Tuesday 28 April 2009

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

Wednesday 22 April 2009

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

Sunday 19 April 2009

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

Wednesday 15 April 2009

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

Tuesday 14 April 2009

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

Thursday 9 April 2009

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

Sunday 5 April 2009

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...