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 I was asked for a commission piece...

Strange request... not going into the finer points of it, but the long and the short of it was that after I made it, I was told I could do what I wanted with it.

Now - I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I've tweaked it slightly... changed some prims about to make it not 100% the same and am poised on a release for it. I've named it Mira, and all being well it should be on teh shelves by the end of the month... so Saturday. It would be out tonight but the OCD's kicked in and I'm looking at it, thinking a couple of prims are still not entirely to my liking - and my standards as they are now don't allow me to throw it out quite yet.

The vendor photo, however, doesn't show the two prims I felt obliged to alter, so it's as good to go as any... So here she is... Mira...


Furthermore, the initial commission was intended to have streaks in it... well... I like this idea, so am setting about, time permitting to release a few companion variations (probably at 75L apiece) featuring some interesting highlights. As things develop I'll be sure to keep you all posted... eventually...

Until next time,

Kalli

Ruin live... and a word on cheap stuff...

Ought to have said something sooner... yeah well... mea culpa...

Just as a heads up, Ruin is now live, and has been for a week, in fact, in solid colors in the main store.


Just as a note, I've retexured the style a little since the pic was taken, and the overall effect is a little smoother.. so if you haven't done so already, it's worth checking out.

Furthermore, I'll be running a 'Red Vendor' sale for the next few days; featuring a number of styles at a marked down rate comparable to the discount prices. These styles are Niobe, DeShaun, Cliché, Shola, Seraphina and Aiodhan... so if you haven't taken advantage of the offers yet, do swing by...

Until next time,

Kalli

Movement...

Have been breaking out the tinter again and have decided to give away one of my sculptie experiments as a group gift... The Longhorn mustache...



Check the subscribeo if you like... will put up the full color range in due course...

Until next time,

Kalli

The road to Ruin

Greetings one and all... and yes, I know full well it's been at least an ice-age since my last update. There have, as always, been reasons.

Primarily, this all goes back to a three pointed kick in the guts in terms of SL recently; and a massive drop in ym motivation to build based on what I was seeing. First, there's a glitch in the 1.23.4 viewer that's been hardcoded in by Linden Labs themselves, that basically breaks complex sculpted items in lieu of some kind of "anti-griefing and performance enhancing" stratagem from the people who're actually coding the thing. Basically what this has meant for me in the short term is a loss in income rivalling 6 weeks take in the last 15. The JIRA's available, the public have been voting, but as yet there's no solution in the foreseeable future. The trouble is, depending on your graphics settings it seems to vary in efficacy. Some see it, some don't, but the only surefire way of getting aroudn it is to use a non-LL viewer. This hurt...

Secondly, there also appears to be a glitch in one of the latest versions of the server code that affects perms on a limited basis, and is in turn affecting up to eight styles I have in-store. At least I've been able to gt a workaround for this and am in the process of gearing up to eradicate it from my store (and yes, there will be a sale by means of an amnesty when it's all resolved)

The third is that due to a number of factors, wondering what the frell I'm doing with my RL on top of the rest, I've realised that I simply don't want to spend all day every day doing what I have been doing for increasingly smaller rewards; and I actually want to use SL as a tool for furthering my abilities, and while I'm about it, actively ENJOY my time in SL. I've reconstructed myself a home for the first time in eighteen months... have found a way of streaming the odd movie... actually been out talking to people... and generally living a second life. This too as you can imagine has hit my productivity to the extent that it practically hit zero.

BUT...

I was talking to April Looming a while back, who if you weren't aware, has tied a couple of her (very nicely done) avatar creations into some of my hairstyles when she mentioned the Twisted Hunt... I looked at the timeframe... gave it some thought, weighed it up against other commitments and decided OK... I'm going for it.

This leads to a style that I've flung together and named Ruin, named in part as a tribute to the resident Ruina Kessel who, while not a friend per se, has always given me wonderful feedback on my creations (and always thanked me for shipping out group gifts... ;) but has recently ceded back into RL for the foreseeable future.

The style itself is classic -dD-... braided up one side, sculpted where it needs it, tight to the head etc... but this time, the hunt gift is tipped. Note guys and gals, these colorways will ONLY be available for the duration of the hunt. After that... well, and during as a matter of fact, it'll be available int the requisite 72 solid colors; which I've tested and they are rather nice thankyou. Going on what I was saying earlier... it does actually go some way to furthering what I'm capable of... the sculpts... or some of them at least that I used were made, for the first time, out of SL using a commercial 3D package... ZBrush, for those that are interested.

Anyway... after more waffle than a Belgian breakfast club, here's a pic...


The hunt gift will comprise no fewer than five variations on this baby... the Onyx/Leaf tipped variant shown, three further tips - Onyx/Cobalt, Onyx/Fuschia and Onyx/Sunburst (Bright yellow - not replicated in solid colors)... and the straight Onyx.

Launch date is set for the first of September... so watch this space, OK?

Until next time,

Kalli

Do-up a do!

OK, you may remember a while back I advertised that I was offering a custom hairdo for sale for a fundraiser? No? Well it's in the blog somewhere. Work has been completed, it's all rather fun and lovely, and live now...

Meet Cliche...



Named after the winner, you understand...

Until next time,

Kalli

Biker beards from Mars....

It's been a while... the whole hair fair thing, then some potential repurcussions relating to a Linden Labs tweak of the new viewer have left me a little deflated... and to be honest I was due some time off - but I've been at it again in the beards department.

Specifically, I was walking around Hair Fair (the day before it went public, admittedly) and saw numerous Lady Gaga inspired hairs out there... you know the ones - with the bow tied in out of the hair itself? No? Well neither did I until I googled it... well... I've made my own take on it and it's live...


OK... it's a little quirky, but hey - so's the majority of the rest of the range. In addition, I've been at it to create something a little more 'hardcore' and some would say practical - based loosely on the beard 'Slayer' Guitarist Kerry King sports. It's finished but not live yet - waiting on the model for the shoot; one Arianrhod Gehlbard - the tweakress behind Silverwheel who has been nagging me (nicely though) about posing in a beard... Either way - placer pic for you all to see. Lord Gaga is live now, Kerry will be out some time later this week, once Ari and I cross paths.


Until next time,

Kalli

The big Hair Fair reveal - Part 4 of 4

OK... it's technically tomorrow, and I have a busy day in RL... so without further ado... the last in my installments of new stuff for Hair Fair and instore.

Ladies and Gentlemen... the forerunners of braids 2.0

Yes; I've had this in the back of my mind for over six months now; and yes, I could have got to it sooner (in fact I first broke out the sculptor to make a start in December...) but things got in the way... blah blah blah... and to be honest, I re-evaluated how to make the braids from the ground up.

Ok... I'm waffling... Pics...





Now, you can all thank Alice Hoyer for looking at the first attempts at these and making the very valid point that they needed their own designated textures... three banks, or 219 images in total... but you have to concede, it's worth it... She is, as I call her, and evil genius; which is of course meant as a compliment! ;)

Yolanda is the Hair Fair one... and the ONLY female hair I'm presenting this year... while Ryu and DeShaun go into the store.

Furthermore, Faery Sola at Studio Sidhe as done a set of beads to fit Yolanda due for release as soon as Hair Fair opens! Thanks!

So that's it for Hair Fair... All we need to do now is finish loading them all and get the booth set up...

Until next time,

Kalli

The big Hair Fair reveal - Part 3 of 4

OK... now here's something I've been asked a couple of times... can I get an undercut?

Given the way it's been previously, the limitations of prim size has been an issue; unless you want a textured one that alphas. I tried a texture undercut with Anthony last year and wasn't overly convinced that it did what I wanted it to - and seeing as my texturing skills aren't the greatest on the face of the metaverse; I've thought about these from a prim perspective. Using the multis I featured yesterday I've gone and created three... Aiodhan, Judy and Kele





Aiodhan's going into Hair Fair... the other two go in store. Couldn't resis making Kele... using both the microdreads and the multis... and yes; it IS named after the lead singer in Bloc Party (hence the shirt) who sports something similar.

More tomorrow... and by now I think you can guess what I've been saving for last...

Kalli

The big Hair Fair reveal - part 2 of 4

Part two... hmm...

OK... I always get complaints that men's hair in Sl simply isn't short enough. And it comes down to one simple reason - there are a limited number of prims you can tie together to build hair... and wide short prims look naff... unless you're VERY good at texturing them. So back I went to the sculptor and had another bash with something to get more points to the prim - resulting, hopefully in really short, spikey hair. I trialled a couple - experimented with using the new tech to make beards and ran a couple of updates... so I give you Desmond, Marshall and the Geometrics collection:





So many people have told me that while Dexter, my current MPB style is good it's too long... so using the new tech it seemed more than appropriate to build a tighter, shorter style. Marshall is basically at the limits of what these allow me to do (right now... hehe) - comprising over close to 1000 points for 252 prims as a whole head style. The Geometrics are some fun and modern short cropped beard styles that I'm supplying as a block for HF09 (Yes... I'm entering beards into hair fair) and might break up some (much as I did with the multiway goatee) once it's all blown over. I'll be adding Desmond to the shop stock; and submitting Marshall into the Hair Fair lineup also.

Watch this space for more info...

Kalli

The Big Reveal - Part 1 of 4

Oh thank goodness - the Hair Fair blackout's been lifted and I can finally start to share what it is that's kept me away from blogging and releasing stuff for the last two months.

Well... Here goes...

For Hair Fair this year I've been trying new things... UTTERLY new that hopefully you won't see anywhere else. The first thing I've been up to is to bulk out the new dreads section. While Flexi dreads are OK, we can't ignore the obvious "squareness" of the individual prims.... And what's more the numbers of prims required to make an effective short style are way too high for a single attach point... hmm... engage brain... fire up in-woirld sculptor and present... Chad, Niobe and Clint.





Chad features as one of my five at Hair Fair, the other two will be added to the dreads section on or soon before the 20th of June. Chad comprises over 600 dreads, but doesn't burst the 255 prim ceiling for a single attach point. They're mostly sculpted but with some highlight flexis to give it a little life. Clint is a 'hawk version for those who wish to partake; while Niobe is a LOT of fun... sculpted dreads pulled up into bunches with loose strands, tufts on the neck and all-round 'cute!'

More tomorrow...

Kalli

Four weeks since the last release....

You know the most painful thing about doing Hair Fair? The long gap that always seems to happen with respect to releases - but let me tell you, the waiting's nearly over now. The media blackout regarding Hair Fair styles ends this weekend,. so I'll start showing you what's up for grabs come Monday... three styles at a time... ;)

'Three?' I hear you ask...

Yup... three. I've got 5 new for Hair Fair; and another 7 to launch concurently instore. I'll be adding to the range at Admicile and replacing the styles in Hairspray too.... So come Thursday you'll know what's out there; Friday I'll load the stores and add demos to XStreet... and then Saturday, Hair Fair goes Live. Look for us just to the left of the landing point of the North East section, by Deviant Kitties and Bryce.

Until Monday,

Kalli

19 days and counting...

*Sighs*

I know it doesn't look like it... but I have been working my delicate fingers to the bone here developing new stuff. It's just I can't tell you about it... or show you... and why? Because if I do you'll know what to expect of me when Hair Fair strikes on the 20th... and seeing as there's a semi-enforced media blackout till the 14th... I'm just going to have to sit on my thumbs a while longer... Gah!

Suffice to say, the last few weeks have been fruitful...

Until next time,

Kalli

You hum it, I'll play it...

Or more strictly... you request it, I'll build it...

As some of you will know I got roped into playing Tiny Empires a while back inworld, and the kingdom I find myself in (Migliore) is working on a fundraiser to cover the costs of maintaining their sim. Amongst other things, they've organised an auction, and I have contributed the following prize...


I'm offering what I call a 'Request' hairdo for a prize... and the winning bidder gets to suggest a style, I throw it together, then they recieve all colors of the final product. The style (named after them) then goes live instore.

Not bad, I'm sure you'll agree...

Come have a look, or a bid if so inclined on the Migliore sim -
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Niue/171/88/3052

Lots of other items on offer; from gift vouchers, statues, portrait photography services and more. Do swing by!

Until next time,

Kalli

A little housekeeping...

Ramona now live, with a dozen colors lifted into the subscribeomatic for this current freebie cycle. Ragnar finally live up amongst teh beards after 5 weeks in the freebie box.



Panic ye not if you missed the Ragnar giveaway - it's still a steal at 60L a double...

I heard Ramona sing...

...and I heard everything

Well slightly grandiose a statement; but I'm taking a short break from Hair Fair panic to work on the 4th in the hood line of hair reworks. Basically I'm still prototyping, because with 237 wonky prims this one is a swine to texture reliably. Either way, the name Mona flew through my head for it, but it didn't seem right... Ramona (from the title of a Frank Black song from his eponymous debut album) did... so without further ado... a shot of the new work in progress...


I'm also going to add it in 12 colors to the group subscribeo when it's finished as the fifth free hair of the year... So look out for it...

You may notice that this differs from my usual routine again by being the first curly style I've thrown out since Joss in July 2007... or arguably Edea in April 2008. I see now why people resort to texture planes for curly hair... but I cannot be doing with the alpha troubles there... That and it would require me learning to use a graphics package... :S

Anyway... not going there again... especially not at this time of night...

Until next time,

Kalli

The Burns Returns...

And now... back to the sculpting... joy... :]

Until I have something to report,

Kalli

Hiatus...

Just for the record, I'm leaving Second Life behind for a week or so. No doubt I'm set to come back all fired up to tackle Hair Fair builds and the rest... oh... and a possible May freebie; what with it being May already.

In the meantime, here's some music...



Until my return,

Kalli

New look for the blog...

As you may have noticed, I was using a default template for a while; but that's changed now. I'm still experimenting some, and I may change it a little but I'll see how it goes. And no... I am not procrastinating... not at all...

Until next time,

Kalli

I brought this on myself...

Last Hair Fair I intruduced sculpted braids to my range... and they took off... This year I guess I'm going to have to do something similar, so things are progressing in that respect. I am in-world, V2V sculpting some new meshes with which to create a few new styles...

two days in...

and I'm around 27% of the way through THE FIRST MESH...



I'm doing this for YOU... remember that... :P

Until next time,

Kalli

Sir! News from the underground...

Hair Fair... yes... plans are under way here, as you can probably expect with me being fixated and a little OCD. What's this going to mean for you?

In short, a protracted delay when it comes to new releases because although I only have to present 5 styles at the event itself, I'm holding out to drop companion styles at the main store at the same time... meaning that there's going to be a raft of new stuff at the Hair Fair sim, and an equally large raft of it at the main store. It'll all be coming out on the same day because... well... what I'm doing this year is doubtlessly going to raise requests for similar styles. The first prototype is already in the bag, and I'm half mad with a twitchy desire to flash it... but I can't. The surprise'll be lost otherwise.

The requests happened early with the braids last year, and it took me a fair while to get organised; which I'm sure caused me to lose a little momentum and several sales after Hair Fair. So this year I want to be set... and what I will say is this - If you've every bought something from my store, there's going to be something there for you this time out.

Sorry, but I have to be a little vague here for now, but look out on the 15th of June for the first reveal; followed by one a day until the 19th. The doors of Hair Fair open on the 20th and the new stuff will be in the store at the same time.

The logistics are making me wince, especially with the work involved... but I'll get there.

Until next time,

Kalli

Hair Fair dates announced...

It's happened... the dates for HF09 have surfaced; and I was signed up for it within a couple of hours of the notification going live...

Mark your calendars people... it's the 20th of June to the 4th of July... This means I have just 10 weeks to get my act together and get some hair made. Furthermore, the organising committee have requested this year that there is a blanket media blackout of whatever we're launching at Hair fair until mere days before the event itself... so I guess that means I'm going to have to shut up for once.

I'll be back with more news nearer the time, but until then, I got a sculpt lab to abuse... Be back soon...

Kalli

New group freebie... and the 250th blog post!

So here we have it... no beards for a while... now this.. Come get some..



Got to love Ragnar... it's so... uhm...no idea, but it's free!

Until next time,

Kalli

Three new styles, One new area...

We have dreads... enough to justify a designated area. I mentioned before that I had three styles on the burners - well they're all now live. Meet Yannick, Ziggy and Persephone...





Yannick marks my first short men's do since Craig - and I promise I'll make more in time. There's a few styles in the offing that people have asked me for more than once... so they're on the build list...

Ziggy... This one's available with and without decals on some of the braids and is one for all those who've asked "can I have Ahab without the hat please?"... The length and volume's the same... so have at it!

Persephone's a nice simple one, again with decals and without... and a headband that while it looks simple, I had to get help texturing, because, well... while I've spent two years working on my prims, I still cannot draw a straight line in Photoshop, center the camera in Blender or do any form of shading that looks even vaguely decent. After tutorials from Faery Sola at Studio Sidhe and words of advice from Shelly Toonie at Moonshine, I collapsed in a histrionic tantie and asked for someone else to do it. Both offered nigh on instantly, but Faery shouted the loudest; so the ruckled hairband texture is based on her design... In the end I made it tintable with my usual scripts, so you can set it to however you want it.

All three now instore now in the new souped up dreads area, where the discount stuff used to be.

Until next time,

Kalli

Stay tuned for further developments

Sometimes it strikes you... the time has come for some development work... so right now things are a little slow on the actual creation front. Not to say that I haven't built anything... oh no... I've got three new dreaded styles waiting to come out of prototyping and hit the shelves; but what I'm REALLY up to is a little more special.

I've gone back to the in-world sculptie maker, and am flexing my muscles in that department; working on component parts for three new lines of hairdo... which, had you asked me just 6 months ago, I would have told you were not possible.

I'm always up for a challenge... The braided stuff is testiment to that as it stands... but I'm not leaving it there. I've never been truly happy with my braids as the sculpts are not actually braided... just approximating being braided. There's work in progress to up the ante, and satiate my perfectionism a touch... and it's weird that work with Katja and the Boingo Valkirie hood (using regular prims, just for the record) gave me the insight I was looking for when it came to how to improve. Still... I'm psyching myself up for another stab at braided sculpt making... the fourth attempt in fact after the first one to create the formers for Jordan, Layla and Kaiba... the second to make Roni (which I actually thought was a backward step on further examination) and the third to make the sets that went into Taylor, Nox and so on. we'll see what kind of mess I get myself into doing set #4...

The second and third lines? Well... you're going to have to wait for Hair Fair to see what's going on there.

Ah yes... Hair Fair. We have approximate dates in that respect - the end of June - which naturally means that I've got just 12 weeks to bring these plans to fruition. Those who've been here a while will know how far back I started planning for HF08... and this year is no different. I have 5 styles in mind... 4 of which are already named... and I hope against hope to create something from each arm of the business... One braid - ideally using improved sculpties; a masculine one, one feminine, one most probably unisex dreaded (seeing as by then I'll have a dreads arm open... whatch this space) and a beard. Slightly untoward, maybe... but since when did I ever come across as normal?

Well... more news and associated imagery as and when I've taken some decent ones...

So sue me... I lied...

Was going to wait on releasing these three, but meh... couldn't... :D

Announcing Lydia, Savannah and Katja.... all live now...




Until next time,

Kalli

3 out of five...

Third hood-rework prototype prepared... This is Katya:


Just leaves the curly ones to do now, then I'll drop them all together I think.

Until next time,

Kalli

The revolution has not been televised

I've kept this fairly close to my chest... OK, my friends know about it because I've Plurked it, but I've been working with Jeela Juran over at BoingO on some hoods to accompany her leather lines... and they've come out quite well if you don't mind me saying so...


Five styles, each kitted for colorchange to 12 of our most popular colors - Snow, Lead, Onyx, Platinum, Hessian, Penny, Amethyst, Reptile, Malice, Pepper, Cinnamon and Raven - at the touch of a button. The hood itself is scripted resize as well and comes with a choice of cowls for your neck... basically it's a little more expensive than you'd expect from me as a whole, at 475L a style, but that's still the equivalent of 40L a color... no big thing really. Each is available in two hood variants at the Boingo main store on Fantasy Land 3... Just up the road from where my satellite store used to be.

This also means is that I have five half-finished hairs floating around, so I've made a start on reworking them into actual saleable, hood free styles. One is almost ready to launch, the other is in retexturing land as a working prototype. The former I've titled Lydia, the latter Savannah (on the recommendation of Trinity Coulter...)



Hopefully I'll have these two set to go live in the not too distant. Also working on a slightly Emo men's do, a stupidly big beard and at least one more of the remaining three hairs from the hoods. It's going to be a blast, let me tell you...

Until next time,

Kalli

Backtracking in the name of progress

Common thing for me to look at my lines and thing "well I can do better than that..." and no surprises, I've started a periodic reshuffle of stock, replacing old stuff with new.

One of my primary areas of concern is the long open styles I sell... because, dear reader, they're textured badly, due to the way I tried to work them. well OK... it's not disastrous... just no longer representative of my ability... or I like to think so... So in the name of progress, and after a boot in the wazoo by Leknaart Timeless to make a new one; I did... This is Shurelia - Live now


This one replaces the old Miko line, which I was going to discount... and might... but I haven't quite yet. To be honest, I may sit it out until someone leans on me about it.

Also out is a replacement for Haruka and Ishi - a sculpted set of piggies using the old handle 'Boo'...


Note as well the switch to the new style "Series 4" vendor photos... Basically I decided "what the hell"... so they'll be cropping up around the store.

Enjoy!

Until next time,

Kalli

The girl from fifteen years ago...

Just so you know, the March freebie in the subscribeomatic is a reworking of Avril, entitled "1994"...


Back then.... 1994; several of my friends did this with their hair... always takes me back when I see it, and Avril seemed perfect for it... so I recreated...

I've given it a more contemporary twist with the slight pink tint on the tips, played with the prim layouts a little to accommodate, graduated with a dark brown intermediate band and added roots. Love it... Hope you will too... Free to subscribeomatic group members until April first... after then, it dies...

Come get...

Until next time,

Kalli

Iteration #04

New Zoe is now live... This is the FOURTH version of this style I've built, and this time I think I've got it. I love it... you'd have a hard job prising it off my head right now.


Texturechange hairclip accessory for the win, by the way!

Out now - and possibly the startt of the seemingly annual store reworking... :S

Until next time,

Kalli

New women's hair... and it's NOT braided!

Repeat... NOT braided.

Avril went live in the wee small hours today.


I felt like making something different... so... there you go... Enjoy!

Also added some new beards yesterday...





Hope you like! The multipack contains six different styles for the price of 3 - 90L.
It was about time I made a new goatee, don't you think?

Until next time,

Kalli