Gotta love SL

Pffft, well was trying to hang out in SL but it's having a bad day so I guess it's trying to tell me I should update muh blog LOL.

Nothing new really product-wise, other than that the SIITA hunt is coming to a close, and the SL Discovery hunt will be starting up right on its heels. I'm working on some more piercings, some with no teeth, and have a couple of ideas for tails that I'll be working on as well. I'm a slow worker, so it'll be a bit before I have those out, hahaha.

In the meantime, I've been bopping around SL trying to find some pretty and interesting places. Just last night actually my friends Tango and Zanne TP'ed me to where they were, a light and music show. It was AMAZING. Here's a pic of one of the shots I took, and yes, it's been photoshopped a bit for effect and fun:



I've uploaded a few more photos to my flickr, check them out! If you have the chance, I DEFINITELY recommend checking it out. The creators of this show put on a fantastic event. The particle effects are better than fireworks, and they are coordinated with music. The effect on the senses is really beautiful and can't fully be reproduced in the pictures ... at least not by me lol.

I tried to tp to the location today, but SL was acting up on me so I'll try to edit that into this post at a later date. In the meantime, enjoy the pics, and look for the event in search on the SL web site. If you search "Swan Lake" you might be able to find it.

EDITED TO ADD: That this is a great event to attend in couples. I enjoyed it just great being one of a handful of non-couples, but you have to be pretty secure in that I think *LOL* Definitely a very romantic event that you want to share with someone you care about. Like I said, I enjoyed it GREAT on my own, but I encourage you to share the exprience if you can!

FINAL HUNT GIFT WOOOO!

Ok folks, here's the ad for the second and final SL Discovery hunt. This is the unisex item, called "Allegiance." I had pictured this a bit differently in my mind, but as I worked on it, the thing had a mind of its own LOL. I'd pictured it with more bits and doodads (aka "sculpty parts") but, it just seemed to ask for simplicity. I had it all bedecked with all sorts of stuff but it was just too busy so ... it's simple, hehe, but hopefully that's a good thing.

Classes, woot!

As if it weren't enough that I teach in RL and therefore spend all my RL time in a classroom, I'm also taking a class in SL. The real irony of this is that I'm celebrating not having to EVER take classes again as I got done with my MA last summer. And now, I'm voluntarily taking a class in SL. What is wrong with me? LOL

So, the class I'm taking is at The Photo Institute, and I'm taking a class in composition with Kee Lewellyn. The first class was last week, and it was so informative. Kee went through some of the basic principles in photographic composition. Some of it was review for me as I was a studio art major (as well as a French major) in college, but there were definitely a few points I didn't remember learning as a painting/drawing student.

I didn't want to keep getting by on "natural ability" like I had been, so when I came across this school, I jumped at it. So glad!

We even had homework! And um, yeah, having homework is not usually anything to celebrate, but I love having an excuse to "have to" take pictures, play in photoshop and all that. Part of what I want to do with this blog and my flickr site is show what is out there to be discovered in SL beyond just shopping and clubbing. I LOVE to do both, don't get me wrong, but there's some amazing stuff out there that really deserves to be seen.

soooo, all that having been said, follow the link to my flickr site where I've posted my first pics for my homework assignments. There's one pic of a place called Templum Obscurum, which my friend Freshy showed me, and the rest are of Memorial Beach at Memorial Gardens. Hoping what you see here will prompt you to check out those places too.

New Hunt, New Gift!

Well FINALLY got the second gift done for the SL Discovery hunt that RGK will be in. Wooot! Now just waiting on a friend to log on to help model it hehehe. Just like for the SIITA hunt, I'll be offering up one girly, and one unisex item. I have to say though, the the unisex one feels very masculine to me, so not sure how many women will want it, but there you have it.

Here's a sneak peek at the girly hunt gift:

Do remember that the SIITA hunt is STILL on, and this is your last week to get the gifts for that for free. After today, both of those items will still be available, but will be sold as full-priced items.

If you like that gift item, I'll be making tails and ears to match them soon. I'll also be making tails and ears to match the unisex armband as well! So far the tail that I have out is very girly, but have some plans in the works for tails oriented towards all.

Stay tuned, I'll post the unisex gift photo here as soon as I get that ad all done up. Woo hoo!

Biggest Grid-wide Hunt ever!!!

I think I mentioned really briefly in a past post that I was going to be part of a new hunt. The Spring Is In The Air hunt is quickly coming to a close -- the last day for that hunt is April 30th! Crazy! Kinda exciting, because RGK has been accepted to be in a new grid-wide hunt, called SL Discovery.

I'll post the link to their blog a little bit later (although I believe their URL is simply http://www.sldiscovery.com/) so you can check out what they are about. What makes them really exciting is that they are SL's largest grid-wide hunt EVER! I'm so excited to be a part of it.

I'd originally thought that I could send all those people to my new Main Store but, after more thought on that *LOL* I decided that I'd keep sending people to my shop at Sassy City cuz um, yeah, homestead sim probably couldn't handle that kind of traffic.

For this hunt, you'd be looking for a magnifying glass. If you were a hunter in the SIITA hunt, you'd know that my shop at Sassy is kinda plain, so hiding stuff there isn't really much of a challenge, hahaha. They have lots of great shops lined up, and you can see who they all are on their blog site. The SL Discovery hunt starts May 1st, and they are doing a run-thru of it tonight, which is what has me really thinking about this and posting about it now hehehe.

I'm *trying* to make one female and one unisex/male gift. The female gift is all done up, I just need to take some pictures of it so I can show y'all what you'll be getting, woo hoo! Struggling with the unisex one. The female gift is very springy (but you can wear year-round kind of feel) shabby-chic, texture-change armband. It has steel accents with laquer/enamel flower embellishments. The central/focus piece of the armband is a slightly-glowing, almost-transparent flower that has -- what else? -- a small picture frame in it that you can drop someone picture or a pretty texture into to customize it.

The male/unisex gift idea is giving me a bit of trouble, in that I haven't been able to come up with an idea that I like and that is doable in the amount of time I have. *sigh* I hate that hunts don't have much in the way of stuff for guys so I really want to make it a point to have something for the guys there, but I don't have any cool ideas that I can accomplish in the amount of time I'm able to spend on it. *thinks* I'll have to come up with something though LOL. I will, and I'll let y'all know what it is as soon as I have it done ;)

OK, I'm done rambling.

Oh I lied. Wanted to let you all know that because the voodoo neko tail and ears have been going so well, as well as the neko/vampire teeth/multi-piercing combo, that I'm working on a line of tails and piercings that I'll sell individually, but also bundle together in discounted packages. After I'm done figuring out the male hunt gift, I'll be working on that, so stay tuned!

Oh yeah, ANNNNDDDD (this is a stream-of-consciousness post, sorry) once the SIITA hunt is over, I'll be selling the Spring Fling necklace and Hanging From a String voodoo noose at regular prices, so if you haven't picked them up yet, do it now! They won't be free any more as of May 1st, so don't forget to grab them for free while you still can!

And yes I still shoot photos! AND update on tails!

LOL omg with all this building and taking care of my shops, I swear I'm worried I'll lose sight of the real reason I started all of this -- To get me some more opportunities to shoot photos in SL.

Sooo, while building tails, piercings, updating shops, blogs, DJing AND god forbit hanging out with friends, I also managed to squeeze in some time for some portraits! Yay!

I shot some pics of my good friends, Trixie and Ten and their family, as well as my new friend Freshy's bitchin' car. You can see them all here on my flickr. Kinda annoyed at the family pic, as for some reason I couldn't manage to find the ACTUAL final version I did up ... sans poseball in Laura's head. Still wanted to show what I managed anyway, so you'll have to imagine that portrait without the poseball. Yikes.

Next items on my To-Do list are starting to change over my land to summer mode, working on some more piercings, including some without teeth for you non-neko and non-vampires ;) Gotta get a new hunt gift done up (more on the next hunt soon!) and also have some ideas on the next line of tails. *PHEW*

As I change over the land to summer mode, trying to think of ways to get everyone involved in my flickr group ... I'll think on that some more, and if you have ideas, shoot 'em my way please!

TAIL UPDATE: Someone asked me if there was any way to turn the particle OFF. I did figure out a way to accomplish that, as you may not *always* want a picture or particle hovering above your butt LOL So, all the tail vendors now have a notecard called "Fix" in them, which includes a texture called "totally clear." If you follow the instructions for loading your own image onto the notecard in the tail, you can copy the Asset UUID for the "totally clear" texture, and you won't see a particle there at all. Fixed! :))) enjoy!

OK, I think that's it for now. *wipes brow*

Tail features

Maybe it would help if I told you what the tails did? Clicked "Publish" on that last post thinking "Damn that went faster than I thought it would" and just now realized I left out the features of the new tail!

Well the reason I'm so excited aout this tail is not ONLY did I manage to get it so its twitching movement no long looke it was violating your hindside, it's a "VooDoo" tail so it has a voodoo doll attached to it, along with all other appropriate voodoo feature -- nails, a razorblad buried partway in its head, and one BIG nail going through its heart. There's other detailing as well, but the one I'm proudest of is the one hovering, non-poofing all over the place particle that everyone can customize.

You simply load a notecard with a photo or texture's UUID and voila, the person you're pissed off at, his/her picture will be floating above your tail. It's just for fun bwahahah of course, or you can actually use it when you're ticked off at someone.

This version is probably kinda girly for you guys out there, so I am working on a more guy-friendly version called "Hater". And, since we're not always wishing for people to die (are we? ooo) I'll also be working on a version that is generally Love/Friendship-friendly too.

Now, why a particle and not simply a prim that shows your picture? I chose the particle because it is ALWAYS going to face whoever is looking at your tail. It will never disappear from view just because someone is standing to the side of you. If anyone is within view of your tail, the particle will always face the viewer and they'll be able to see it.

Instructions on loading your own image are included in the box, so be sure to read them. It's really pretty simple though!

Other than that, let's see:

-- The VooDoo doll is texture-change thru a menu. Just click on the doll and you'll get one of those blue menu screens and you can scroll thru about a dozen texture options ;)
-- Movement options: This is available to just the owner, but you can choose your twitchy mood!
-- Chat options: People who click your tail can choose from a list of fairly unique emotes. Also menu-driven, I've loaded these tails with some of my own chat option bwahahahahahhaaaaaaaaa.
movements!

Tail colors come in about 10 (omg I'm so bad I don't remember!) including regular hair colors (Chestnut, Cooper, Black, Platinum Blonde) and less regular hair colors ranging from lime-green, pinks, blues, and OOOOO I made a calico one LOL.

OMG I can't believe I left all that out lmfao!

Who the hell knew????

Wow, I swear I had NO IDEA that making tails were so damn hard! Piercings not so hard, tails way hard ... noted. Good lord.

With that said, wanted to post here a sneak peek at the new neko tails that I just finished up. Took lots of trial and error and help from friends who agreed to be my guinea pigs (waves to Tango and Zanne, thanks guys!) but I'm done building them, and I JUST got done with the ad for them lol.

Soooo, all I gotta do now is box them all, set them up in the vendors and VOILA, done. I burned myself out on this over the last few days so I'm going to step away from this project till tomorrow. I want to have these and a couple of other new items all ready to go at the new main store before I officially unveil them and the new main home for RGK. So keep checking here ... I'm HOPING that by Sunday, I can say I'm ready to get this big project wrapped up! Woo hooooo!

Oh yes, and one little bit of news ... RGK has been accepted to be in the SL Discovery gridwide hunt, so WOOOT! More freebies from me! LOL ... gah. Damn, that means more work for me too doesn't it? LOL

Baring muh teeth

Woot, opened a new shop AND got the newest stuff up for sale! *checks those two things off her list*

Here's a look at what is being offered exclusively at my shop's new location at Diablos Horn. For this week, from today to next Sunday, all of these piercings/teeth combos are for 10L. After that, they go up to their regular price ;)

Pending ... and lots of stuff in the works. Geez.

Hope everyone's having a great Easter! Well now that things have calmed down a bit since starting the Spring Is In The Air Hunt, I've been turning my attention to building again. About time, right? LOL

People in my group have already gotten a preview of this, but I've gotten a new line of stuff started -- piercings that come attached to teeth. This idea came about when I was going thru my inventory and found my neko teeth, but that came with some pretty basic piercings ... like the one piercing through the middle of the bottom lip thing. When I looked around, there didn't seem to be a lot out there in the way of teeth/multi-piercing combos ... so I went and made my own :P (Thanks Vel!)

So, there's that, lol. Those new piercings will officially come out in the next couple of days, and I'll post a pic so you all can get a preview ;) Happening hand-in-hand with that is the opening of a new location for RGK, at Diablo's Horn, owned by good friend Trixie Noel and Tendrik Carr. They have nice mall going there, and I'll be selling the teeth/piercing combo exclusively at that location. Very à propos, I thought, since it is a vampire/undead-owned mall ;P hahaha. You can already find my regular stuff already set up there, but I'll be letting people know soon when the new piercing stuff is set up there too. If you're in the RGK group, you'll get the first heads up, of course ;)

Still to come is the official opening of the new main store. The main reason THAT'S taking so long is because i'm trying to tie it all in with the land that is below it, so I can turn it into a hang out kind of place too ...

Annnnd (yeah there's more lmfao) I have a couple of ideas for more with the voodoo doll accessory ("Hanging from a String") and some neko tails with a very unique feature ... OMG not enough hours in a day.

While I'm trying to get ALL this done, I'm setting up my new computer (YAY! KICKASS GRAPHICS CARD WOOT!) with photoshop and all sorts of fun crap so ... it's coming. Stay tuned!