In the event of in-world issues...

Rethink the advertising...

Yes... I've had a bash at redoing the vendor boards... or at least a prototype of one because, and I might be being hard on myself here, I think the current ones suck.

Why?

Too wordy... hair photos cramped and too small to determine anything and generally lacking that whole inviting artsy tip...

as such, I present a reworking of a current board:



Any thoughts and comments gratefully appreciated as always.

Until next time, when hopefully people may actually be able to buy stuff again,

Kalli

A mysterious young man sighted in the workshop...

Started work last night on a half-idea and it's going quite well, so I thought I'd throw up a prototype, much like I did with Tori. No name yet... but I'll take ideas!



Note: it might look like it's close to being finished, but from any other angle the head's bald... but I will say one thing... the primcount's likely to be astronimical!

And before anyone asks, yes that is me... I bought the male skin as there's something monumentally disturbing about making men's hair with full eyeliner and lipstick on... and don't get me started on my AO...!

Until next time, when I'm hoping for some updates about a release and maybe a name for the above...

Kalli

Tori hits the shelves...

Well there you have it... Tori is up and active!

Men's styles from now on for a while!

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

Damn you Harry Potter!

And this is not helping as I'm a funerially slow reader... Sorry...

Have run some tests with the Tori prototype below and yes, it actually colors nicely... so with any luck, it'll be dispatched readilly once I've dealt with this tome that I'm lugging around with me... (I'm around 250 pages in, so anyone caught posting spoilers will be disemboweled..)

I've also decided to start Dexter from scratch as I've had a few other ideas...

So until next time, when I hope to have something interesting to say,

Kalli

Tori Preview

Oh go on then... a small shot of the Tori prototype...

More details are sure to follow.

Until next time,

Kalli

Tatt'll do...

A slow weekend on the design and build front for very good RL reasons... And seeing as I've always been one to segregate SL and RL, so shall it remain... and no... it's nothing to do with the release of the final Harry Potter. Ok... Maybe it does; at least in some vague way... but I digress.

Just wanted to announce that the tattoo mentioned here is now live in the accessories gazebo. Priced at a lousy $L25, it's sold as a threeway bundle of undershirt, shirt and Jacket layers. While the work itself is black, it can be tinted around the edges to create a smoother blend with your underlying skin.

On a hair front, I'm finalising textures and positioning of Tori, and looking to clone and tint as and when I'm happy. I initially meant it to be a flexi, but it's looking much more likely to hit the shelves as a $L75 static... which is in no way a bad thing... Personally I feel this insistence on Flexi hair is a bit of a fallacy when short styles are involved... and Tori is rather short in places. More details to follow.

Until next time,

Kalli

Furthermore...

Worth mentioning there's a new Joss ad... so here it is... and I really do look odd as a blonde! ;)

Joss live...

Just so you know Joss is now live, and available at the reduced rate of $L99 per color, or $L550 for all 32... I made this decision to keep all styles under the magic three figures... Yes I admit, there was a LOT more work in Joss than any opf the others so far in terms of retexturing, but in theory, those textures are there to use again should I need them... and what do I charge the second time I do?

I've opted to retexture it again, so that any and all traces of "odd white edges" (Symptomatic of file conversion at upload) have been removed... as such, it looks SO much better... but I'll let you be the judges... pick up a demo (for free of course) and see for yourself.

What this means is that all 14 original styles and the multipack for the ponies are now live. Three vendors remain, and these will be populated with fresh styles over the next fortnight. What's to come? Tori, a short-backed feminine style with long bangs... Guru, a short tied back braid with masculine overtones... and Dexter - the first "male pattern baldness" prim hair in SL... Guru and Dexter are also both likely to be scripted.

Alice, bless her, has been doing some analysis of my early sales figures and we're coming up with a plan of attack for mods and maintenance... and, more importatly, new styles based on purchasing choices made so far...

What this means is relatively straightforward - basicallt styles will be reworked and retextuyred, or bagged up and replaced... but only when something new and improved exists to swap it out...

Over the next month or so, for example, Zoe will be reworked into a more professional style - maybe even made available as a threepack of simple bob styles... clips at the back, grips in the front and maybe with an Alice band (all Accessories will be colorchange scripted, of course!) After that, there's likely to be a push for new vendors on the other plates... adding one at a time, but bringing in more mens styles... as they're sorely needed.

Well work to do... wish me luck!

Until next time,

Kalli

A little bavarian something or other...

And believe it or not, within eight hours of the release of the remaining Ponies, Heidi hits the shelves in all its glory. Of the original lineup, this leaves only Joss to go... and seriously... I WILL make those textures some time soon...

Sorry to keep you waiting...

Well... The thing I'm asking myself now is what next...? I have three unused vendors left; and plans are afoot for more styles... a shorter female one, because I kinda sorta have to as everyone else is doing it... and two male styles, as to be honest, three mens hairs doesn't really cut it... As such, I'm going with another short one, that I've entitled Dexter (more details as and when - suffice to say you won't have sen anything like it before)... and maybe a long-ish tied back one... making 5 in total... Not huge, but better than a kick in the head.

Well.. with that, I have eight-year-old graphics software to abuse... wish me luck!

Until next time,

Kalli

Ponies invade Synchronicity!

OK, it's late.. very late... so I'll be brief and say this only once...

The 2XL Pony, 3XL pony and threeway Pony Pack (XL through 3XL) are go!

That is all...

Until next time, when I'm actually awake,

Kalli

A change of pace... New tattoo preview

OK... so it's not new... in fact I made it in December of last year, but it has so far been unique to me. A two kanji blackwork piece that nestles between the shoulderblades and reads (or at least I'm told it reads) "Conformity":



Set to go live for a nominal fee as and when I can draw up the vendor ad. Hope you like it!

Hair in the above shot is Kitsune in Ash Blonde, for reference...

Until next time,

Kalli

First glimpse of Heidi... and word of a release...

Hey all... a busy evening results in a little more movement!

I'm glad to announce that I'm finally happy with Heidi, so I've cloned a few and taken some photos for you all to see... Hope you like it as much as I do!

In further news, Samurai is set to go live in a little under 20 minutes... so if you've been waiting for it, get over to the store in around an hour's time!

Here's the pic!



Until next time,

Kalli

Two weeks in...

So the vendors have now been live in one form or another for 2 weeks... and things are slowly ticking over... Business is not booming, but that can be, in part, put down to heavy competition, limited range of products, low advertising budget and the stuff I'm selling, or trying to, being things I put together while learning... so it's not as good as most of the other, established hair sellers...

But sales have been pretty reassuring on a couple of days... primarily Ryoko, which has blasted all others out the water, accounting for 47% of all turnover from hair sales on its own in the last fortnight... not bad for a product launched just 7 days ago... Next highest individual seller was Criss, accounting for 18%...

Two styles have only sold in demo, which is a little sad... but such is the way of things... which puts them first in line to be pulled once I hit 18 styles... I'll keep the crates available, and drop the price dramatically... see if that makes a difference...

All a learning experience... but I'll keep on going!

on a new products front, I'm halfway through tinting the remaining Ponies, and Samurai is set to load up... so with any luck, that may be done this evening... but what with the scheduled downtime, it might not make it today... Alos finished the mods on Heidi and am set to script clone and tint it... New photo coming shortly once I've got it set in its launch colors...

Until next time,

Kalli

A brief hiatus...

Last couple of days have been a little on the quiet side on the hair front, due to an RL emergency... but that's all more or less in hand now, and I should get back to tinting and cloning soon... and it's going to be the ponies...

Just throwing up an announcement to say that I've been in the hair bizz officially for 2 weeks now... and initial sales figures are particularly interesting (if you're me)

As you may have noticed, the styles are pretty ecclectic to date... no difinitive theme or direction; as I really didn't know what would be popular... the answer can be summed up in one word... RYOKO.

May have to steer the collection that way, but we'll see! ;)

Until next time, when hopefully there'll be updates...

Kalli

In the immortal, if cheesy words of Bon Jovi...

Whooah... we're half way there...

Nine vendors out of the 18 hair ones are now live... George joined the party late last night, leaving just Joss, three ponies and Heidi to go of the original selection, with plans afoot for aditional styles, including more masculine ones.

More announcements in the near future as things start to gear up for the opening bash!

Until next time,

Kalli

Kitsune and XL Pony now live...

OK, I'll admit this may come as a surprise bearing in mind what I said earlier in the week... but I've gone and launched the pony, with the promise to all who buy it up front that a refund will be given if they come back and buy a pony pack in the same color when it goes live... there's a note with a password in the box with the full price hairs... so please, do read the notecard before chucking it!

Also I mentioned that George was on the retint bench - well... that still holds true... and yes, I know I'm being poor with the mens styles, but I do promise to do something about that in the near future. The reason development work was held up on George was due to a slight texturing issue, and the fact that Kitsune was finally given the goahead to clone and retint thanks to the hard work, once again, of Alice Hoyer.

Kitsune is a style that I have had floating for months - since before I even figured I'd get into the hair business in fact... but that's by the by. The desire to get it "out there" trumped all other things, and lo, it's been launched in all it's spikey glory. Furthermore, I've also retextured it so it looks a hell of a lot better than it ever did before (and that's an old photo, it has to be said...) so please check out the demo, and don't let the fact that it's non-flexi put you off. It's a fabulous style that looks good on both men and women... and lizards, apparently...

Next up will most likely be George, but I may move Pony development forward... whatever happens, I'll keep you posted. One thing I can guarantee is that the next style up will NOT be Joss... as I syill have to create the textures for all but the prototype style. This will come soon enough, though.

Until next time,

Kalli

Ryoko now live...

Well strictly, it's been available now for 24 hours... but last night, by the time I finished I was so tired I couldn't bring myself to post. This evening has seen some work towards getting the ponytails up and running with the XL variant now retinted and cloned and set for launch... Just a matter of filling the vendor, but in the grand scheme, I'd like to launch all Ponys at once, so the pack is available from the word go, so people don't miss out.

As such I've been looking for another style to get out ASAP, so I don't keep you folks waiting. As such, I've had a GREAT deal of help from the irrepressible Alice Hoyer, who in a moment of utter and unfettered madness, agreed to dropping the scripts in each individual prim of both George and Kitsune... well... I always knew she was a little nuts, but this takes the cake...

Well... Thanks to her (and that Ryoko in Raven is just the first gift, I assure you!) George has hit the retinting bench first, and as such should be live very soon...

Keep 'em peeled folks... not long now!

Until next time,

Kalli

For the sake of completeness...

Joss and Kitsune... Heidi's still outstanding, but I have plans for a serious reworking of the bangs on her before she gets launched...

Hope you like them...

Thanks to Slithering Boa for modelling Kitsune!

Until Next time,

Kalli

Forthcoming attractions... those other hairstyles!

Righty... these are a collection of the other styles that are cued up for short-term release. A bit of a mishmash these ones, but as you can see, Ryoko's now included... I have to confess I'm rather self-critical about it, but the pilot versions have gotten some praise... as such, it's release is brought forward. In fact, I've reworked the base a little to tighten up the intersection and distribution of the flexis at the back to neaten it up a tad; have resized it to the three -dD- release sizes, and am in the process of cloning and retinting...

Thanks to the help of the ever-wonderful Iskar Ariantho, I've got the tools I need to crank out a rapid deployment... so it could be up within the next 24-48 hours. As such, when it is, I'll fling out another blog post! The ponytails are shown here en-masse, as they shouldn't take too long to collate and release (Thanks again Iskar!) Samurai has also been started... George? We'll see... there's a lot of work to do with respect to scripting it to clone (only means dropping 160-odd copies of the same script - one into each hair prim)... but it'll happen...

Ah yes... Thanks also to Alice Hoyer, who I should have mentioned in the last post for her modelling work on Eowyn... the grey really suits you, girl; and sorry I forgot... All the others? Well... they're me... :D

Anyway... enough waffling on from me... photos... enjoy!

Well... until next time, when I promise to bring you Joss and Kitsune,

Kalli

Those photos of the live hairstyles #1

Well... finally, I present the first photos of our work... the five live hairstyles at this point... Zoe, Band, Marion, Criss and Eowyn... Enjoy!

Further photos will become available as new styles come online... honest! Oh... and just for the record, it does look quite likely that Ryoko will be live very soon, as I finished it yesterday, and the reception I'm getting for it is all pretty positive... sooo... ;)

Until Next time,

Kalli