Barocco Earrings @ The Vault 2025

The Vault opens this month on the 8th, an event especially for accessories like jewelry, hats and masks.  As an accessory store, of course Illusions needed to be there, and I already knew what I wanted to make.  When I finished my Barocco necklace, and put on the mask and ear accessories with it, my immediate thought was "this needs earrings".

    They're unrigged to allow you to reposition them and scale them up or down, and using the Barocco Necklace HUD will also change the textures and colors of these.  After a lot of playing with my Barocco pieces, I had some versions that were too fine or too small and I had to make sure that all of the scaling was relatively consistent with the other pieces. I think I finally got a decent balance of fineness and size so that it's all cohesive.  I'm looking forward to taking pictures with the whole set once I have a moment.  

     I also found some time to work on something else that's been on my project list since Fantasy Faire in April.  More fits for the ear accessories!

 

    Despite seeming like a simple ambition to adapt the ear pieces to different ear shapes, perfectionism took over.  Just warping the pieces into place so they didn't clip through wasn't good enough, I had to make sure every element of every piece looked right on every ear.  I love all of my ears and wear each on a regular basis, so they all deserved ear accessories that were made just for them.  I didn't want to show any specific one special favor. 

What do you mean, there's only four? Oh, right, yeah... I'm still working on the Sylph ones.  They're hard to adapt for, okay?  Don't worry, I do love my Sylph ears too, they're just taking me a bit longer and I didn't see any reason to hold up the other shapes in the meantime.

I'm also going to be sending out an update to the Elfin versions, so that all of the HUD's will work with each other.  My goal is that you will be able to change all pieces of the set at once with one HUD. so you don't have to keep detaching and reattaching HUDs to change each piece.

The Vault opens on the 8th and runs through to the 18th.  The Barocco Earrings are a Vault exclusive, but the ear accessories can be found there as well as at my store.  Check them out!

Illusions @ The Vault 2025

Barocco Necklace @ Vintage Fair 2025

 I took a bit of a break after Fantasy Faire, which gave me the opportunity to really explore and enjoy it for the first time in years.  I got an intriguing invitation though, and while I'm still very slow in making things, I decided to accept.  Vintage Fair is an event focused on items inspired by history, and anything before the 21st century goes.  Since so many of my items have historical roots, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.  I didn't have much time though, and to do the event I had to make a new item.  After dressing for (and finally attending) the Fantasy Faire masquerade ball and bedecking myself in my Civetta Barocco mask with my new Barocco ear accessories, I realized the dreadful lack of accompanying neck adornment. 

     

    After spending the time designing and making these mesh pieces to play with on my masks, it's not just economical good sense to reuse them, it makes everything match! There were certain areas I felt were lacking though, especially around the center stone, so I actually ended up grabbing pieces that I had made for my demo frame, playing around with their size and position and found that they paired very nicely with the pieces from the masks.  After a bit of retexturing, they look like they were always there. 

    I had planned to use my existing stone textures and I was actually still pretty happy with them until I tried putting them into a PBR material.  Oof.  It turns out my current stone textures were made in 2013, but being the data hoarder that I am I was able to access the original files to try to make them play nicer with PBR.  Then I just kept tweaking, and next thing I knew I had a set of 16 new stones to play with, inspired by the colors and shading of real minerals like flourite, ametrine, aquamarine and pink sapphires.  They are still very much based on and closely related to the originals, but the effect when they are viewed with high graphics settings is much more decadent.

    I have been making strides towards creating HUDs and converting my items to use them.  I have certainly come to appreciate that most customers expect them now, and that it's the dominant paradigm for color change.  I also quite like seeing the actual colors represented and find it to be much friendlier to the international community and non-English speaking folks out there to be able to just click on options you think look nice, rather than having to guess at words you might not understand.  With this necklace done I now have a much easier path towards updating other items, especially the Barocco masks, so hopefully you can see PBR and HUD updates for those coming soon.

Vintage Fair opens June 6th, and goes until the 16th

Elysian Veil

Illusions @ Fantasy Faire 2025

The weather's getting warmer, the snow is gone, and birdsong is in the air, which means Fantasy Faire is finally here.  One of the biggest user run events on Second Life, it's full of exquisitely crafted sims and gorgeous works of user created art, and I'm excited to once again be a part of it. 

    This year it was very satisfying to put a year's worth of releases up on the walls of my little shop.  I have more recent work now to show than I have for almost a decade, but I set an additional goal for myself.  I wanted earrings or something to wear with the elf ears that was PBR enabled, rigged, and HUD scripted.  Real life has been very demanding this past month, so I ended up running out of time to be ambitious.  Instead, I was able to whip together something out of some old favorite pieces.

 

    The Barocco ear accessories are rigged to my new generation of EvoX ears, and are made out of the same pieces that adorn my Barocco masks.  It's so they match!  Yeah!  Not because using pre-existing pieces was easier or faster or anything...  So far they are only fit for the Elfin style of ears, but I will be working on them to support more of my current ear styles.  They are indeed HUD scripted, and I was able to convert the existing textures I had to something I was happy with.  You can still use the existing textures if you're one of the 20% or so of users still on a pre-PBR viewer, but I think they do look very nice with the new metal effects.

This year Illusions can be found on the Gwath sim, though I have decided I'm moving into the Galerie Gaillard and declaring squatter's rights if anyone tries to tell me it's time to go.  I'm not surprised I wasn't able to get a spot there, as Walton's sims are incredible and it wouldn't have surprised me if everyone put it as their first choice.  It would have been painfully perfect for my store's aesthetic but I am trying not to be too sore about it.  I did make myself cozy where I ended up though, and am quite pleased with how my stall turned out. There are many incredibly sims to see, so do visit it and the other Fantasy Faire sims from now until May 4th.  

 

Illusions @ Fantasy Faire 2018

Crazy how a year flies by yet again, huh? 

I haven't forgotten Second Life, but I definitely have been neglecting it.  I never officially quit or thought of myself as retired, though I guess that's effectively what happened.  However, I haven't given up on it or myself as a creator.  I'm wary of saying I'm going to be more active but it's something I'd like to do.

If anything could pull me back in world though, it's Fantasy Faire.  How am I supposed to miss the biggest fantasy event in Second Life? 

Despite my real life keeping me pretty busy (and so many video games I would rather be playing...) I made a lovely new thing for you guys.  One item a year, that's better than no items right?

When I showed my friends this necklace, multiple people said it kind of reminded them of a fairy, and someone said it especially reminded them of Navi from Zelda.  In honor of Navi, I've named this necklace "Fealuin", which is Quenya for "blue fairy".  Of course it's texture change, and on my fancy new vendor you can see all of the colors available right there.  This necklace also includes a slightly simpler version without the hanging chains on the sides because I know you guys love options.

I was at least true to my word (a year ago, lol) that I was going to swap vendor systems.  I've been working with the MG vendor system to convert a few items over.  Loyalty points will now be automatic and not require any use of a card, and demo items can be gotten directly from the vendor itself.  I can also offer automated redelivery now as well as a gifting, so I will be swapping over to selling items that are copy only.  The only issue is that I need to box up all of my items which has always been a bit annoying to me, but I'm trying to make it convenient for you guys by making the box an unpacking HUD that just needs to be worn once and gives you a folder automatically.

The new vending system does mean that your old loyalty points will no longer be valid.  Unfortunately there's no way that I can import your card information, the old system just didn't allow for that.  I stopped selling angel cards a year ago in anticipation of this but I know a lot of you guys are old school and probably still have your cards.  I don't have too much faith in my getting everything swapped over that quickly, so I just recommend using your balance in the next couple of months on something you might like. 


Anyway, another part of Fantasy Faire are items for RFL to raise money for the American Cancer Society.  This year, I felt rather colorful and so I've made Niobium versions of a couple old favorites.

These items are all available at my Fantasy Faire stall on Pools of Ethuil.  Come take a look!

Pirate's Regalia

When I look at my store I realize there are themes that I always revisit. I love masks, I love hats, I love jewelry and I love piratey things. Most of these things have seen some love from me in mesh, but as you well know, one of these things has seen a glaring omission. It was about time for another round of awesome pirate hats.

"Chauncey" is a highly customizable felt tricorner hat with elegant ruffled trim and cording.  Both the ruffles and the cording can be set to invisible, so you can have just the plain felt hat, or a felt hat with cording and no ruffles or whatever configuration you like.  There are twelve felt hat colors, as well as eleven satin ruffle colors that match the felt and four trim colors (gold, silver, black, and white).

However, I think it needs a bit more flair...

Octopoda is the perfect pirate's accessory.  It's the result of many hours of delicate detail work which was honestly really fun.  I loved modeling the curling tentacles, the delicate baroque frame, all of the designing and modeling went really smoothly for it and it's been a very long time since something was this fun to work on.  I think you can see it in just how detailed it is, if you scale it up to some ridiculous size only then do you see all of the work I put into it.  Even small, though, it makes a perfect pendant for a pirate.  It also comes with a brooch option, which by default fits to your tricorn, but you can put on your chest if you'd rather have it there.  It comes in my usual selection of six different metal textures (bronze, gold, copper, and sterling, antiqued, and tarnished silver).

Out now at the Fantasy Faire

Silumira Necklace

A while ago I needed a break from working on architecture, so I went for something fun, inspired by classical Elven jewelry you see in movies like Lord of the Rings and in all sorts of fantasy art. I was aiming for that lovely cross between Elven and Celtic, using my favorite thing of course: swirls.

 I wasn't sure at the time if I was going to add anything to it, a headpiece or earrings or something, but I could sit on it for potentially months while wondering what to add to it. So, I might as well just release it for Fantasy Faire and let folks enjoy it while I wonder those things.

Silumira, since I'm a nerd and actually looked this up, means "shining stone" in Quenya, the Elvish language of LotR. Sort of.  I looked up the words for "shining" and "stone" and put them together.  I don't know, I don't speak Quenya.

Out now at the Fantasy Faire

Nara Pendant

Work on the sim has been irregular, I had an unfortunate spat of "I hate everything!" and tore stuff up to redo and then got overwhelmed and then collapsed with some ice cream so I said to myself... Let's take a break.

We Heart Roleplay is a nice way to get me out of my funk and keep me making something new even when everything is telling me "you know, you should be working on your sim right now" and I can say "no!  I signed up for this so I get to work on something fun!"

Jewelry is a nice compromise between working on something that needs to be done ASAP and yet I can't stand to work on, and doing something new, because by its nature it has a limit to the scale of the project.  I can't get stuck on it or carried away too far so it's nice to have something that's relatively "easy" time wise.  People have asked for more jewelry using my new stones, so I'm happy to oblige.  So for this month's We Heart Roleplay I've put out a new pendant I've called Nara.

While looking for elven jewelry for inspiration I came across a talented Deviant Artist named Drakonaria. She beautifully balances showcasing a stone with having intricate and engaging settings, and I love all of her swirls and curls because, if you hadn't noticed, I'm obsessed with swirls and curls. If you hadn't noticed this, I don't think you've been to my store.  Inspired by that balance, I decided to see if I could make my own and I'm very pleased with the result.

Nara is available at 25% off its sale price at We Heart Roleplay through the month of July.

Lunarian and Mystic Earrings

I know this is the moment you've been waiting for.  The release everyone who's bought my elf ears or eyeballed my elf ears has been eagerly/idly/passionately/rabidly longing for.  I have to say though, it's been hard won.

Let me tell you a tale of an item that was truly cursed, to the point that even now I wonder if it will jump from the vendor it's been neatly packed into and bite me.  It begins with a belligerent failure to upload, and ends with my having to reinstall Windows. 

First, I'll share with you what I'm talking about, which, despite having some special form of creator's post traumatic stress disorder from it, I have to still look objectively and realize it's beautiful.  Beautiful like a psychotic macaw trapped with you in an elevator, beautiful like an icicle falling from a roof onto your head, or perhaps a nuclear explosion.

 They look so innocent at this stage, so allow me to put what I've had to do to finish these into writing.  It may sound like griping, because it is, but at this point I feel that I've earned the right. 

For every set of earrings, I must make nine versions of it, each fit especially for the nine sets of elf ears.  For earrings and chains, I made six elements per style, totaling fifty four different objects I need to make.  That's okay, I put on a show and grind through them in Zbrush, perfecting the shapes and then giving them UV's, and finally bringing them into Blender to convert them into collada files.  I give them their material groupings, then start uploading them to Second Life.  Pixie, fairy, seelie, high elf, all work as expected and I work my way down the list until I hit the last set.  And, just as if I'd suddenly hit a monstrous pothole, this is where the axle breaks and all of my progress is halted.

Eight out of nine sets have uploaded fine, but the sylph earrings... for some reason I'm getting a persistent upload error.   So, I start dissecting it.  I've been uploading the earrings all together in a neat, easy to fit package but now I tear it apart.  I attempt to upload the chains in every which way I can think of, even individually.  The earrings upload fine, but now the chains are giving me a MAV Block missing error.  Some quick googling shows me that no one has a clue what this is.  Some more persistent googling finds me a possible solution: it's supposedly caused by material groups having a problematic amount of triangles.  Okay,  I'll add a cube to the mesh, make it tiny, and assign each face of the cube to a material on the chains.  Now, to try uploading it again to Second Life... no MAV Block error, but now it's giving me the generic error message again.  I ask my creator friends what might be causing it, some of them suggest it might be an issue with the physics shape.  I make myself a simple cube physics shape and try to upload it on to the beta grid.... and success!  Sweet, sweet relieving success, I'm so close, but too tired to go on, I'll take a break.

Coming back the next day, I log into the main grid and start to upload the earring sets.  They're working fine but the moment of truth comes... will the Sylph set work?  I browse to it, open up the file, calculate weights and fees, no error, hit upload and...

Second Life crashes.  Wow.  Okay, this is crazy.  Seriously?  Log back in, try again, upload and... crash.  Maybe I should re-install, maybe do a clean install to be sure.  I delete my Second Life client and start again with a freshly downloaded, up-to-date client.  I start it up, hit upload model, and for a second the browse window appears before it's suddenly replaced by the dreaded, vibrant blue and the finality of a Blue Screen of Death.  My computer has completely crashed, and has to be restarted.  I reboot, log back into Second Life, and try again.  Another Blue Screen of Death.  I follow the error message to see if I might be able to fix it, it's a BIOS error, but my BIOS doesn't allow me to configure the elements it says are the problem.

At this point, I'm desperate.  I'm thinking like a mad woman, if there's rot in the system DIG IT OUT.  BURN IT.  BURN IT ALL.  I back up my documents on my second disk, reboot from it and format C:.  I re-install Windows.  My C: drive is as clean and as pure as freshly fallen snow, and I get to work on re-installing things including Second Life.  At this point, it has to work, doesn't it?  I start up Second Life, I browse to the ears (that works!), I hit calculate weights and fees (that works too!) I hit upload and SL gives a weary cough and crashes to desktop again.  As I rant and rage to anyone that will listen, a kind soul suggests I try another viewer.  I download Firestorm, install it, run it, and what do you know.

It worked.

Now you might finally understand why there has been such a long delay in releases.  I still have more commissions to release and finish but this project has been so infuriating, so frustrating and so demoralizing I haven't had the heart or drive. I had motivation only through stubborn spite to throw myself against the solid steel, spiked wall of futility.  I've worked on challenging projects before that never seemed like they would end, as more and more would pile up on it so that finishing it seem a Sisyphean task but I've never had a project so beloved to wicked and malevolent tech gremlins as this one.  Honestly, the only thing that kept me coming back to it is knowing that I'd love it, and you'd love it, once it was done.  And that you guys probably would keep bugging me about it until I finished it.

So finally, now that you've read my rant, or skipped over it, I'll deliver the reveal I've held hostage.

The Mystic Chains are the spiritual successor to the Mystic Earring set from my first generation of ears.  Elegantly draped from posts, each ear style has their own set of four chains for each ear.  They're scripted to include my usual six metals, including sterling, antiqued and tarnished silver, and gold, copper and bronze.  They also have a nifty ability to have chains of your choice go invisible, so if you'd like to wear just a few of the chains, or two on one ear, three on the other, you can customize it without needing to fit individual chains.  If your ears have been made smaller or larger using the hud, you can just select the two earring objects and stretch them down to fit.

I was commissioned by Kaelis Ember to make a set of lunar themed earrings for the elf ears.  She described a set similar to the mystic ones featuring half moon earrings. 

 

The Lunarian earrings are also scripted to have six metals, to match the chains.  I wanted to make sure that these moon ones would look perfect with them.  To achieve that end, I built them together, so they work in harmony with each other.   When fit properly, the chains swoop gracefully through the loops, the posts line up and they don't clip through each other.  It's my intention that other, future earring sets I create will also line up with them to facilitate mixing and matching.  I want you to be able to customize your ears the way you want them!

Let me just say I'm relieved and happy that they're finally done, and I hope you enjoy them.

Individual styles out now at the store: 
Lunarian Earrings: 125L per pair
Mystic Chains: 275L per pair
Fatpack of all ear styles on the marketplace:
Lunarian Earrings: 750L
Mystic Chains:1650L

Wrapped Cords for the Elf Ears!

BurningHeat Mikado was one of the first people to leap into action when I said I was in need of funds in April, not hesitating before she had sent me her $L.  She didn't even ask for anything in return, but I insisted that she decide on something for me to make for her.  She settled on something she'd wanted for ages.  Which a lot of people have been wanting for ages, and I've been putting off for far too long...

Accessories for my elf ears!  Specifically, wrapped cord similar to my Cord Wrap "jewelry" or my Dreamcatcher Nivicola horns.

 One of the reasons it's taken me almost a year to finally accessorize my ears is that it's a daunting task.  Coming up with a concept and design is the easy part, but finding a way to efficiently fit it to every style, adapt the design how it needs to to look its best, and then deal with how I'm going to script and texture all of them has been a challenge it's been all too easy for me to delay.  It's been on my docket of "big projects to do when I'm feeling up to it" for months.  Thankfully to BurningHeat, wrapped cords, while still tricky, are nowhere near as intimidating as chains, loops or other earring styles.

The wrapped cords, specifically, are available in every ear style, and each one is fit to correspond with the shape of each ear style.  There are twelve colors to choose from with my usual texture changing system, and I made each cord its own colorable area so you can mix and match and make color combinations.  While I could have cheated and gone the easy way of just mirroring one cord wrap onto the other side, I couldn't sacrifice aesthetics for convenience!  Unfortunately, this resulted in a whopping thirty six different cords to position and fit, so you can see why this sort of thing is daunting.

This is yet another completed commission as I work my way down the list.  Now that I've figured some things out about how to do the ear accessories, I'd like to, and will do, more.  But, priorities first, I must keep working on what I've been hired to work on!  Which means more eclectic and interesting releases first.

In the meantime, hopefully these will get you started on decking out your ears.

Individual styles out now at the store: 95L
 Fatpack of all ear styles on the marketplace: 600L

Nevina Jewelry

Before I requested commissions, I was slowly plodding along with work on a new piece of jewelry.  Mesh is fantastic for jewelry, as it is for just about anything wearable.  However, the stones I've used in the past for my other jewelry seem a little outdated to me, so I decided to make an entirely new set.

I'm particularly proud of them, because unlike past jewelry stones I've made, I made them without any sort of leaning on Zbrush matcaps.  With my other stones, I would basically bake the texture of a Zbrush material and modify it, while in this case I started with a red circle, and after a lot of playing with gradients and blending layers, ended up with a gem.  

My friend doodles celtic knots, and he came up with one that I particularly liked.  I thought that with a few adaptations it'd make a really lovely pendant.

Nevina is gaelic for "worshipper of the saints", which I found fitting for a Celtic cross necklace.  It's unrigged for easy modification, and the pendant is a separate object so you can adjust the angle or size for a perfect fit.  On one hand, it seems like something from the middle ages, on the other, it's modern enough to be timeless. 

Currently available at my stall at the Fantasy Faire!   After the fair is over, they will be moved to the store on Carnivale and listed on the marketplace. 

Out now at the store
On the marketplace: 250L

Curiata Jewelry

I realized that my motivation dry spell went a bit deeper than just a superficial lack of drive.  I think I've been dealing with depression and escapism and I'm only just coming out of it.  The Curiata was a bit of no-strings attached fun, a quick project that was beautiful and warmly received.  I got the urge to do more pieces like it!

Unfortunately, half way through working on it, I stumbled into a pit of complexity I simply wasn't able to handle.  I had fun modeling all of the delicate curlicues of the new pieces, but the UV's on items like that are absurd and challenging to do.  The colors from the original Curiata mask were done in a way that I wasn't anticipating having to match them, and so I had to meticulously recreate them.  When faced with the pit falls and challenges of a larger project (as there inevitably are) I simply couldn't handle them, and so I went back to escaping.

Eventually, a month after most of the actual work was done, I managed to struggle with myself to finally get over those hurdles.  I was feeling like nothing I did could be easy and consequence free, everything was a burden of tedious labor and nothing came easily.  But, I pushed myself through it knowing that in reality the hurdles are embarrassingly small, and it's silly of me to be putting so much emphasis and importance on them.

So, I'm finally releasing companion pieces to the Curiata mask, a set of jewelry that includes a collar, bracelets and earrings.

I've probably been looking at it too long to really appreciate the intricacy and elegance of them, since labors of love often become more labor than love, but that doesn't stop me being proud of them.  As you can see, I matched the Niobium color from the mask and it came out so well I used it for the ad.  It's so vibrant and colorful, the other colors seem almost dull in comparison.

Classic gold is classic for a reason though.

I'm grateful that everyone's been so patient with my lack of productivity, and I really do hope to be able to do more soon.  The Curiata jewelry set is currently available at the store and on the marketplace. 

Out now at the store
On the marketplace: 525L

Illusions @ GIA Accessory Fair 2011

I'm a bit late, but that's what I get for wanting to do things right rather than quickly. Firstly, Accessory Fair is benefiting The American Cancer Society, and so here is my item devoting its profit to RFL

This beautiful Scarab medallion is a way to take a piece of Egypt with you. With detailed hieroglyphs and a beautifully rendered scarab in the center. That was certainly "fun" putting my new tablet to the test! I admit I cheated though, tracing a traditional scarab cabuchon with my own design. There's a male version as well for the gentlemen who are jealous.

The hieroglyphs around it are a font I found (Meroitic - Hieroglyphs) and they actually contain a little clue for something special I'm still working on.

Really what's been hanging me up so much though is finally giving the men a fair share of my attention. With Semeret and Khepra, they must have been feeling left out. So, sorry gentlemen, please consider this my making it up to you!

The Nemes Headdress was the headgear of the noblemen of Egypt. You can wear it without the shoulders for the look of the Khat headdress, a simpler version which was worn more commonly among the upper class. If you're wondering where the snake on the forehead you're so familiar with is, I'm sorry but you're being presumptuous! The Uraeus was the symbol of Wadjet, the patron goddess of Egypt, and if you weren't royalty you didn't have any business wearing it. My aim it not to make everyone a pharoah! Women aren't missing out on this one either, I made sure to include a female version with a special fit for the shoulders.

What's that peeking out beneath the nemes though?

A version for men! If you gentlemen tried to get the Semeret collar working for you, please let me know and I will send you a copy of this one as an upgrade. It's especially made for that quirky male mesh and should fit on your masculine shoulders like a dream. For your noble chin, a plaited beard like those that can be found on so many sarcophagi.

What are you going to wear with all of these manly authentic accessories?

Almost nothing of course! Just kidding... sort of. The Scots weren't the only ones who enjoyed a nice cool breeze up the leg. The Semer loin cloth is an excellent companion to the Semeret silks, featuring the same gathered cloth around the hips with a loose tie in the front. The belt is scripted to offer you those same fun options of changing metals, gems, and stripe colors and also comes with a separate option if you want to wear it with a more ordinary outfit. But why would you?


These amazing items can be found at my booth at the Accessory Fair until June 26th, where they will be moved to the main store. The Scarab Medallion in it's current incarnation is only available until then.

Illusions @ Fantasy Faire 2011

The Fantasy Faire has just kicked off, and after a week of my entire friend's list pulling out their hair with stress (myself included!) we finally get to enjoy the reveal.

Before I got wrapped up in working on my marketplace, I had wanted to continue working on my Egyptian set and make a few more items in that theme. In my original Egyptian Isis set (now almost four years old!) it had a strong scarab theme, and I wanted to revive that in a new jewelry set.

Khepra, (or Khepri, Kheper) was an Egyptian god of transformation and the sun. He was represented by a scarab, and so I've brought the motif of the scarab and the sun into this collar and matching bracelets. The set goes beautifully with the other Semeret pieces that are available, and have the same color and metal options as them.

Another expansion of Semeret I wanted to do was a full gown. Where the silks set is a sexy and eye catching option, the full dress is just as alluring but without showing quite so much skin.

It features a classic Egyptian sheath line, with skirt prims for the legs to avoid "breaking". You can see in this image too that the wings of the scarab nicely mirror the wings of the Semeret belt.


On another note, I've noticed that I sometimes get an IM or two from people who are disappointed that my Silk Blindfold can't be worn with some hair styles or mohawks. At the time, this was because making it go all the way around the head would cause more trouble for hair styles that were close to the head, as well as a shortage of good short styles and hair bases. Now that hair bases are readily available on the new tattoo layer, I've addressed this short coming with a new, full blindfold.
It's not as silky and luxurious, but it's perfect for the bald and mohawked amongst us who would like to sport the prophet Tiresius look.

That's not all that's new though, as part of our effort to help the Friends Fighting Cancer team, who are organizing the whole Fantasy Faire, every merchant participating is donating two items to Relay for Life. My contributions are some fun and colorful new versions of one of my favorite items, my Corvus wings.


After seeing so many people having so much fun with my Macaw Wings, I wanted to show off a few more colors of those beautiful tropical birds. 100% of the proceeds of these items goes to the American Cancer society, so look fabulous for a good cause :)


You can find all of these lovely items at my Fantasy Fair booth. I'm on the Forest of Light sim, right on the north border to the Forest of Shadow. They'll be available only there until the end of the fair :)

Illusions @ Jewelry Fair: Semeret & Etya

Once upon a time in 2007, I made a silks set with matching jewelry in an Egyptian theme. It was made completely out of prims, (before sculpts!), but I loved it. I retired it ages ago when I realized it was horribly dated and I vowed I'd make a new version some day.

Well, Jewelry Fair gave me a great excuse to revisit the Egyptian theme, finally. And now that I'm getting more comfortable making clothing, I could do the clothing part right.

Semeret, meaning "noblewoman" in Egyptian (thanks Khamudy!), is an elegant, exotic and sexy outfit perfect for hot desert nights and for reclining while being fanned with peacock feathers. The silks set includes the belt, loin cloth and top, as well as a pair of panties to go underneath to preserve some mystery. But what about the collar and bracelets you ask?


Available separately, since I have plans to expand this set! I was working with a deadline of Jewelry Fair or I would have waited until more was done, but I wanted to get these out in time to make a splash. The Semeret collar is the result of hours of work delicately manipulating oblongs sculpts to allow you to choose your own color patterns, from a pallet of 6 metals and 12 different colors. All of the pieces are scripted to change, and in the case of the belt in the silks set you can even change the jewel. I love the look of the red, gold and white, but you could try silver, white and gray or tarnished black, green and orange if you liked. I was having fun wearing the set in washed out silver and white and it completely changed the feel of the outfit.

I'm still working on new pieces, and so the bangles are available separately as well. More is on the way and will hopefully be done to be released at the fair!

I've also put out a freebie to lure you into my stall, a simple and elegant stacked collar called Etya, inspired by tribal necklaces of Africa.

Here's a SLURL to get you there: TP to Jewelry Fair South

Enjoy, and I hope to see you over there!

Arnot, Aurelie, and new cheapies!

With my mind on other things, I forgot to mention that I put out a couple of releases for my opening last week. First up, I keep getting asked about the gift I put out for Jewelry Fair 2009. People who were lucky enough to nab it keep flaunting their luck in photos, in gorgeous outfits, matching it with everything and making people jealous. I also happen to really like it, and so I'm putting out Aurelie officially for just 90L. It has the same beautifully vibrant collection of stones as Orinthia and the Elessia set.



Arnot is a mask for the poor under-represented men. That's not to say that women can't wear it, but just for once it was made on a male base to accentuate male features. There are a lot of dramatic, simple, and elegant male mask designs out there and it was about time that I made one! It has the same color palette as the Adorno masks (Perorno, Mezzadorno etc) and I think you'll be hard pressed to find an outfit that it doesn't match.

With my beautiful new build, my old freebies (the 2007 signature necklace and the Obscurita masks) simply didn't seem to fit. The entire reason I remade the build was that I wanted it to reflect what I'm capable of (plus I was running a leetle low on space), and I feel like a store gift should reflect the sort of quality you can find inside. So I've put together a couple of new gifts
The imp mask is an old design, one of the first I ever made. I made some tweaks and neatened it up a bit to make it something worth wearing. What I'm really happy with is how my new signature necklace turned out. A couple of elegant swirls curl around one of my most elegant mask designs and turned it into something I'm very happy to keep near my virtual heart.

Since these are better than my old gifts, and nicer than any other gift I've had out on my store, I've made them 10L instead of 1 or 0. It also includes a truly beautiful gift box, which I'm happy to make available on its own along with the mask and necklace.
It makes a beautiful trinket to keep in your house, I know that's certainly what I'm doing. Keep an eye out for it on the table to your left when you're at the store, and grab yourself some goodies :)

Fantasy Fair 2010

This is a day late because I'm currently away from home, so my apologies!

Fantasy Fair has just kicked off, and there are over nine themed sims of amazing awesome stuff. I've been granted a lovely stall on Elvencourt, and so in honor of the elven theme I have something appropriately elegant and regal.

Elessia is a flowing piece you can imagine being made by Elven craftsmen in Lothlorien. It's scripted as most of my jewelry is these days, to change to six different metals and the same selection of twelve stones as the Orinthia set. It includes a circlet and necklace, so your ears are free for certain elfy necessities. Since I'm away from home, there was a problem with the scripts to change metal in these, but I was able to get on for a moment on a borrowed laptop in order to fix it. However, if you bought this set yesterday please contact me for an updated version.

Fantasy Fair is dedicated to raising money for the American Cancer Society, so I've put together a limited edition color of the Dama and Primo di Carnivale masks.

Dama di Cielo Notte means "Lady of the Night Sky". It was painted by yours truly and will only be available for the duration of the the fair. 100% of the proceeds go to the American Cancer Society, and the same goes for her partner, the Primo di Cielo Notte.

These are not scripted, what you see is what you get. They can be yours for a donation of 375L. The skin in these are a couple of (possibly retired) beautiful skins by Munchflower Zaius of Nomine, and are from her Aether collection.

I apologize for any delays in my getting back to you for customer service this week, my only internet access is currently through kind relatives giving me a few moments on their systems.

Illusions @ Accessory Fair 2010

I'm in the Accessory Fair which is kicking off this weekend, hosted by Glance. It features other designers like myself who fit into the "other" category of what you can wear on your avatar, and will be going until the 27th of March.

I wanted to have something new released especially for it, but most of my projects weren't anywhere near ready. I found there was something simple I'd been wanting to do and just lacked the timing, so I took the opportunity :)

Sometimes I'm in the mood for the primmy splendor and display of the original Orinthia, but sometimes I want to have a simple pendant that's still romantic and feminine. Orinthia Puro is the reconciliation of those two moods, and if I'd known it looked this good on its own I might not have bothered with the frustration of dealing with all of those chains! In fact, I think it even brings out the lines and delicacy of the pendant better. But after all that work on the original, I'd rather offer this as an option instead of a replacement. Plus, it's significantly cheaper ;) (250L, compared to the original's price of 450L)

The set is only available at my Accessory Fair stall for now, but after a week I'll be adding it to my new releases wall in the main store. My next few releases are going to be the same story, released at the fair first and then added to my main store after a few days :)

Christmas Bell Jewelry

I have another festive goodie! I'm not actually sure why, but bells are really associated with Christmas. Maybe it's a symbol of churches calling people together or they're the proverbial jingle bells, but here's a pretty bell you can wear on your neck that isn't attached to a neko collar.

Festive holly along with a delicately tied ribbon decorate this lovely golden bell. But the best part about this jewelry set? It's only 50L, so even if you only wear it a few times you can still get your money's worth out of it :)~

I also set out a box of holiday goodies for free, which include a remake of my holly jewelry and some ornaments and mini reindeer antlers. I'll blog the contents tomorrow, but you can still pick it up today!

Varda

Do you remember back in mid-June, I posted that I had a lot of big projects in the works and I couldn't really talk about them?

Well, Hedera was one of them, but the other... I have only just finished.

My teaser in August really didn't do them justice. This is a project that has been almost three years in the making, through slow and steady evolution and a fanatical desire to achieve perfection. Cutting to the chase, MY ROSES ARE FRICKIN' DONE!
I wanted them done back during the summer... I wanted them done at least in time for Jewelry Fair... but at least I've got them done in time to honor my rez day. I say three years because first thing I ever made was a rose made out of cylinder slivers, textured with that satin texture from the library! What better way to celebrate my third year in SL.

Each rose is painstakingly sculpted (I do mean pained, this took me ages) out of unique sculpts. Each petal is a different sculpt, each rose is a slightly different rose, each leaf, each stem, each petal, each and every damn thing placed as close to perfect as my sanity would allow. So please, do adorn yourself with them.

There are thirty six different colors for the rose petals, 20 of which were carefully matched to real rose colors that actually exist. Natural roses range from deep reds to brighter vermillions, into soft mauves and pinks and then more vibrant apricots and corals. I did my best to capture every color as faithfully as I could, so that everyone's favorite rose could be represented. I played with the leaves and stem textures too, and came up with six that were both beautiful and fun to combine with the petals. My favorite is the "red branch", I have no idea what it is called but it's very common for roses to have burgundy stems and branches with red tinged leaves, and I tried to capture that. There's also brown dead leaves, two shades of green, and the omnipresent black and white.




The mask has unique colors too, and has a range pretty close to the natural roses. I tried to make sure there was a match for most of the rose colors, and I even included a specific coloring for the red branches, which is shown up in the jewelry picture. The mask is my first attempt at a torus mask with no middle bridge... so please forgive the seam. I did my best to conceal it but sculpts are only so precise.


If having a mask, necklace, and earrings made of roses isn't enough for you, I've made a range of hair accessories so you can really load yourself down. People won't be able to get near you unless they want to be near a perfumerie.

A modest hair clip, and a possible blast from the past for anyone who still has the old hair rose. I wanted to add a bit of something so that the bloom had some context, so I added leaves and sepals (the petals that cup the bud). But the single hair rose is so small and modest, it'd be fun to go a bit bigger.

This is perfect for dressing up an updo a bit, or clipping to the back of a long hair to give a splash of color. I can imagine it being positioned on a bun with the roses set to white for a wedding and being stunning. But even that isn't necessarily big enough to really show up on some long hairs, so I made a larger barrette with stems coming down:
And just so you can have your options, because the cascading blooms is such a lovely effect, if you want them closer to your face there's always this...

Yes, it's a "hair adornment", after using up "clip" and "barrette" my limited lexicon of decorative hair terminology was spent. This is the piece shown up in that first picture though, which makes a beautiful frame for a beautiful face.

Each of these hair ornaments comes with three different attachment points, so you have your choice to work around your lashes, piercings etc. This is only with the copiable choice though, so if you choose transfer you will only end up with one fit.

For the purists, and those who love to tango, you can also have your rose on the side, as god intended (just genetically mutilated all to hell through generations of careful breeding)

Changes texture as well, comes on the hand and mouth, geezus this is a long post... I'll just finish up quick. I'm also making available the long stem roses in red at a discount rate, unscripted and transferable so you can buy a pack to pass flirtatiously to fancy ladies or as part of your roleplay. This is only available in red at the store, but any of the other colors is available at the same prices upon request.

And this post doesn't need any more pictures, but the boutonniere is back. Oh, yes, and "Varda" means rose in hebrew, it was much more creative than just calling them "rose" and much less evocative of skin conditions than "rosacea".

And now to just reiterate... HOMG THEY'RE DONE! THEY'RE DONE! HALLELUJAH