Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Holidays from Siyu

Hey everyone! Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, happy holidays and all that good stuff :) May the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless you with his noodly appendage and all that good stuff.



I got into the holiday spirit, and put together a companion hat to the Elf slippers I released last year. I sent it out to Masqueraderie, so you can nab it out of the group notices for the next two weeks. I also put out a box of Christmas themed goodies I had out last year out at the store, it's not like they're perishable and I know not everyone might have gotten them last year. Enjoy :)

I hope whether you celebrate Christmas or not, that you're enjoying time with your family and friends. Of course no matter what you believe, companionship, compassion and love are things we can all agree on.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

With Love Hunt

I can't believe I forgot to post this, in fact I was sure I had but it's been a little while since I just viewed the main page of my own blog. I'm in the With Love hunt, a sort of pre-holiday non-denominational tour of stores invited to put out a gift to their customers. I had had something in mind that I wanted to do just for fun, and a hunt gift was the perfect excuse to make it.


If you're already sick of the November/December grays then add a splash of color with glorious macaw wings! You can find these hidden somewhere in my store on Carnivale, the hint is "Watching people come and go, feeling like Michelangelo"

Make sure you swing by before Friday, the 17th, before they're gone!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! It might be obvious that this is one of my favorite times of the year. I hope all of you are having a marvelous time and enjoying the season, and I hope if you go out partying or out trick or treating that you stay safe and your costumes remain pristine.

I found a seasonally appropriate little "friend" as it dropped in a "friendly" manner onto my shoulder, and I thought I might like to relocate them to perhaps another person's head. Yours in fact.

They're quite cute actually... when they're not moving or trying to bite you. I'd like to get them out of the undercroft, so they're free to a good home. Just please... take them...

You can find your new pet Spidey in the orange box at the store! It's out near the new releases.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Burning Night (Aftermath)

Playing hosts to the hosts of hell turned out better than I could have expected... who would have thought they would be so kind, gracious, and considerate? One thing I noticed especially is that they are impeccably well dressed.


The costumes are always so stunning and creative at my parties and I end up a hopeless shutterbug, taking as many pictures as I can to take all of them in. There are a few more pictures on my photostream on Flickr. It's always almost impossible to choose who has the best costumes, however the voting cast Dyisi Oppewall and Ran Garrigus as the Burning King and Queen.


They are now the proud owners of the Burning King and Queen masks, which I will be releasing soon pending a couple of tweaks. I've been busy cleaning up all the ash from the floor and removing the tormented souls that stuck to a few demon's hooves.


Don't worry if you missed it! If you were in the group, I'll be sending the event mask (the one shown in the invitation) through a group notice. I also know that real life gets in the way sometimes, and that I do hold more masquerades >.>

Saturday, October 9, 2010

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!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Burning Night

Things always get a little metaphysical on Carnivale around Halloween. Last year, the veil of life was thin and the dead rose to dance again in the halls. Some of those souls returned to paradise, others to eternal damnation. Well, the ones that returned to damnation apparently spoke of the marvelous time they'd had at the masquerade, and made their captors jealous. Last night I was contacted by an imp, a courier of a demon, who alerted me to the fact that certain creatures of the underworld were going to be inviting themselves to my masquerade this year. Rather than be a poor host, I decided to hold it in their honor.


You are invited, if you dare to come, to dance away the night with imps, devils, demons and seductive succubi. I will be host to the hosts of hell, and open my halls to those that you hopefully will never meet elsewhere. Come, all those that are tired of the same old circles and tortures and have some fun.

As usual I have to ask that when planning your costumes, you adhere to the following guidelines. They've been a policy since 2007 and have allowed my masquerades to be relatively lag free and very enjoyable for even those on older systems. If we all pitch in, we can all enjoy the costumes without gray people.

Please keep your prim attachments in total to 200 or less.
You can double check how close you are to the limit by using build, and holding down shift to click each item you're wearing. The build window will display the collected total of those prims.


Streamline your AO, or leave it at home
Nobody likes looking like a noob while being a wallflower. However, if you don't plan to dance, fill a veritably lag free, low prim ZHAOII with your two or three favorite stands. Otherwise, just go without.


No particles, and no listening scripts
Turn that bling off, and make sure you don't have any items on you that respond to chat commands. Make copies of items that have resize scripts in them and use the remove feature that many have included.


As usual, there will be a costume contest, determined by vote, to vie for the titles of the Burning King and Queen. Two previously unreleased, themed masks will be awarded as the prizes, along with an Angel Card good for 1500L worth of Illusions goodies.

If you are planning on coming, please be sure to join the "Illusions Burning Night Masquerade" group. There is a small fee of 150L as a token of commitment, to make sure that the people who are members seriously intend on coming. Make sure you join the group early, do not put it off because you don't have a group slot. Spots will go surprisingly fast, and I will refuse to add a single soul more than 50. I will, however, have a waiting list just in case anyone leaves the group, which has happened before. There will still be hope to get in even if you hear about it too late.

Masks are required, but a complimentary mask will be offered at the hall, which is the mask shown in the invite. I know the costume rules are tough to follow, especially when it's so tempting to go for excess, but I have the utmost faith in your creativity to be able to work around the limitations, and flourish. I can't wait to see you there.

Illusions Burning Night Masquerade
Saturday, October 23rd, 4PM SLT
Illusions Event Hall, Carnivale
(Join the "Illusions Burning Night Masquerade" Group)
Themed attire and mask required

Friday, September 17, 2010

Marketplace

Linden Lab is migrating the web-based SL commerce over to a new site, and I have to say it's a relief and a pleasure to see it. For years the majority of users who wanted to shop without going in-world used Second Life Exchange, then XstreetSL, which was eventually bought out by Linden. They also bought out the smaller, yet substantially more pleasant to use Onrez (formerly SLBoutique) and since Xstreet was more popular they kept that one active, and us merchants lost the online service we preferred to use. For a year and a half we've had to live with the ugly, inconvenient to use, cluttered but very popular Xstreet, but now that's finally changing.

LL is finally unveiling their new cohesive marketplace which is a beautiful merging of the two sites. The technology Onrez used to make it more pleasant to merchants and the incredible volume of products and vendors of Xstreet are being merged after all this time to create the new SL Marketplace. It's not perfect, and it's still in beta, but considering Xstreet is closing October 19th if you don't like it, you don't have much of a choice (except maybe go to Apez...?)

I for one welcome our new online commerce overlords. I'm actually really excited about this change and for once I didn't mind going through my listings and making changes using such handy tools as bulk edit and quick fill. The new marketplace has advanced technology like... listing keywords, and choosing related items. Can you believe Xstreet didn't have that? And there are a lot more advances and features on the way.

I've set up my storefront, and I'm actually looking forward to putting more of my store online than has been before. I've had a tendency to get impatient in the past and only put my biggest sellers or whatever I get around to. But they've made it so quick and easy I don't really have an excuse not to.

Quick tip for my fellow merchants, if your Magic Boxes end up getting full and hard to keep track of, rez another! Sort your products and put each group into a different box. And for people with multiple colors, keep in mind that soon colors will be able to be grouped under a single listing for an item, and really focus on updating and polishing up one copy of each item. The other colors can come later.

Hope you're as excited as I am, I have to say this is one of the nicest developments for content creators LL has unveiled since sculpts.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Runes, Chains and Dreamcatchers

My constant companion, life partner and always encouraging man has had one thing on top of his "things to make Siyu do" list for a while. There are things that he has on there which involve rescuing old projects that are sitting, waiting for attention, and things that he'd personally like to see me do, but there's one he's always bugging me about. "Decorate your horns! People will seriously love them, I'll love them! Make them!". So after Corvus & Columba, he hijacked me and would not let me create anything else at all until I'd worked on embellishing my horns, and had finished them. Since I'd already put it off before, I had no choice!

A couple of my friends suggested I carve runes into my horns, to give it an infernal or mystic look. I actually had a lot of fun going back into Zbrush and doodling on these, all of the little runes and designs were drawn on carefully, and I invented a couple of symbols. Each horn has a different design, symmetry in this case didn't look so good and it gave me a chance to do more doodles! These are available on all of the ram's horn styles. I considered putting them on to the Ibex horns but there wasn't enough surface area to really make them clear.

After an informal survey of customers and Masqueraderie, it seemed that most people had at least one style of my ram's horns on their favorites list. Nivicola in particular seemed to be well loved, and since its one of my favorite shapes as well I made the following specifically for Nivicola, designed and built around its eldritch curve.

I got it into my head that the curve of a ram's horn would be the perfect place to have a dream catcher. After sketches and a few failed attempts, I set about the mangling and abusing of an oblong sculpt. It drove me crazy, I spent hours and hours tweaking and pinching and straightening and then scrapping whole chunks of it, just to start over again. Lots of frustration, lots of sweat, (but that might have been because the AC was on low) and general pain. I dropped it for weeks but my man wouldn't let me forget it entirely. Finally, when all of the cords were satisfactory, textured, and fitting on the horn, I experimented with beads but scrapped them because I was so ready to be done. After a break, and feeling the finish line was finally close, I made some new beads and stones and of course they look wonderful. They're finally just right.

Do I even need to say that these are my favorite? And not just because these were the ones that came most easily once I finally got over not having a design in mind. I should have known that just lining up chains would make my mystic gypsy muse giggle.

I really love these, especially the delicately hanging crystals. The other side is asymmetrical and has its own arrangement of chains, you'll just have to see the demo to see the effect. They use the sumptuous stones that Elessia and Orinthia have, along with the same choices of metals and horns as always.

Seeing the final results, I have to thank him. There was a lot of frustration, long and arduous work and far too many times I just was simply not in the mood to work on these... Things just dragged on and took so much longer than usual. I had a lack of inspiration, a blocked muse, and the fount of my creativity was plugged. However, with the help of him, friends, and even my mother offering me suggestions, concepts, and encouragement I worked through the spoiled brat that is my self discipline to finish these. Hopefully he'll be right in the end that you guys will love them... but I'm not going to let him do it again! I like my creative suffering to be my own damn fault XD

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Siyu at SLCC

If you happen to be in Boston, I will be attending SLCC on both Saturday and Sunday. I will be accompanying my awesome and dangerously punny friend, Jen Shikami of 7Seas fishing who will be showing off her RL version of the game, which allows you to fish for buttons!

Jen has generously/foolishly lent me her button making press and I've been going wild, creating a range of buttons that feature slogans I made up (such as "I think you might need to rebake") as well as others using my items as an illustration (like the Esmerelda witch hat with "Witchy" beneath it). I'll be selling and distributing them, so if you catch me and you have a buck seventy-five on you, you can nab one and show your SL pride. If I have any left over after the con, I'll even consider mailing any to you if you're willing to pay for shipping!

I'll also be selling prints of some of my favorite pictures on Flickr, in case you're interested in owning a physical copy. I got a bit full of myself and signed the backs of them. They come framed, so I think they'll make a nice memento. Again, if I have any left over I'll be happy to sell them to you guys if you're willing to pay shipping.

Wish me luck, and I hope I run into a few of you there!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Corvus & Columba Flickr Contest: Results

I apologize for the delay on the results, I was traveling and though I hoped to be able to review and write up the results of the contest while I was away, it turned out not to be the case. But I'm back! And happily able to finally see the beautiful interpretations of this set.

With each submission that came in I was excited and happy to see how people used the set in their own way and had made it theirs. I love seeing what sort of avatars are created and how people imbue my items with new personalities. And so the winners of this contest are those that I felt took the pieces I gave them, made them a part of themselves, wore them with great aplomb, and of course created a strikingly artistic and memorable image.


"In the Bleak December", submitted by CorvusPDX Noble
"The Raven", submitted by Carthalis Rossini
My two favorites, and tied as the winners of the contest, they embodied the dark fantasy and fairy tale feel I so love about this set. The images are beautifully eldritch, with tasteful post-processing and good composition. They both have a nobility, a gothic refinement, and they both wear the set beautifully. Both Carthalis and Corvus will be awarded 1000L gift cards with which to buy out whatever they haven't bought already!

In second and third place, I found these images particularly dramatic, and they stood out from the other images submitted.


"Crow Man Falling" by Achariya Maktoum

"Confusion" by Sparkles Wingtips

I really admire that both Achariya and Sparkles brought in new pieces to create an entirely new outfit and look with the crow's head, taking advantage of just how transformed an avatar can look with it. I love the contrast in each of these and I think both images are enticing and beautiful. Congratulations guys :)

To see the gallery of submissions, click here. There is an 18 picture limit, so for people with larger sets, I apologize but I had to pick just my favorites from them. There are some really beautiful uses of the outfits there, with wonderful and fantastic images, but I did have to pick just a few that stood out. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted an image, and I hope you'll try again in my next contest.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Corvus & Columba Flickr Contest

I've been seeing some really great pictures using pieces of the Corvus and Columba sets popping up in the Illusions Flickr stream. These outfits really are well suited to SL photography and so I think it's time for a Flickr contest!

I want to see what sort of marvels you can create using these two photogenic and versatile sets. The pieces long to tell a story, and I would really love to get an idea of how you envision them. The winners will receive Angel Cards loaded up with points to spend at Illusions, along with glory and bragging rights of course.

The rules are basically this:

Use at least one piece of either Corvus or Columba as an integral piece of your outfit (can't be hidden away and has to obvious you're wearing it)

Don't submit something that requires a Safe Search filter, since winners will be posted on my blog

Your image has to be of an avatar from SL, no body morphs

Submit your image to the Illusions pool on Flickr by July 31st for it to be counted

You can submit as many images as you like, though if too many similar pictures are submitted I will only accept the ones I feel are best. You can mark your pictures with CCC at the beginning of the title if you want, it's not a requirement.

I'll be considering the overall use of the pieces in the outfit, the editing and composition, and the illustrative quality of your image.

The winner will win an Angel Card with 1000 points on it, which can be used to get yourself 1000L worth of merchandise from my store! I'll also display your picture here on my blog and in the store (with a link back to your Flickr stream if you like). There will be more cards passed out to other submissions that I find exceptional, I'm leaving the exact amount open so that you can be confident that if you submit an exceptional entry, you will be rewarded!

The deadline to be July 31st, about two and a half weeks, so that you have some time to think over a concept and to get a chance to really put something special together. I really can't wait to see what you do with these pieces, what I've seen already has surprised and delighted me and that was just you guys playing around. I know what I was imagining when I made these outfits, show me what you see.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Columba

Even though Corvus was my original vision and the realization of a fantasy I had, I realized it would be a shame to neglect those that are more delicate and pure. Not everyone is as brazen or as dark as a crow, so perhaps they are a dove instead.

Truly the face of sweetness and peace, Columba is the latin word for dove. Another full head mask, it really captures the personality of the gentle and monogamous bird. Either that or the sneaky type of dove that you know are out there, that'll peck your fingers when you're not expecting it.

And with a white dove mask, you need a white dress. Not just a recolor, it's a re-imagining. I don't have a story for it but maybe you do.

They're really the perfect outfits for an angel, or the perfect companions to Corvus. I especially have grown to love the pieces from the suit. They're versatile and the white shirt alone will go beautifully with any historical outfit past the 1700's you can think of. I included every layer for it and it's available on its own without needing to buy the set, as are the wings and wrist cuffs.
These turned out to be the perfect little angel wings, if you're not in the mood to have the full expanse of my older wings. They add a fluffy innocence to your avatar and go with absolutely anything.

I saw a lot of guys wearing these cuffs as bracers, which is something I really didn't think of. So I've included the option to get them in large or small now, so that guys can wear them more easily.

I've sent demos out to my group, Masqueraderie as per usual, so if you want to have them delivered to you directly, make sure to join :)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Corvus II (the details)

Two weeks ago someone asked me if I still sold my raven mask. Of course then the gears start turning. It's been ages since I did an animal mask, and I realized I had solved some of the problems posed by a bird mask that had prevented me from making it sooner.

With alpha feathers to fluff it out, an alpha transition to the neck, and fine rings around the eyes, I had finally figured out how to make it less flat, keep my edges crisp, and how to make it blend into the avatar. I wasn't really happy with just doing a face mask for birds like I used to... the shape of the head is part of what makes birds so distinctive. Plus, hair just doesn't seem to fit once you have feathers.

So now, with essentially a bird's head... what would I possibly wear with this? An image came to me, and I had to sketch it down even though I was trying to fall asleep at the time.

I drew an elegant A-line gown, with an upraised wing sprouting from the shoulder. I imagined feathers climbing the arm and delicately falling from the skirt. I'm quite happy with the results, and though I went through innumerable drafts and versions, the result is truly something I'm proud of.

Yet... Corvus is a unisex mask. And most men will not relish the idea of wearing a gown. And so a looming challenge appeared. The gauntlet had been thrown down before me... I had to make something formal that a man could wear to accompany a woman wearing such a gown. A suit.

Compared to the suit, the dress took an instant and was over in a wink. When working on this, I longed to go back to the simplicity of cursing at skirt prims and getting the feathers crisp on the bodice. Of course I had to do a four piece suit, with formal pants, a vest, a jacket and a silk shirt, each layer posing a bigger challenge than the last. My muse is such a bitch, sometimes.

However, seeing the results, I have to thank her. I love the jacket, the feathered shoulders add some flamboyant whimsy, and the jabot (the tie) blends so well into the bottom of the mask that it almost looks like feathers. The silk shirt alone is one of the most versatile pieces of clothing I have right now. I've been wearing it with vests, corsets, as a man or woman, with skirts, with pants, you name it. I made sure to include as many layer options as possible, since I was going through the trouble of making all this I wanted to be sure people could wear it how they like.

Certain pieces are also available separately, if you would just like to buy the dress alone without the mask or other accessories, same for the suit. I also put the silk shirt out on its own. If you just like the accessories, you can nab those up without having to get the whole look.

The Corvus wrist cuff makes a beautifully gothic accessory on its own, and although I imagined it only on one wrist, I made a pair so that you had your options open.

However, my favorite are the wings. They aren't scripted, but in such a lovely black do they really need to be?

You'll want to try the demo for these, they have an elegant curve that doesn't show well in this picture. They also have just a few touches of flexi to add some movement.

This whole project has been one of those times when my muse just won't let go until she's had her way. A vision just unfolded that just had to be realized. So it was with the dress, then the suit, and finally the story. It's been a crazy series of all-nighters, aching wrists and hundreds in uploads... but worth it. I hope you love it as much as I do... enjoy ♥

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Corvus

There was once a crow, who lived in the woods near a road. She would sometimes follow travelers and see if they dropped food, or perhaps left an unattended piece of sparkly for her to add to her collection. One day, she saw a nobleman in fine clothes lead his horse mistakenly off the path. She followed above in the trees as he quickly became lost. She watched him as he tried to find his way back to the road, and she took pity on him. Alighting in front of him she cawed with her hoarse voice, and started to fly back towards the road.
He followed her as she flew from branch to branch, and before long he was leading his horse back onto packed dirt. He smiled kindly, and thanked her and offered some of the sweet bread he had with him. She took it happily and flew away.

She found herself thinking of the encounter and how kind the man had been to trust her and share his bread. She found herself daydreaming of perhaps meeting him again and taking his hand. She dreamed of him leading her in a graceful dance like flying on the ground.


Her thoughts were interrupted suddenly as she felt a net fall about her, she struggled but found herself trapped. She cried out in distress as she recognized the witch who lived nearby as her captor. The witch leaned in and said "I only need one of your lovely black feathers, dear, no harm will come to you". The crow was relieved, but it hardly seemed fair... she loved her feathers. "You can't just take it," she said, "you should offer me something in return." The witch was taken aback, but asked her what she might want. The crow thought quickly, and realized her chance. "Make me human, so that I may meet the nobleman who was kind to me and dance with him." The witch smiled in a way that made the crow's heart tighten, but she soon said "So be it. You may dance, but only with him, and you must not act like what you truly are or my spell will weaken. Do not take anything that sparkles, and do not eat other's food. If you do these things, my magic will not be able to keep you from returning to your true self".

The crow was delighted, and let the witch take the feather. She felt herself begin to change, her wings becoming smooth arms and her rough black feet becoming long graceful legs. Her beautiful feathers became an elegant gown, her tail its bustle. She reached up to touch her soft face, her hair, and smiled for the first time. Laughing with her now musical voice, she thanked the witch and ran to the road, to follow it to the nobleman's manor.

When she arrived, her fine clothes and dark beauty earned her entrance, for a party was underway. Dancers and colorfully dressed guests swirled about and she was entranced. Such colors, such jewels, and such food! The sights and sounds overwhelmed her, but she had her eye out for her nobleman. Across the room, he had noticed her in her dark dress, and he quickly made his way to her. He introduced himself and offered her wine. Afraid to turn down his kindness, she accepted and took a sip. She felt an itch at her arm, and looked down to find a few black feathers. He did not notice, and he offered her his hand to dance. This is what she had been hoping for, and as she danced it felt like flying. She laughed and grinned and the nobleman was enchanted.


He had been hoping to find a bride this night and he felt he might have found her. He needed his father's approval, and so when the song ended, he took her to introduce them. When he told his father she might be his bride, her heart leaped with joy. His father was happy to meet her, and invited her to dance. So close to what she wanted, she hoped that the magic would hold enough to allow her to perhaps garner his blessing. She took his hand to dance, but felt her shoulders ache as wings unfolded from her back. Fitting so well with her gown, a few guests admired the ingenuity of her costume.

Once their dance was ended, his father gave his blessing. The party came to a slow as the steward called for silence. Excited and nervous, she followed her nobleman to the end of the hall. He turned, knelt, and pulled something sparkly from his pocket. All at once she was elated and jubilant as she looked down at the beautiful, shining ring. She sobered as she realized the choice she had in front of her, she couldn't know how close she was to breaking the spell. She looked into his eyes, saw the sincerity and hope inside them, and felt herself reach out to accept it.

She felt her hair becoming feathers, the dress becoming her skin. She turned away quickly, tears in her eyes as she fled from the grand hall. A
s she ran she felt her legs growing shorter, her wings returning and so she flew.

The spell had been broken, and she had lost her chance to be with her nobleman. She flew back to the woods in despair.

The nobleman felt that there was something wrong, and went to follow her. A trail of black feathers led out and to the road, and he saddled his horse and rode to follow it. Riding into the night, he hoped to encounter her. As it was getting dark, he slowed his horse, and saw a light in the distance. Hoping to find his love, he rode up to the cottage of the witch.

The witch heard him, and came out to meet him as he approached in his finery, holding black feathers. He asked her if she had seen a beautiful woman pass, and the witch immediately knew what had happened. "Do you love her?" she asked.
"I was going to marry her, we were to spend our lives together." he replied. The witch nodded, and asked him what he would give to be with her, would he give up his fine clothes? His home? "Everything" was his answer. The witch smiled, and took one of the feathers he was holding. He felt himself shrinking, his arms lengthening, his skin prickling as feathers grew. And as he changed, he saw a familiar crow come swooping down to meet him, and he flew for the first time to dance with her in the sky.


Introducing Corvus, a hauntingly beautiful matched set of a mask, wings, gown and suit. More details to follow... but they are out now in the store :)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

I've been quietly working very hard on a complex multi-part project... my first since Hedera. And, like Hedera... I'm venturing into clothing again!!

Yes, yes, I know, dear lord the world is ending, the sky is falling, the seams are making my head hurt. But as I struggle to complete it, the more it comes together the more it reminds me of why I'm doing it.

I was inspired by a mask. An off hand comment made my brain click on and all of a sudden in a flurry I had made this beautiful mask. But, it's that sort of creation that demands to be fully realized in a complete vision, and so I've been working on a dress, accent accessories, and a three piece suit. It's a lot like something out of a fairy tale or a dream, or maybe a bad trip. My guy thought I was a bit nutty.

Now that I've piqued your interest, I'll just say it should be done soon, I'm working on the final accent which might be a bit tricky (hence why I've put it off 'till the end!), but it's worth the wait.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Introducing the Illusions Angel Card!

I'm very excited to say that today I'm finally introducing a new card system. The new Illusions Angel Card can be used as a gift card, letting you purchase "Angel Points" and give the card to friends, or... and here's the big or... you can earn Angel Points by purchasing things at Illusions.


Each Angel Point is equivalent to $1L that you can spend at the store, and every time you buy something it will give you %10 of the cost back as points! If you buy something for $500L, you'll get 50 Angel Points that you can use on whatever you like. If that's not enough to buy something that you want, you can buy extra points (in packs of 50, 100, 500, or 1000) to top off your card. Or, if you've bought everything you wanted, you can pass it to a friend and let them spend the points! The only items that aren't compatible with the card (won't give points and can't be bought with points) are the older items that have been banished to the back room.

It's incredibly simple to use, all you need to do is wear it, and the card will display how many points you currently have, and tell you how many points you earn from each purchase. And as soon as you want to cash in, just side click on a vendor, select "Use Card" and go through the menu system as normal. It will even refund your points if you cancel out of the menu!

You can get your own Angel Card absolutely free right here.

Unfortunately, since there is no way for me to track transactions made with the card, I can't offer replacements if it fails to deliver. However, I've made some changes to my vendors and it seems that they're much more stable now that they've been upgraded. Since the cards are run on scripts, and this is SL we're talking about here, I think it would be wise to only wear your Angel Card while you are on Carnivale. Take it off before you teleport or go to a laggy sim, because I can't guarantee that the points will not reset, and neither of us want that.

Aside from those caveats, I'm incredibly excited to introduce this system to you. It's my way of saying thank you for coming back, and for every single thing you buy. I hope you guys enjoy, and happy shopping :D

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

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 :)

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Welcome to a New Build :)

Some people have been wondering if the store is open again, and the answer is yes! I've been on a slightly "soft" opening while I work out issues with my vendors. The thing is, there have been some technical difficulties and I was hoping to have them resolved before I posted about the sim, but no such luck.

It's not the grand opening I was hoping for, with a big unveiling of a whole new look with a whole new card system. Of course since the actual building process went so well, fate wanted to make sure I knew I was her bitch and so decided to throw other things at me to show me that no, you can't plan for everything. The card system is still down, but being worked on, and some of my vendors are missing due to a very obscure SL security measure that's made me unable to rez them. I have a ticket open and I'm still waiting for a resolution, I'm really hoping that they'll be able to help but if not, I will have to redo them. Some of the vendors are still a bit screwy, so please bear with me while I iron out the kinks.

Anyway, I'm focusing on the bad things when the truth is I have a beautiful new store that I feel is well designed, will be easily expandable, and reflects what I'm capable of as a builder. It also makes a hell of a picture.


I'm planning on holding a Flickr contest soon, so you guys can enjoy some of the views and details I've pored over for the past months. I'm planning on making the price one of my new gift cards, so when the system is up and running I'll announce it officially. Until then, come visit and see the pretty :)

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Carnivale/202/82/45

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Sim to be Closed on 5/25

It's finally ready. I've tweaked my textures, revamped my vendors, primped my products and looked over my layout. The store is almost ready to be put in place, so I'll be closing the sim on Tuesday, the 25th in order to get things into place.

I can't say for sure how long the sim will be closed, but I'll be sure to announce the minute it opens again to Masqueraderie and on my Plurk. I'll try to get an entry out as well to detail what's new :)

One of the new things will be a card system that works with my current menu vendors. Problem is, there's currently a technical glitch which prevents the full amount to be refunded if you cancel the transaction when using your card, so I want to be sure it's fixed before I open. If it isn't, I'll have to leave the card system unavailable until it's fixed. I'm still very excited about it, when it's working I think it's something you guys will really enjoy.

Until then, I'm just incredibly excited about my store becoming this:

Booyah.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

I'm back home and working hard. I'm taking inventory of everything I have out in the store right now, making revisions to the vendors and updating everything that needs it. This is the big clean-up I've been wanting to do for ages. It feels good to take stock of everything, go through older items and revise the prices, or do new pictures for items that aren't well represented. I'm sorting and grouping items in new ways, revising old scripts, and trying out new organizations for the store layout.

The store build itself is, for the most part, done. There are a couple little things that I have in the works for it, but the prims are in place, the layout is solid, and the exterior is set. I'm proud to show you a few more teaser pictures, taken with viewer 2's gorgeous shadows.



It doesn't even look like SL, does it?

I'm excited and proud to have this finally in the works, and progress with the vendors is coming along (despite it being even more tedious than doing ear skin tones, which I didn't think was possible). I think I'm comfortable with saying that I'll be able to finish and make this official sometime in the week of the 16th. I'll be shutting down the sim for a few hours to get everything into position, but I won't require any more than one day. The sim will be completely closed, so I'll try to pick a week day that's not too busy.

Unfortunately, there will be no new releases to unveil (unless I can whip something up), my efforts are completely spent on getting this in place. I am planning on doing something special for the grand opening though, not a party but a sale. I never do sales! So save up your money and start eyeballing items ;)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

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.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

For a little while now I've been so quiet because I've been working on a new store build. I finally solidified a plan, and after plenty of "inspiration time" playing Assassin's Creed 2 (the game was frickin' made for me! love love love it) I sat down and carved out what had been forming in my imagination.

I have a big thing for cathedrals, grand open spaces, decadent and detailed architecture and floating high arches. I've been paying a lot of attention to what exactly it is about these things that I admire, picking and choosing my favorite elements and assembling them into a carefully planned pile of loveliness.

I'm still working on some holes, filling in the edges, finalizing and problem solving with some tricky areas but the current store build's days are numbered. It's been around since 2007, and has served me well for almost three years. It actually isn't that badly made, I have to say I've stayed pretty happy with the construction, but it has its issues and it's gotten to the point where I've let the walls get rather crowded. Soo... it's either bring out the scythe again and cull the herd of my creations or make a new, easily expandable and decadent store build. If you've visited the new event hall, you might have an idea of what sort of thing to expect. But it's even prettier than that.



Taken with the new 2.0 viewer with shadows enabled for maximum awesomeness


Several months and over a year of mental planning well spent, right? :D

I'm not sure when I'll be making the switch, I won't be able to get on for a week after this Saturday. I also intend to change to the new branding on all of my vendors for a unified look, as well as finally switch over some of the older scripts and update the pricing on some older items to reflect their age. It's the all around sprucing up and house cleaning I've been putting off for over a year!

I'll keep you guys posted on an actual day and of course a grand unveiling, but for now, just know it's coming... eventually.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Some budget issues

So it turns out I owe quite a lot on my taxes unfortunately. I wasn't able to pay estimated tax over the year so I even have a withholding fee. It's steep, and so I'll be having to make some changes on the sim.

I have to cut back, so the stone and luxurious tile has to go. I sold it to a nice Pakistani man who told me it would be used to build a library in Tucson. In the meantime, I've replaced the walls and floor of the store with an all natural, bio-degradable material which should be temporary.

I'm also opening up a few stalls right outside my store which will be available for rent. These are luxurious, deluxe stalls, painstakingly made by me and I can customize them for your store. Rent starts at about 10,000L a month, I need the money so I'm hoping you guys will be willing to help out by taking one of these beautiful, detailed and elegant stalls.

I can add crayon and sharpie drawings, or crenelations upon request. If you need more space, I'd be happy to duck tape two or more together to create a MegaStall. I really appreciate you guys being so supportive at this difficult time in my store's history, hopefully this new look won't change my store's image of decadence and luxury.


Let's just hope it doesn't rain.