Results from the tenth... and another dollarbie

I should have said earlier - mea culpa... but recently I've been tied up with an RL side project that has a deadline of today. Anyway. The prizewinners forthe 9th were as follows:

Arely Latzo was the lucky winner of the hair, and Oberyn Firethorn nabbed the beards...and has already blogged them... ;)

On another note, I've gone live with a natural white version of the EFB01 hair as I've added a few pics of me in it to my Flickr account and it's generated some interest.


It's available exclusively on the SL marketplace, and so far seems to be going down quite well.

So there you have it... 4x4 has been.. Alice and I are both a year older, inworld and we're still stunned that it's been this long...

Until next time,

Kalli

4x4 day 3 draw results...

Congratulations to Tea Panhandle for nabbing the hair gift for day 3, and 25Cents Carter for grabbing the beards!

Last draw tomorrow. All you need to do is buy a -dDx- style in any store, or even a pack on the marketplace (what ones there are there) and you too will be entered for the draw.

Seven hours in today and I can vouch that nobody has, as yet, bought a beard... so that might be a good place to start.

Also, at the end of today the mobvends go down. If you've not got your cheap on so far, now is your last chance to do so. These colors will NOT be available after today... and also, if you buy from a mobvend, it also qualifies you for the prize draw... so get to it!

Until next time,

Kalli

New dollarbies... and day 2 draw results

OK... big exciting title... what are they?

As you can probably imagine, my hairmaking is a little experimental from time to time. I try a lot of things... some I'm happy with... some I'm not. I tend to big u-p the ones I'm happy with, gloss over the ones I'm not and generally only blog when I've got something I'm pleased with to go.

This leads me onto the two styles I have here. Unnamed... unloved? we don't know for sure.


The ESB01 - "experimental sculpted braid #1" - was the precursor to some of the "Turtle base" braids that followed... Omri, Lux, Brandon... those sort of styles... in fact I did actually picture this one earlier in this blog; but I decided not to launch it as it didn't seem thick enough, and the joins to the head seemed rather arbitrary.

Looking back at it, though... it's not too bad... Just not my best work - so I'm not going to offer it in all 36 colors; but I do have it complete in Cool Brown... so in Cool Brown it goes live.


The EFB01 - "Experimental flexi braid #1" is a recent attempt to see how braids would work as textures... not sculpts. Yes - I know this flies against all that I've stood for over the last two years or however long it is I've been making braids, but they're quick to get out, and right now, I need styles in store and to rebuild a returning client base once again. Don't get me wrong... it works... but as Alice and I both said on seeing it, it looks as though I've fallen out of 2007. It's wearable... Just not necessarily how *I* see a braid looking. Again... it's live... and this time in Auburn - the color I initially built it in.

Competition news: Today's winner of the hair is Therwakee Tomasso; and the beards go to Chaz Wickentower.

4x4 day 1 draw results

Thanks to all of you who attended day one of the -dDx- 4x4 event. As we're giving away the entire range of hair to one lucky buyer, and the entire range of beards to another, we figured it would only be fair to publish in the blog who won on each day - soo...

...The envelope please, Kimberley... Thank you...

The winner of the -dDx- Hair for the 6th of December was

Dana Starsider

And the winner of the -dDx- Beards for the 6th of December was

Reka Heartsdale

Thanks again to all who bought a qualifying style. Tune in tomorrow for the announcement on the winners of the draw for the 7th of December!

Until next time,

Kalli

Four by Four

Alice turns four this week... So do I... so we're giving stuff away!


what we've actually said in the notecard that's gone live to all group members is:

---

Announcing the Discord Designs 4x4 event at the Discord Designs Main Store:

December 6th marks my 4th Rezday in SL... December 9th marks Alice Hoyer's 4th Rezday

Seeing as we can never agree on the music to play at a joint party, we have decided to go a little silly instore and run not one, but four separate events over the four days between the 6th and 9th (inclusive of course)... hence 4x4!


Event 1) - PRIZE DRAW TO WIN ALL -dDx- HAIRSTYLES INSTORE

Come into the store and buy any -dDx- hairstyle to stand a chance of winning the rest of the range. Every day we'll be awarding one lucky person who buys a -dDx- hairstyle the fatpacks of all our -dDx- hairstyles instore.... yes... ALL of them

We'll be collating all daily purchases and selecting the winner randomly (using a random number generator); so the more you spend, the greater chance you have of winning!

One collection will be awarded every day, so do come back if you're unlucky at first!


Event 2) - PRIZE DRAW TO WIN ALL -dDx- BEARDS INSTORE

Come into the store and buy any -dDx- beard or mustache to stand a chance of winning the rest of the range. Every day we'll be awarding one lucky person who buys a -dDx- beard or mustache the fatpacks of all our -dDx- beards and mustaches instore.... yes... ALL of them

We'll be collating all daily purchases and selecting the winner randomly (using a random number generator); so the more you spend, the greater chance you have of winning!

One collection will be awarded every day (on the following day), so do come back if you're unlucky at first!


Event 3) - Discord Designs Flickr Competition -
Get the chance to help design a style and have it named after you (or someone else)

Buy a -dD- or -dDx- hairstyle, beard or mustache... Take a photo of yourself in it, and post it to the Discord Designs Flickr group:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/discorddesigns

...before midnight SLT on the 18th of December. We'll then go through all the entries, and pick the one we like the most, who will then get a hairstyle, beard or mustache named after them instore (or named after a friend, if preferred), have a hand in the design specification of it. They will also receive the fatpack of the completed style as it goes live. We'll also award three runner up prizes: a fatpack of their choice.


Event 4) - LIMITED EDITIION COLOR PACKS in MOBVENDS


Four mobvends, containing fourpacks of limited edition colors of four recent releases have been sequestered in the main store. Usually 180L each (aside from the beards which would otherwise be 90L) they have been set to drop in price to as low as 4L apiece. After the 9th, these colorways will no longer be available, so make sure you grab them while you still can.

Hope to see you instore!

--

Now what we haven't said are the hair packs are for Omri, Donna, Colleen and Olaf; and all are in Discord Red, Milk Chocolate, Ash Blonde and Raven Black.

So get involved... tell your friends, distribute liberally..!

Until next time,

Kalli

24 hours of frantic activity

The last 24 hours has seen the release of four new styles. None of which existed prior to December the 1st. What's more, 15 hours ago two didn't exist at all... But anyway. I've been busy - and here's what's happened. Two hairs, two beards.






*sighs*

it's taken a fair bit out of me to get them out today; but I'll just let the pics do the talking and say they're live instore now... the main one, that is...

Oh yes... and Donna and Colleen are available at 33% off until Sunday night - so do come by and exploit this early-bird offer... ;)

Until next time,

Kalli

Made with someone in mind...

OK... I've thrown together another style - it came to me pretty much out of the blue; and it also occurred to me that it might appeal to a certain someone who's been a friend since Hair Fair 2008... the same person who helped me with my first copybotting issue... and the person who introduced me to Plurk: Shelly Toonie of Moonshine.

Woman... you are evil... but in a good way - :P

Why this style? Well... Of the ones I've made in the past, she's made the most use of Paige - a style from January 2009 which comprises a loose back with a tied up section on the crown. I always intended to remake Paige because - well - I think I can do better now. So with that in mind - this is Shelly.


The top shown is one of Moonshine's Dulcet ones, just out of interest... ;)

Colorchange hair accessories (scripted if you feel like it) and fully moddable; it's live now in Synchronicity. Four-packs are 180L each.... 12 packs are 360L and include a bonus color each: Milk Chocolate in the Darks, Ash Blonde in the lights and Raven Black in the unnaturals. The fatpack is 720L; and features a total of forty color combinations - the same as above, plus Discord Red.

So now you know! Come and have a go!

Until next time,

Kalli

In the not too distant future...

Hi all... plenty going down over the next few days... and speaking of going down - so will my access to SL for the next month. Why? NaNoWriMo... It's become something of an institution for me, and I've got a novel to write as I've started dishing them out at Christmas to family and friends and last year's finished on something of a cliffhanger.

But anyway - News:

31st of October sees a one day sale at Second Style Island. I'll be taking part - naturally - with 33% off all styles there, and an exclusive - Esther.


not only will Esther be going live in time for the sale, it'll also be discounted by 66% - that['s a standard hair pack of four colors for just 60L for the duration of the sale. Ester will also be exclusive to Second Style Island until well into November.

Speaking of November, MoMoSL is happening starting on the 1st:


When I heard about this I had to take part. I've created a new 'tasche for it which is now available in the standard color configurations in the main store. I've dubbed it Heraldo:


The hunt gift will be in four "not for sale" colors - and marks a reappearance of Discord Red, Milk Chocolate, Raven Black and Ash Blonde. Look for the fake mo instore from the morning of the 1st of November.

And on the 5th of November, Discord Designs will be featuring in the Shopping Cart Disco "Disco Deals" event for November, featuring another exclusive fourpack - this time of Brandon, in Raven Black, Milk Chocolate, Ash Blonde and Discord Red, once again...

Further information through the subscribeo, and up here in due course...

Until next time,

Kalli

Variations on a theme (not by Paganini)

Greetings one and all to the 301st Discord Designs update... Never really thought I'd get here but... there you go.

Stuff to add - I've made a couple of short braided affairs that I threw out in the wee small hours local time. These themselves have a lot of similarity to the old Kaiba style from way back.

If asked, I've always said that if I could have only made one style I sell - it would have been Kaiba. Unisex, short, braided, and just a little out of the ordinary. Discord Designs to a tee, one might say.

Ryu was an attempt at recreating this in time for HF09... and after HF10 came Omri; which if anything was potentially another stab at a kaiba replacement, but was a little too rigid; maybe...

Now comes Brandon:

OK... Now I may have got it... sculptie fluffy bits, short braids and long messy ends. When I took the pic of my avatar (on the left) I had to stop and stare for a moment. In short - I like it. More than I should otherwise admit.

The other new one out today is a rework - well, retake on Nox. This is another relatively popular unisex braid dating back to a couple of months after the Kaiba appearance in January 2009. Initially designed as male, but failing to be exclusive; it's slightly longer, loose and forward on the right, dragged back on the left. I've called it Lux - Latin for Light, as Nox was Latin for dark.


So there you go... Both currently live at the main store, and in time, doubtlessly, will be populated to the satellites.

Come have a go.

Until next time,

Kalli

Today I shall wear purple...

Recently the media has been full of stories of young LGBT people committing suicide as the result of relentless bullying in high schools across the USA. To highlight the problem, to campaign both for the cessation of this hateful bullying, and to empower those going through it with the message that "it gets better", October the 20th has been designated "Wear Purple Day".

I will admit to feeling close to the issue on this one... back in the nineties I went through years of bullying at school, but eventually got through the other side, embraced who I was and discovered that yes - it did indeed get better.

I want to spread the word about this campaign, so I'm making an offer to you all... Join me.

For the next 24 hours, all -dDx- hair, dreads and braids - even the Nethead cables in purple have been discounted to 1L a pack in our primary satellite locations - so you too can wear purple and spread the word.

The discounted hair is available from the -dDx- satellite store on Second Style Island, in the Moonsong Caves and in the Vertigo Shopping centre on Medallion; just to the left of the club entrance. Check out the latest post in the subscribeomatic in any store for the list of SLURLS.

So come by... grab yourself some purple hair for a Linden... and spread the word.

Until next time,

Kalli

Right on the tail...

Three releases out Tuesday, a satellite store refit yesterday and now another release. It's been a busy week so far...

This is Athena:


More braids with a hairbase; and a scripted colorchange bandana... and seeing as the script is open source, the entire hair - and script - is moddable at all times.

Fancy something different? come and try it out. Now live in the main store.

Until next time,

Kalli

Under a singing moon...

Just to let you know that the Moonsong Caves store has had an expansion and a refit (with thanks to Flippa Stella of 'Flipside' for her assistance.)

Gone are the old -dD- lines, but instead is a (more or less) complete range of -dDx- styles, including all three of the Hair Fair 2010 styles; yesterday's newly released braids and more.


Interested? Come and visit!

Until next time,

Kalli

In the immortal words of Rafiki...

'It is time...'

It's taken longer than I hoped, but I've finally managed to put out three sculpted braid sets with matching hairbases for those of you on 2.0 or compatible viewers. Here are Omri, Hayley and Amy... Now FINALLY live at the Discord Designs main store.




Do come and give them a go...

Until next time,

Kalli

Incubating turtle hatchlings...

A sneak peek at three styles I hope to have out by the end of the week; based on the new tattoo layer hairbase (the one I named 'Turtle' - hence the obscure post title) that I recently concocted for my braids. I decided not to carry on developing the previous style I flashed in the last post as - well - it looks bald on top. I'm going to rework the short braids again, soon. What I *have* done instead is create slightly longer styles based on the same hairbase... Which leads to the three styles I'm aiming to get live when the hairbases are finally tinted into all 36 colors.

So... from left to right; Hayley in Light Blonde, Amy in Natural Red and Omri in Cool Brown.


Details of the release as soon as they're all set. Watch this space!

Until next time,

Kalli

Post-Hair Fair developments...

I say post, but its still going on... If you've not been yet then be sure to do so!

OK... advertising = off

I only managed to get three styles out for HF, because I was out of world for a few weeks - but while I was away my brain was ticking over and I wondered about the possibilities of pushing my boundaries.

Basically, if you flip back through this blog you'll soon discover that its all about hair... building it - rather than texturing it. Basically, I've been more or less convinced for years that I cannot so much as draw a straight line in Photoshop - primarily because I'm unfamiliar and uncomfortable with it; and my usual routine in that circumstance is to back away and not touch.

Anyway... I've been thinking about updating the braids for a while. I've bitten the bullet and have looked at the possibility of working with the new tattoo layers in 2.x and compatible viewers. For one it'll reduce the primcounts by 40 or so because there wouldn't be a need for a prim hairbase. Either way - here's a pic of an early prototype. See what you think...



Feel free to abuse the comments options below... ;)

Until next time,

Kalli

One more sleep...

Yes ladies and gentlemen - Hair Fair 2010 is as good as upon us. The designers' party wrapped about four hours ago, the bloggers are touring the booths today (in fact one has already blogged a new style of mine - Thanks Phoenix, you beat me to it!) and as of tomorrow it all goes live...


This year the fair is supporting Wigs For Kids, an organisation that provides hairpieces free to children undergoing chemotherapy, or who suffer from conditions (such as alopecia or trichotillomania) that result in hair loss. More details of the work they do can be found on their website - linked above.

This year, -dD- is throwing up three styles (a drop on the usual five I've managed before - but RL is as RL does and I have recently taken a close to three week hiatus from SL to actually go on a reasonable length holiday for the first time in nigh on seven years... mea culpa :S

First off is Ariadne - a braided ponytail style unlike any other I have instore:


It makes use of the new style braids I flashed earlier with the releases of Astrid and Trine, is available in braids only and "hair in between" (as shown in the picture). More of this sort of thing will be following soon, I imagine.

Next up is Jeela - an anime-inspired short style that a long time collaborator, Jeela Juran, wanted to get her hands on. As such, I capitulated, built it and let her model it for me... :D


She seems to like it at least... so that's all that matters(!) It makes use of some rather novel sculpts to create some whacky lines, but it works... Don't believe me? Try the demo!

Last up - the men's offering (and yes initially I was aiming for some more beards as well, but they've been pipelined due to time constraints)... a new-style dreaded affair - Don.


This baby is Rush on steroids... I reworked the dread textures to give them a little more life with this one so it should be more appealing and look a little less flat than Sawyer and Aeshna - which I will probably go back and retexture now... The thick locks are tied at the back by a couple of long knotted locks to create an elaborate pony. There's some flex in there too and some loose strands where required to break up the lines. I like it, and I hope the model (Ahmad 'Don' Hosho) does too... Got to say, he looks good in it.

Seeing as the three styles are so disparate, I was hard pressed to select one to make the charity style this year - so they ALL are. What's more, the charity cut on the larger packs is greater than the smaller ones - just to tempt you to donate more for what is a worthy cause. 4-packs are 50% cut to Wigs For Kids, the tonepacks are 60% and the fatpacks are 75%. Furthermore, the dollarbie throws all proceeds into the charity pot.

Now - I know some of you may think this a little pointless; but last year I did the same thing and raised close to $10 from dollarbie sales alone - that's close to 2500 of them sold during the run of the fair, which all added to the grand total. Every little helps, no matter *how* little that may be. I know that many in my group (and so therefore many of you reading this) do not have payment info on file and you don't buy in currency. I also know that earning money to spend in SL takes a hell of a long time to amass the sum needed to to buy a full price item, particularly a fatpack - so here's an avenue to contribute without having to spend what in some cases is six hours or more to earn the cash to get a colour pack. Not that I'll be stopping you from doing that either, of course... Also last year's script accepted overpayments for items - not tried it with this year's yet, but that's always another idea!

So there you have it. Hair Fair 2010 and the stuff I'm throwing out for it (with a sprinkle of soapboxing). I hope there's something there to tickle your fancy and get you going!

Until next time,

Kalli

Last day before decimation

Hi all... been silent a while thanks to a much needed boost of RL... but let me say you've got until around 2am tomorrow morning to get to -dD- and pick up the bargains on those 50 styles I'm culling...

Act fast or repent slooowly... ;)

Until next time,

Kalli

Decimation!

Hi all... it's a lot later than I intended to be up today, but I had to say something. We've remodelled the store... and in the course of doing so, we noticed that a lot of the older styles are showing their age compared to latest trends in SL hair... so we're deleting them... but not without giving you the chance to get your hands on them first.


So there you have it... the first -dD- sale since our first birthday... which coincidentally was the last time we remodelled... go figure.

OK.. it's late... this reads badly, but I really, REALLY have to get some shut-eye ;)

Until next time,

Kalli

New textures - new braids - new releases...

Well, I've made good on my word... After a small amount of blood, plenty of sweat and even a few tears, I've been able to fling together some new braids and successfully texture them to match the current dDx color palette... and seeing as the creation techniques for these were significantly different to the other textures that have gone before, that was no mean feat!

In addition, I've thrown out a full 'regular colors' version of the dreads in the Crazy Arse Hair Hunt for those who like the style, but don't find the snakeskin texture to be a good match to the rest of the wardrobe.

So without further ado - once again, here's Astrid - the Bavarian buns, Aeshna - the layered dreaded do; and Trine, the experimental thick cornrows... which, incidentally is supplied with and without the pulled hair between the braids, for those of you wishing to wear a hairbase underneath.




All now live instore. Come in and give them a try

Until Next time,

Kalli

Third iteration...

Greetings once again from Kalli Land...

OK - last post I mentioned that I was working on some new braids; and that I wasn't going to save the big releases for September the 4th this year (as so much of it gets lost in the crush of Hair Fair - and let's be serious, how am I ever going to compete for attention with the likes of Truth, Exile, Ploom, Fri.day and 120+ other designers dropping on average 4.3 styles apiece (plus freebies) on the one day?) So like I said then, I'm throwing evidence of progression out here.

The textures on the braids themselves are still to be refined - so doubtlessly they'll look a little different come release; but for now here are some shots of two forerunners to the 3.0 braid line.



OK... what you see here I've tentatively called Trine (the top one) and Astrid. One is a traditional (for me at least) whole head braid - but this differs from anything that's gone before insofar as the braids themselves are now infinitely more bendy than they ever have been. They're a joy to work with as a result, and allow for more complicated twists, twirls and so forth without looking forced or awkward.

One positive bonus of the new braided sculpties are they allow me to create workable braided buns for the first time, as can be seen in Astrid. It's basically a "double Bavarian knot" (or as a rather crass friend of mine once said "Danish Pastry hair" - I slapped him for that one...)

I hope to have the time to create a few more mixed braided and non-braided styles. I've done it before to limited success, but I think I've got the kit to actually do it reliably now...

Either way - expect these, and the previously mentioned dreaded style Aeshna, live shortly... certainly in advance of Hair Fair.

Until next time,

Kalli

Poorly kept secrets...

So here we are... once again.

September the 4th 2010 marks the opening of this year's Hair Fair, and I - like doubtlessly dozens, if not hundreds of other hair designers - am in the process of deciding what the heck to build for this year.... Well five styles... and I have five dedicated sections in store. The logic is obvious... you'd think...

Last year I tried to run a big simultaneous release to go along with Hair Fair, throwing out... erm... can't remember exactly; but I think it was sixteen styles - 5 at HF, the rest in store to see if that would trigger some business - but basically it fell flat - lost in the furore of the 'big reveal' from 124 other designers.

So anyway - here I am trying to think of how to best drum up some sales without actually telling you anything ahead of time about what it is precisely I'm actually building.

...its frustrating, believe you me.

Anyway... speaking of drumming up business; The second Crazy Arse Hair Hunt is under way - and I thought it was about time I flashed the style I've thrown in. Its another new sculpted dread - Aeshna - Which for the event is featured in snakeskin. The regular dreaded textures will be out in a few days when I've had a chance to clone and box them. The snakeskin texture used here is a wonderful seamless one available from Rose English on Deviant Art. She's been really kind and made it available for use for anything... All she wants is a credit, so credit where credit's due...


More pics and details as and when its live...

And regarding Hair Fair? Well... details when the moritorium's lifted... ;)

Until next time,

Kalli

Who knew? Two new! ...and an oops...

Busy week... Confirming two new styles in the 36-color dDx range, and flashing a beard I actually put together four weeks ago and haven't blogged yet...

The first is Emma - a short, spunky ladies do with long feathery layers and a very short back... the second is something new - sculpted long dreads - well... chin length - longer will follow - called Sawyer.



Both live now...

in addition, here's the Grant beard - out for a month but not blogged to date - still out in the base 8 dDx colors... I'll address this shortly... I hope... :X


Until next time,

Kalli

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

Going underground

Hi all... Rl has, over the last couple of months, conspired to keep me tied up and not working in SL... Still, I have a release to announce - This is Ursula:


Another -dDx- release... this one features some new sculpts that I've been working on in software that's new to me... and its going well - so I'm not going to complain. Available in the usual 8 dDx colors - although there is something nagging at the back of my mind to add more... If you have any ideas, do get in touch! ;)

Still new hair - out now - come get some!

Until next time,

Kalli

BEARD!

A little while ago I was skimming the Internet for mentions of -dD-, something I do a lot for my sins, when a Japanese blog was drawn to my attention... I hit the google translate button (as Japanese is not a language I can converse in... although I *can* order two lagers and a packet of crisps) and all the text that appeared on the page was that one immortal word... sadly they were featuring a mustache.

Anyway... When I saw it I knew I had to use it as an opener... but its been a long time in coming. The first dDx beard, and the first beard release since Kerry some five months ago is now live. This is Ulysses...


Out now, and just 40L a color... with the fattie of eight colors yours for just 150L... can't say fairer than that...

Until next time,

Kalli

Public Service Announcement

Excuse the delay - Hunt runs April 2nd through April 30th. Apologies for not posting before now, but RL has been as RL does. I only got back inworld a few moments ago...

Anyway... Nethead 5e in Rainbow... free instore as part of the excellent Crazy Arse Hair Hunt. Be a part of it... Spread the word... Spread the love... and go get yourself some fantastically original hair from some of the best avant garde makers in SL... oh... and this Discord Designs lot, whoever they are...

Until Next time,

Kalli

This all started a few weeks ago...

As you may or may not know, Savoir Hair recently moved... so I was in there setting up a couple of freebs when I ran into Treebee Withnail. She has this store called The U-Neek and makes items unlike anyone else in SL, including hair. She announces to me that she's organisaing a hair hunt and would I like in?

Needless to say I thought about it, and eventually, 48 hours later I said OK.... and I got to work.

Now, this is for "The Crazy Arse Hair Hunt"... and the conditions were that we as designers... all forty of us... were banned from making regular hair in regular colors... So I decided to bypass my normal hair textures, and even the sculpts and go for something whacky. I've created the hunt gift, but I've added a few colorways and launched them just a little early. Introducing the Nethead 5e:



As you can see, it's a mass of cables, rather than hair... ended with either blunt cut wires, or RJ45 ends... It's been fun to build,. if a little daunting.

Out now... and right next to the entrance... and the Wild Released hair boards. Just so you know, if you've not grabbed a HUD and picked up Katherine yet, the style goes away FOR GOOD on the 19th of April... You've got 3 weeks... NOW GO! ;)

Until next time,

Kalli

Latest announcements...

Good grief... I'm actually remembering to blog!

I mentioned an as yet unnamed high pony a couple of posts ago... well... it decided to go with Elise.


It's live now... along with Heather... and a couple of limited Heather colors in the subscribeo...


Until next time,

Kalli

More new-textured goodness...

Coming soon, on the heels of Katherine, the Wild:Released stamp rally prize, is Heather...


Now - funny story behind this. Alice Hoyer has been asking me for a 'just got out of bed and sluched my hair up off my shoulders' style for the longest time... possibly eight months or so - but all previous attempts (and there have been some) with my previous bank of textures all looked naff. So... now that I had the new ones available I had to give it a go... and I must say I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Alice certainly was, and agreed to model for the vendor shots in the new black.

Either way, coming out later this week!

Until next time,

Kalli

Born to be wild... and the beginnings of a new product line

Felicitations on this fine antemeridian of a Friday...

I'm going to come clean and let slip some details of the new development I've been so cagey about now that the time has come for me to start publicising.

Back in January, my good friend, and sometimes accomplice Faery Sola approached me with an intriguing offer - a stamp rally, involving a number of stores that do a really nice collection of out of the ordinary clothes, gowns, accessories, poses, skins and all the rest of the sort of thing to need to function in-world as an avatar who doesn't sit in the middle of the road. Anyway. As it happened this coincided with a long thought out plan I had (initially thought of it in October 2009) to give the brand a boot and hopefully draw in new people. How? Basically I look at my textures and realise they were OK in 2007/2008, but things have moved on drastically.

Why has it taken me five months? Well... I tell people this repeatedly, but they simply don't believe me... When it comes to 2D digital artwork, I suck. What I know about Photoshop is writable with a wedge-tipped sharpie on the back of a postage stamp; so there's been a bit of a learning curve at my end... including a month set aside to create JUST THE ALPHA MASKS...as I had to do it by hand... well.

If you look at the pic that follows, you'll see something rather unusual for SL (hey... this is me... what do you expect?) Rather than go for the conventional "dodge shine" in horizontal stripes across the base prims, I've decided to pick out the highlights in the hair to give some depth and variety... basically it shines verticaly rather that horizontally (and on a more technical note, my alphas are at the top of the textures rather than the bottoms... ;) Its been a ride, but they're working for me... even if it took nearly a month, over 200 uploads and a lot of swearing, crying and teethgnashing just to get a workable alpha(!)

The new textures themselves are only, for now, available in limited colors - 8 in fact; but of the shades I sell instore, there's no denying they're the eight most popular so I hope not to disappoint too many of you.

So... what are we looking at? For Faery's event, I'm unleashing Katherine as a prize... score enough stamps and you can claim all eight colors for free.


When the event kicks off on the 20th, there'll be two more new styles under the new dDx banner to choose from... a messy low slung bun, tentatively called Heather, and a simple ponytail which has yet to name itself. In short, look out for some new stuff next weekend!

Until next time,

Kalli

It said a lot that Savoir Hair blogged this release first...

Oops...

Confirming that Monique is out now... and there's been some movements re: some new stuff... I want to say more but that'd ruin the surprise!

Until next time,

Kalli

I'm going to hell for this one...

Announcing that yes, I have been getting off my sorry arse and have been creating again... albeit slowly... hey... progress is progress.

I have something in the bag that I *will* get done soon that you're going to want to see (although the NDA is still in effect there)... but in the meantime, I'd thought you'd probably like a heads up on a release coming out towards the end of the week. Braids... New ones. The first since Hair Fair '09, in fact...

This is Monique...



I'm posting this now as I've got a lot to say about it, and with the rush of a release I may forget... so... here goes.

This thing is, without question, the largest, most complex style I've created to date (in terms of primcount)... I knew it was unfeasible using my current methods to create anything really long and wild on a single attach point, as the 255 prim restriction saw to that. As such, I've overshot - intentionally - and yes I know some people will accuse me of lagging teh grid to hades, but... mea culpa. Monique attaches to skull and mouth - as would a hair and beard combo of mine. The result is, as you can see, some seriously long braids with dandy flexi ends.

Is it resizable automatically? Its not... sorry... but it does colorchange the beads into any one of 16 million colors, or whathaveyou. It's intentionaly non- autoresize as each prim of these things requiers a listener script to be maintained in each element. The server load of the sheer number of scripts would probably flatten most sims given time... so I've left them out. The hair is, however, rigged as fully moddable without having to fanny about dropping and collecting and so forth to get it to work.

Due to the amount of work involved, and the having to create what is effectively two elaborate styles to form one, I'll be pricing acordingly... sorry... In addition, I would ask all those who buy this beast to be gracious with it... No big events please, and be aware that there are more vertices in this thing than most game developers could ever dream of.

I know its wrong... but so many people have asked for long sculpted braids I had to do something.

Out later this week... watch this space...

Until next time,

Kalli

Three weeks late?

Um... well... got me a minute now to add something here about latest developments. I've launched the Hawkeye braided mohican, redrawn my store advertising (with plenty of advice from the irrepressable Alice Hoyer) and have started work on some new hair textures with the intention to create something that actually works low-prim, and looks a little more realistic than my current batch allow me to do.


Also working on a long set of braids that hopefully will be finished shortly - but for the meantime, its a lot of little jobs that are keeping me on my toes and away from the bigger picture - like updating the blog when I throw something out...

Mea culpa...

Until next time,

Kalli

This blog post has nothing to do with a certain movie...

Just covering my butt from a legal standpoint... this isn't about new releases... it's about the repackaging of some styles that have been in-world for 15 months in some cases. It has just come to my attention that in the wake of a certain, unnamed movie, there has suddenly become a large fanbase of avatars, all of whom are dressing the part, RPing and so forth... what's more, they have descended en masse to -dD- in search of braided hair. Now this, from my perspective, is very cool indeed; and actually giving me the well needed boot up the fazzoo to get on and build some more braids.

In the mean time, I have been watching the transaction history; and have noticed that a lot of these folks are not just buying one style from me... they're often buying several... so; to make life easy for them, I've boxed up two packs of four styles and am selliong them (in black only, admittedly) as a four for three bundle.

Imagery...



So there you have it... Box the first contains Sylva, Kaiba, Taylor and Laetitia... while Box 2 has Jocasta, Rush, Jordan (in both variants) and Nox.

Have at it, you tall blue people... or anyone else who has the need for several braided styles. There for the taking in Synchronicity, and also in Arborea

Until next time,

Kalli