. While Lewis Luminos was the first to blog it... yes he beat me by three days, but, dear reader, I've been having issues logging into Blogger... Karla Scorbal posted it in her blog on a girl less than 24 hours later. Furthermore, Faery Sola has assured me that it works wonders of fey types, and has offered me the 25 prims required to throw up the vendor in her store - Studio Sidhe. As such, I went back and reworked the vendor front for the new location, to better fit in with the client base.... ;)


I always knew this one would be a Unisex do... hence the gender non-specific style name... but let's be honest, since Marshall twelve months ago... there's been a dearth of short, straight men's hair from me...

Either way... equal ops hair for the win... now available in 36 new and improved colors. I love them and am currently wearing Auburn, Chestnut, and even Berry... as well as the light and Platinum blondes, Celtic Agouti... Natural White... dot dot dot...

OK... shutting up. If you want to see how they wear, just pick up a demo box of Rowan or Ursula... each has the full gamut in there!

Until next time,

Kalli

It's Mira, Jim... but not as we know it...

I've always held back on making mixed color hairs before... basically because I've always been afraid it might open a real can of worms... but I really had to release a few of these for Mira, seeing as it designed with streaks in mind. So here they are - I've made 5 - and they're live now.






They went live last night. I would have said then, but I was just exhausted and immediately after I dropped them instore I fell into bed and slept for twice as long as I usually do. Stil bleary here, but waiting for the coffee to kick in...

Soo... going to get another. Feel free to ogle - and if you want to check them out instore; they're just 75L apiece.

Until next time,

Kalli

Mira now live in solids...

Well.. 2 hours late... but it's done! Mira, in solids at least, now live and in the main body of the store (tacked on to the back of the nearest pillar by the entrance as you walk in... can't miss it)

The update group's getting the demos delivered directly right now... and work continues on the the retints... here's an example... and please excuse the background... 31st of October and all!


It and the others will be out in a few days...

Until next time,

Kalli

So... those new colors... and new price bands

It occurs to me that I've been making a lot of reference to the new colors, but I'm yet to show them off...

Why?

No idea... just the way it's been. So what do you want to know? well... I've toned them down a little... gone is the excessive shiny, although I've maintained some to give them a feel of life... not flat jet black from me this time out... oh no... nor will there ever be. You want hair that's black black black in my range? Buy whatever color you please, take a copy and tint it yourself.

And tips... I've mentioned loking at them... I did... and decided against because it just gets silly. What colors do I offer tipped... and what color tips? Well... the other thing to bear in mind is that every other retailer out there who offers more than a dozen or so colors offers tips... red, black, white... whatever... but they don't offer the sheer range of base colors that I want to. As such, I won't offer tips in the foreseeable because if I did, I'd have to find a way of offering all tip colors on all my existing hair shades... Which for the 3rd set is no fewer than 72 colors to begin with... or, two hair vendors PER SIM, which is, as you can imagine, unworkable...

So anyway... enough of the preamble.

Here's the new grid...



72 colors, 36 packs, 6 color groups... You'll notice that there are around 30 new shades, with some notable retirements from the old line. Pillarbox is gone, as I never liked the highlighting - Marachino (in Red Box 2) is a good substitute if it was your preferred color. Mocha has been renamed Cappuccino (Brown Box 6), now that I realise that's what I meant the entire time, and now I can reliably SPELL 'cappuccino'. Espresso has been rebranded Coffee (Brown Box 1)

Please note; colors are now going to be offered in Dual packs (to keep the vendor prim count down, and to give you the choice of shades for just a leetle exra money). Nothing overly fancy, and I'm still cutting my own throat... you'll see when these babies go live... Also, I think I'm going to have to say it... No... I won't be offering colors singly at any point in the foreseeable future. Most of the major players now offer dual or even triple packs (for more than I'm charging) and those who still offer singles (at sometimes deluded price figures) will soon have to open their eyes and move with the times.

I'll be offering color demos for the first time in a range of styles and sizes for you to try to make absolutely sure you're getting what you want. Note that not all styles will be represented in all colors... but there'll be long ones, short ones and spiky ones to get the best idea.

we'll be offering fatties as before... 12 colors in each, and the big 72 color pack for a further per style discount. And to simplify things further, the relaunch will take place with just two initial price bands...

Premium / Popular:
120L per double
360L per fattie
980L the works

Esoteric / Simple:
60L per double
180L per fattie
540L the works

I've decided to forego the 75L equivalent tier, as it was for static styles... in the new range, no static styles exist, so it's redundant. I may later create a 25L equivalent band as and when I decide to start phasing out new lines. Either way, when that hits we're talking 30L for 2 colorways...

All told, you've got to admit whichever way you slice it, those prices are pretty reasonable bearing in mind you get 2 shades in 4 sizes in each basic box.

Four? Yes... Due to popular demand, and because most male shapemakers insist on creating HUGE guys (who I refuse to date, just so you know), we're instigating an XL size above the previous large... which means, quite simply, if the XL is too small, you ain't gonna find hair anywhere... really... The base size used for XL generation is a 100 head; and in SL, they don't come larger until you start adding prims. The large previously was an 80, medium 65 and small 50. these sizes we're keeping. Note as well that all the hair can be scaled DOWN should you need to, as I don't use minimum measures in any part of the build.

Well... that's more waffle than a belgian breakfast... Go havbe fun and watch this space...

Until next time,

Kalli

Dawning realisation, and the pleasant sound of the bottom dropping out of the world...

Well... This all started yesterday when I looked at Kiriyama and thought "this is absolute crap... I cant do what I want with my textures..."

Then it struck me.. I've been using what were and are basically off the peg ones for nigh on a year... and they suck... they don't look at all realistic and it makes my work look like poo.

So I've bitten the bullet and gone back to square one... except this time making my own textures using the ones I have been using as a base. the results have been surprising so far...



Oh crap... I thought... that's like 1000% better.

Sadly this holds true for Oscar and Zoe II as well...

So now, dear reader, I have no choice but to do something ridiculous... SCRAP THE ENTIRE SHOP STOCK AND START AGAIN.

I mean it... I want to look good... I want the products to look good and right now, they look like crap compared to how they could be. So I'll go back to the prototypes, clone up and work with what's in-store to rebrand and relaunch... except this time looking good.

I'll have help, fortunately, and I'll be looking to rework the palette slightly... so if you have any suggestiongs, you know where to leave them.

Until next time...

a rather freaked Kalli

Jet is the new black...

Hey all... I've been sat on my ever expanding butt doing nothing again!

Wait? No! That can't be right!!

Well... yes and no... I've not made a lot of hair of late... but I've redesigned the Discord Designs palette, taking the range from 32 to 48 colors... Including a new black - well... two... after hearing people complain that Midnight wasn't dark enough I've not only gone and created Jet, which is as black as you please, but Onyx, which is still black, but not as dark as Jet, but still darker than Midnight...

Oh hell... I'm never going to be able to explain this clearly, so I'll do what I always resort to and hoof up an image, although be warned, it's a biggie... All in all there are seven new darks (Jet, Onyx, Gunmetal, Anthracite, Liquorice, Espresso and Pepper), 5 new reds (Lava, Auburn, Bronze, Pavlova and Sherbet), 2 new lights (Copper and Silver) and 2 more unaturals - Leaf and Cobalt - as I didn't feel I offered a reasonable mid-blue or mid-green.



The main push has been to resolve the derth of dark natural colors in the range, with more grays, auburns and browns added to bulk the lines. Also note that the decision to create fatpacks of 12, rather than ten colors has been made - these will retail at $L349 for a $L99 style; $L265 for a $L75 and $L175 for a $L49 do. Existing lines will be expanded to include the new colors as time permits, so watch this space. Should you be unable to wait, however, drop me a notecard in-world with your requested style and new color, drop me the cost price plus $L50 "exclusivity premium" and I'll ship them direct to you in advance!

Until next time,

Kalli

The mind starts wandering...

It's a strange thing really what constitutes a good vs a bad sales day... and the difference seems to be down to one thing... the selling of fat-packs, pushing up overall sales.

Now as you know, I offer individual colors or an "all at once" box of all 32 colors for around 6 times the price of a singleton color... now this is all well and good, but there is, of course, the problem that most people won't want such a large range. Someone who wears Midnight, for example, is unlikely to wear Lavender... and as such, the purpoted saving of 32 for teh price of six becomes a little moot if you only ever wear four... say ranging from Midnight, to Chestnut, through Chocolate and Plum...

So muggins here gets thinking... what about ten-packs of colors, grouped into "Darks", "Reds", "Blondes" and "Unnaturals"... each sold for around three times the price of a single color? - so $L299 for a $L99 singleton..? More of a range than just offering the standard three or four, but for not a huge initial outlay. Might also tempt people after just one or two co,lours to go long...

I was thinking of bagging them as follows:

Dark pack:
Midnight, Chestnut, Chocolate, Plum, Black Grape, Mocha, Graphite, Grey, Raspberry, Pillarbox



Red pack:
Raspberry, Scarlet, Crimson, Pillarbox, Plum, Black Grape, Candyfloss, Flame, Strawberry Blonde, Fuschia



Blonde Pack:
Rich Blonde, Ash Blonde, Dirty Blonde, Platinum, Strawberry Blonde, Honey, Pale Brown, Flame, Mocha, Snow



Unnatural Pack:
Forest, Reptile, Mint, Raven, Sapphire, Lilac, Lavender, Blueberry, Ice, Snow



This will mean fighting with the existing vendors to create new points of sale... but as a ten for three offer, is it worth it?

Comments... analysis...?

Kalli