Fairy Ears @ Fantasy Faire 2026

While I was working on updating the ear seams, it was difficult to justify making a new ear style knowing I would just have to go back and rework it all again.  I didn't want to make things even more difficult for myself, so I just held off.  Now that that's done, I'm free to make more new styles again! 

I've been wanting to do another upright style that was smaller than the Drow.  I set out with the intention of making an entirely new style.  As I worked on them and got the shape just how I liked it, I realized I had basically just made the Fairy ears again.  

That's not a bad thing though! 

 

Shown wearing a skin by Alexandrite, hair by Stealthic

The Fairy ears have always been a favorite of mine, a quirky yet elegant style with flair and distinction.  The original Fairy ears were smaller than these, but you can get a similar look as the olden days by sliding the "ear size" slider down to about 0-10.  Thanks to their shape, this is also the first style of ears I've made where you can also play with the "ear pointiness" slider.  These no longer have to be the diminutive, shy, peeking out of-your-hair tips they once were.  They can now be just as dramatic and unmistakably fae as my other styles if you up those sliders.

I was also able to finish the gauged versions just in time for this weekend!

 

Shown wearing a skin by IVES, Earrings by Opalite, Hair by Nylon Pinkney, Eyeshadow by Someone, eyes by VelvetVue

 

Shown wearing a skin by Alt3, earrings by Valhalla, tattoos by Aerth, Hair by NoMatch, Eyes by LovelySweet, Horns by Static

You can find the new Fairy ears for sale at my Fantasy Faire stall on Stoneveil Crossing until May 10th, and after that they will be out for sale at my store on The Twilight.  

Illusions @ Fantasy Faire 2026

     It's that most magical time of year again, which is of course, Fantasy Faire!  

    First off, I am extremely pleased to share that I managed to finish the Drow and Elfin seam updates, and I'll be sending those out to folks this weekend.  I will also be sending out updates to the Seelie ears, as I fixed an issue with the masculine ear fit and added new blending layers into the tintable skin bases.  I have been working hard, but all on things that aren't that impactful on their own.  However, the seam updates were crucial for something else.

    Part of my work on the seam updates was adjusting the different head fits, so that earrings or ear accessories no longer need multiple versions for masculine or feminine avatars.  This means that only items on the ear lobe or plugs/gauges will need to be adjusted per ear style, which makes things easier for me, but also easier for you...

     I am so excited to share that part of all this toiling in the shadows has been to build towards the completion of a project I've been planning since I first released the Sylph ears in 2024.  I know with my limited time to create things these days, I will never be able to keep up with everyone's dreams and desires for jewelry and accessories.  So I'm leaving that up to you.  Do you want to make earrings and accessories for your elf ears?

     I've put together a set of .blend files for each style of ear that has had its seams completed.  I am pleased to announce that developer kits for Illusions elf ears are now available! If you would like to apply, here is the form.  The requirements for acceptance are some existing body of related work, that your items are the products of your own mind and hands, and that you have the knowledge you'll need to utilize the files.  If you make jewelry or accessories in Second Life, and you are a fan of my work, I hope you will apply!

 

For Fantasy Faire itself though, I'm obliged to provide at least two items which will wholly benefit Relay For Life, a fundraising event for cancer research.  Last year, I offered up versions of my elf ears for the paper doll avatars by Salt & Pepper.  I've had more styles of paper elf ears on my to-do list since then, and now seemed like the perfect time to add more.

 

You can now get flat paper versions of the Sprite and Seelie ears for your Cardy and Cardo avatars.  They work the same way as the Sylph and Elfin ears, with BoM overlays compatible with any of your cardboard skins.  They're available for just 30L each at my spot at the faire.

I couldn't be happier with the sim that I'm on.  Stoneveil Crossing is the perfect fit for my store, a beautiful Elven city full of elegant stone arches, meandering canals and creeping rose vines.   Thank you to Janire Coba and Kadaj Yoshikawa for doing such a stunning job on this place.  

 

 

 I have more goodies to share, but I will leave my new faire exclusive release for another post.  For now, find Illusions at the gorgeous Stoneveil Crossing

 

Gauged Seelie Ears @ Skin Fair 2026

When I first started making my new line of elf ears, there was a flaw in them that I just assumed was part of making things in Second Life.  A visible edge could be seen along where my ear met the head, but only in some lighting.  After seeing various creators of other mesh body parts create perfectly blended edges on bodies and heads, I realized I must be missing something.  It started me on a quest to find a way to make my own elf ears seamless.

Many general modeling resources weren't helpful, because it's an extremely rare use case to not be able to alter or touch the mesh you're trying to blend with.  I asked other Second Life creators and got leads and clues but nothing satisfactory.  Finally, someone was able to give me the key I was looking for, and with enough persnickety tinkering I'm happy to say I've done it. 

One of the reasons it's been months since my last ear release is that I got it into my head that the gauged Seelie ears would be the first set with seamless edges.

 

Shown wearing a skin by Moccino, tattoo by Nuuna, Hair by No Match, Gauges by Faetal

It's taken me over a year, but I have now made an edge that blends into LeLutka's modern line of heads, (the ones that have the same edges as Camden/Rune and Camila/Vela).  They also have "Lite" versions to fit the heads that are available for free to all residents in the library.

 

 Shown wearing a skin by Ives, Hair by Stealthic, Earrings by A*S

   

Now that I have the new edges done, updates are going to be sent out for previously released styles as I go through them.  Anyone who currently has a set of ungauged Seelie ears should be sent an update automatically.  I will also be going back through my other ear styles and changing those edges as I get to them.  

 

The gauged Seelie ears will be available at Skin Fair, beginning March 7th.

 

Illusions @ Skin Fair 

 

 

Seelie Ears @ Androgyny

A while ago I ran a little survey on my Discord Server to see which of my old ear designs I should remake next.  I figured that, moving forward, I'll be doing new designs but first I wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving out anyone's favorites.  The design that got picked was the Seelie ears!

 

The Seelie ears are meant to be a half way point between the short and curly tipped Sprite ears, and the long and straight Elfin ears.  With an elegant curve and an upturned tip, they are whimsical but still dignified.  Don't tell anyone wearing these your real name, and be careful not to make any bargains with them!

These are the culmination of a lot of time, frustration and effort working on refining the edge of the ear to meet better with the LeLutka heads.  My goal is to eventually achieve a fully seamless look, and if and when I do manage it, it will be a free update.  I'm still working on that, but these do have a better texture match to the head, and a new version made especially for the LeLutka Lite heads.  In case you weren't aware, LeLutka and some other creators donated items to help new users build a modern looking avatar, with free mesh heads and bodies, able to wear Evo X mapped items and any clothes fit for Legacy bodies.  You can find the Lite heads that LeLutka added to the library in the Avatar Welcome Pack, but they do not have HUD's.  So, if you want to wear non-human ears, they must have their human ears hidden by an alpha layer.  The edge needed some work to meet up just right to hide the big holes in the sides of the head, and this unfortunately means they can't use Evo X skin layers and need to be manually tinted. I'll be working on making Lite versions for the other ears as well, but it may take me some time.

You can find these at the June round of Androgyny, a new monthly shopping event focused on providing items for people of any gender identity.  Since I've always tried to make my items as inclusive as possible for avatars who are masculine and feminine and everything in between, I'm happy that I got the opportunity to release these as an exclusive there.  

Androgyny opens today and runs until the 28th.  See you there!

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.  

 

Gauged Elfin Ears

 Took me a little bit because RL has been a bit crazy, but I managed to get the gauged versions of the Elfin ears done.  You can now get the Elfin shape with gauges that fit plugs that are sized for the gauged ears by Swallow. 

 Skin by Alt3, Gauges by A*S, Face makeups by Aerth, Lunam, Eyes by Gloom, Hair by Doux

    You can wear any plugs or tunnels that say "Swallow S" or "Swallow XL", and although they're made for the LeLUTKA mesh heads, they might fit others, just make sure you try a demo!  The thing I'm most proud of with my ears is that you can wear your own HD ear skin layers that come included with all EvoX skins for automatic, effortless, skin tone matching.  No messing around with HUD's!  Just wear the included BoM shading layers in the strength/opacity of your choice.

Skin by Gloom, Gauges by Opalite, Facepaint by Effervescence, Eye makeup by Ivy, Eyes by Ikon, Hair by Kuni

        In other news, I will be in Fantasy Faire this year, which is coming up fast.  I will be working towards being ready for that and so you won't hear much from me until then.  I have some things I want to work towards and so many projects buzzing around in my head, but only so much time.  We'll see what I can get done!  

In the meantime, these are available now at the store or on the marketplace

*~*Illusions*~* "Elfin" Long Elf Ears Gauged S for Lelutka Evo X Heads

*~*Illusions*~* "Elfin" Pointed Elf Ears Gauged XL for Lelutka Evo X Heads

Elfin Ears 3.0 @ We ♥ Roleplay

     Last night there was a last minute call for merchants to fill an empty spot at We ♥ Roleplay, and you know what?  I had something that was like 90% done.  So, amazingly, I'm in another round of a shopping event this year. Wow, I feel like I should call my mom or something (I should do that anyway though).

I've been chugging away converting more of my old shapes, and I have been wearing my latest project around for a week or so just to make absolutely sure I liked it from all angles because these next ones are Kind of a Big Deal.  

It's the elfin ears, back in glorious rigged, bakes on mesh beauty.  The original ones were one of my most popular sets, going all the way back to the 2007 versions, so I knew I had to do these right.  I think I found a really happy balance of honoring the old shapes while refining and adapting them to what I'm capable of now.  The ear size slider gives them a lot of range but however you wear them, they're classic.

I was honestly going to chill for a little bit in order to get ready for Fantasy Faire, as merchant applications finally opened (woo!) and I'm excited to finally be properly prepared for once.  However, sometimes life slaps you in the face with an opportunity and you'd just be silly not to take it, you know?  Don't get used to this though, haha.

The Elfin ears are on sale for a special promotional price of 20% off through the month of March, only at We ♥ Roleplay! 

Also wait, what's this an about an anime?  I don't know what you're talking about, and even if I did, you can't prove anything.  Any resemblance in my vendor image to any particular fictional people alive or dead is purely because I was binge watching Frieren while working on these.

 

Gauged Drow Ears @ We ♥ Roleplay

For a long time, the only events I've been in have been Fantasy Faire, and the SL Shop & Hop.  Events usually require new items, gifts, donations and other demands.  Even just doing an event in April and another in October was making me feel unable to keep up, but that's starting to change.

 Every month I've been watching We ♥ Roleplay pop up on my SL feeds, a shopping event focused on fantasy and historical fashion.  I eagerly go visit and grab demos, but I was feeling a bit like the sad Squidward meme, trapped inside watching others doing something I wanted to do.  The last time I participated was in 2014, could I actually manage to make something new for another event?  

I'm happy to say that yes, Illusions is in the February round of We ♥ Roleplay!

     Skin by Reshade, Hair by No Match, Earrings by Sigma, Facepaint by Effervescence

 

 

     I was able to finish the gauged versions of the Drow ears, which like my other ear shapes come in two sizes that correspond to the gauged ears by Swallow.  You can wear any plugs or tunnels that say "Swallow S" or "Swallow XL" with them.  They're made for the LeLUTKA mesh heads, but they might fit others, so just make sure you try a demo if you're using another brand.  The thing I'm most proud of with my ears is that you can wear your own HD ear skin layers that come included with all EvoX mapped face skins for automatic, effortless, perfect skin tone matching for any skin.  No messing around with HUD's!

 

Skin by Tutti Belli, Tattoo by RiotzInk, Earrings by Faetal, Facepaint by Loa

Now that I've had a chance to shop around and see what other people are doing, I realized my brand could use a little zhuzhing up, and so I have made some tweaks to my vendor design.  The last time I updated it was 2017, so needless to say I was past due to join this decade.  There were plenty of elements that I liked about it, so it's not radically different, but hopefully it looks a bit cleaner and a tad more modern.

You can find all of the Drow ears on sale for 25% off at We ♥ Roleplay until the 28th. 

Third time's the charm: Drow Ears

       In 2007, I was just starting out making content full time and learning how to sculpt in programs outside of Second Life. I was figuring out a work flow and doing my best, teaching myself as I went and making plenty of silly mistakes. Back in those ancient days of sculpties and bling jewelry, I made a bunch of elf ears and one of them was the Drow shape. I had in mind a long angled ear inspired by the Blood Elves in WoW, or famous dark elves such as Drizzt Do'Urden. Of course, since I was new to sculpting and sculpties themselves were not exactly the most refined method of artistic expression, my first attempt was pretty primitive. I also didn't know any better and scripted them with dozens of different skin tones corresponding to various skin designers that were popular at the time in a laughable attempt at comprehensive skin matching. 

    In 2012, when I was starting to get my feel for sculpting in mesh, I did another run of ears that used a color change HUD and customizable shading that I'm still pretty proud of.  I still sell them, but they are made for the SL default head and use multiple layers of geometry to create the shading and highlight layers.  In the era of mesh heads being the norm and complexity scores being a thing of concern, they're showing their age. So we come to now, where I've really reached my stride working with mesh, and Bakes on Mesh has allowed me to make those shading and highlight layers a part of the texture and not the geometry.  My ears can be a mere 1500 to 2000 complexity score and be more detailed than ever, and offer the feature I'm most proud of, automatic skin tone matching.

    This is the fun part of coming back to the same ideas over the years, and seeing how my skills have evolved along with Second Life's features.  I can see how I was doing my best at each stage of both my and SL's evolution, and now I can offer up a new form for you all to enjoy.

 

Shown with Lavu B's Xanda skin, Hair is No Remote by No Match 

To me, the Drow ears have always been the tall and high angled shape of the most aloof and insular elf.  Since they're rigged, you also can use your shape's ear size slider to shrink them to modestly poke above your hair, or stretch them to go full blood elf and nearly rival the Sylph ears in size  I've been having a lot of fun wearing these around.  The picture in the vendor is unmodified, but some adjustments to your environment settings or lighting will probably be needed to get that truly seamless look.  These come with the same seven sets of shading and highlight layers meant to be worn with your Evo X HD ear skin layers, but also include three tintable bases if you don't have an Evo X skin.  

 They can be found at my store on the Twilight and on the marketplace

Drow Ears for Lelutka Evo X Heads: 300L

If you're one of the OG's who remember my old pair of sculptie ears, feel free to IM me, send me a picture, and pat yourself on the back for sticking with something (anything) this long.  And for sticking with me ♥ Much love

Gauged Sprite Ears

     As promised, I managed to get together the gauged versions of the Sprite ears.  Thankfully, I was able to handily borrow from my work on the Sylph ears, skipping all of that pesky trial and error stuff!  These came together much faster and will hopefully bode well for future projects.

 

 

Skin by Gaupa, gauges by Chorrai, beard by  MrCoin

I've been playing with some masculine avatar shapes and treated myself to a new mesh head at the LeLutka black friday sale.  I think he's looking pretty good!  The gauges are made to fit tunnels and plugs made for Swallow XL gauged ears, and seem to work on all of the plugs I've tried, with maybe a little clipping on the back on some of them.  Pretty much the same situation as with the Sylph ears.

Skin by Amara Beauty, earrings by Faetal, cosmetics by Nuve

I had someone ask me about supporting darker skin tones, so I want to reassure all you rocking those deep colors that these ears will look awesome on you too.  I noticed that sometimes a skin might have an ear texture that doesn't line up as well with the elf ears, but a fun trick with the Velour skin tone standard is that another creator's ears might work.  Of course, there's also the three tintable ear bases in a pinch.  

I hope you check these out, I know a lot of people have been hoping for more variety in gauged elf ears and I'm going to just keep trying to plugging* away at them. 

out now on my store at the Twilight and on the marketplace:

*~*Illusions*~* "Sprite" Ears Gauged S for LeLutka Evo X: 300L

*~*Illusions*~* "Sprite" Ears Gauged XL for LeLutka Evo X: 300L

*see what I did there?

Sprite Ears

After doing all of the hard work behind making the new Sylph ears, of course I was going to make more updated ears! A special request meant I had to turn my attention to the Sprite ears next.  

Skin by Traditional Face, facepaint by Loa, hair by Sintiklia

These have a slightly more refined shape than the originals, with higher detail where it's needed and much more efficient geometry.  These are rigged to size up and down with the ear size slider, and can go from cute little pokes through your hair to big goblin-y ears.  Like the Sylph ears, these will move with the ear position settings on your LeLUTKA head HUD, and even move with animations if that sounds fun to you.

They come with the same seven sets of shading and highlight layers, meant to be worn with your Evo X ear skins as a base but also including three tintable bases if you need them.  I've seen some people wearing just the Evo X HD ear skins alone, and yeah I mean that looks fine, I tried to make sure it would, but trust me guys it looks so much better with the shading layers!  The vendor picture is shown with the Vivid Pink (Velour) skin tone which needed the "medium" highlight and shading layers.

I'm also working on the gauged versions of these, but I had a very busy Thanksgiving week and we're getting into holiday season so don't hold your breath for them, haha.  How is it December already?

The ears are out now on my store at the Twilight and on the marketplace

*~*Illusions*~* Sprite Ears Lelutka Evo X: 300L

Sylph Gauged S

After doing all of the work in making the gauged ears in the XL size, it wasn't too far out of my way to make the S size as well.  I know, I'm on a roll!  However I promise I am working on something other than sylph ears too, haha.

Shown with the Moccino Mikel skin, plugs by Valhalla

     It turns out part of the hole is rigged which took some tricky fiddling in the beta grid, but I figured out how to get a decent match.  Some rigged gauges might not work on all sizes but I tried enough demos to confidently say you should be able to wear your plugs, you just might need to tweak your ear size up or down a little if you're bothered by any clipping.  Like the XL ears, these include the male and female versions, as well as the seven skin tone shading sets, the seam fix for your LeL EVO X HD ear skins, and three tintable skin bases.  

I'm also enjoying my new meshy boy avi, I think he turned out pretty cute.  

The ears are out now on my store at the Twilight and on the marketplace

*~*Illusions*~* Sylph Ears Lelutka Evo X Gauged S: 300L

Gauged Sylph Ears and Updates

    I'm pleased with how the Sylph ears turned out, and how they've been received so far.  They're selling better than they ever have, and I'm so happy to see so many fairies and pixies living their best big eared lives.  I've been enjoying seeing the pictures shared on Primfeed of people rocking them.  Something I've noticed, though, is how popular gauged ears are, especially the ones by Luciayes Magic of Swallow.  So I decided to do some trial and error, and adapt the Sylph ears into a gauged version you can wear with plugs.

 

 

It only took me about thirty tries to get the ear lobes just right!  It actually wasn't so bad, just a lot of tiny little tweaks and peering at a side by side of Blender and my avi on Aditi.  The result is that I've tried about a dozen different ear plugs designed for the Swallow XL gauged ears from about seven different creators, and seem to have managed to get them to line up just right.  There are new bases, highlights and shading layers, but they still let you use your Evo X ear skins included with your skins. With the big hole in your ear, they now have a seam on the inside of the ear lobe, but I've added another BoM layer seam fix if your plugs/gauges happen to expose it.  Oh, and since I forgot to mention it last time, these DO include both the male and female fits for LeLUTKA mesh heads.

I'm also updating the non-gauged Sylph ears with a couple more tintable skin bases, due to some issues with color matching on darker skins. 

In my excitement to get the Sylph ears out, I forgot to mention I have been experimenting with open source PBR materials, so I updated the Agatha Witch's hat to try them out.  The felt looks very nice and much more realistic with lighting now.  However, since some people were having issues on viewers that aren't PBR compatible yet, I included the original hat as well.  There's also a free mask out right now at my Shop & Hop stall.  Don't forget to swing by before Nov 4th to grab your copy!

Illusions @ Halloween Shop & Hop 2024

Gauged XL Sylph Ears: 300L

Illusions @ SL Halloween Shop & Hop 2024

    The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are falling, which means it's spooky season again!  The Second Life 2024 Halloween Shop & Hop starts tomorrow, and I'm excited to share what I've been working on with you.

    Since July of last year I've been experimenting, tinkering, messing about and generally fiddling with some items I made that have aged rather poorly.  They were created in an age where the Second Life avatar default head was the only option.  Bakes on mesh wasn't even a glint in a Linden's eye, and rigging was a scary new technology.  I looked at them and thought "man, I should update these, how can I do that?"  also, "how can I make these better than they ever were?" 

 This path led me to finally giving rigging a go, learning all about bakes on mesh, spending far too much time messing with UV maps and becoming a content partner with LeLUTKA to bring you yet another iteration of my elf ears. 

 

     

    For something that looks almost the same as the originals, a lot of work has gone into them.  I refined the geometry to be more efficient and detailed, and since they don't need separate highlight and shadow geometry they are less than a tenth (!) the avatar complexity cost of the original Sylph ears. Thanks to LeLUTKA's content creator program, I was able to make them directly onto their Evo X heads for a seamless fit . These are rigged, so they will always be in the right position, and you can stretch and resize them using the Ear Size slider in the SL shape editor.  They will even react to ear position animations like those from the LeLUTKA head HUD that will let you make them stick out as much as you like, or lie sleekly against your head. 

    One of the most annoying things with any item that's supposed to match your avatar's skin is fiddling with color matching.  Even when you think you have a good match, different lighting conditions will sometimes show a seam.  Getting the right color is a pain!  So I think the most silly and downright obsessive feature I just had to do was to remap the UV's of my ear's mesh to match with Evo X ear skins.  That's right, instead of using my own damn textures like a sane person, I decided I just had to make them match the ear textures that come with your favorite skins.  So, if you are wearing an Evo X skin when you wear these ears, they will automatically match your skin.  Now, I won't pretend it's perfect, my mesh is dramatically different from a human ear and there is some wacky stretching and odd positioning of details and highlights on some skins.  That is why I made separate bakes on mesh tintable highlight and shadow layers that will help add definition in the right places.  They come in seven different intensities for a wide variety of skin tones, and you can mix and match them.  If that doesn't work out or if your skin didn't come with an ear skin layer, then no worries, there is also a tintable base layer included with them if you need to do a manual color match.  

     Another must have feature is of course, is being able to wear earrings!  I have made sure to position the ear lobes so that they are comparable with the default LeLUTKA human and elf add-on earrings.  Rigged earrings made for the LeL ears should work with these no problem.  Of course, I have plans to release my own but life is chaos, we'll see.

I've learned a lot from these, and spent far too much of the little time I have nowadays griping out loud asking "WHY is it doing THAT?.  With the help of some patient and friendly QA testers who helped me put them through their paces, I'm finally happy with the results.  I'm hoping to make more supporting content for these, and now that the hardest work has been done, convert more styles of ears over.  However, I don't want to be too ambitious, so I will not say they are definitely coming, but that's certainly what I'm hoping for right now.

These magnificent head appendages are available at the Sugarplum sim at the Halloween Shop & Hop for 20% off, or on the marketplace if you don't feel like teleporting.

*~*Illusions*~* Sylph Ears LeL EVO X: 300L

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

A New Generation of Ears: Your Picks!

The results from my survey are in!  I'm very pleased to say that I will be able to make a good amount of you happy with the ones that were picked, because a couple of designs stood above the rest.  The results made your preferences crystal clear, and the ones I had to make were obvious.

To those who missed having my smallest ear, I'm pleased to say that the size labeled "Vulcan" did very well, with almost 60% of the respondents saying they wanted to see them made!

It's true that sometimes subtle is best. These sweet little ears will only barely poke through your hair, and are just a tad larger than normal ears. They're a great option for if you're displeased with the ears that came with your skin, or if you'd like to roleplay as a half-elf or Vulcan.  The reason I excluded them from the original six was that I was having trouble making the same base mesh that made ears like the drow and elfin as small as I needed it to be.  But since I found out it would be worth the trouble, I managed to compress it down into the pixie size that you know and love.  I think the shape turned out great!

However, the true star of the survey results was one that got everyone excited.  From a rough concept submitted by Aiorii, these blossomed into being chosen by an overwhelming majority.  With a full 40% making it their first choice out of seven, I just had to make the curly tipped ears!

They have come to life! These ears are just adorable, with a good helping of whimsy and playfulness.  It was quite obvious they were a hit and I just hope I fulfilled your hopes and expectations.  With so many people feeling passionate about seeing these made, I felt a bit nervous!  Luckily for me though, the shape came easily and turned out to be the one that gave me the least trouble.  I love how they came out, and I've been wearing them around my build spot feeling so cute.


But, now for a twist.  I said that I would only do two styles.   I said that, but what the survey results told me is that you guys really were hungry for more.  Two other styles did very well, the long "Fae" ears had a good number of responders, and the absurdly long "Poison" ears seem to have an impassioned following.  Using my brain thing, I realized it wouldn't be too difficult to reconcile these two shapes and merge them into one amazing super shape. 

People just kept wanting longer and longer and so here you are!  I built these alongside the old poison ear to compare and align them so everything you loved about the old ones will be reborn.  They're just as large and have a similar angle, but have a dramatically better shape.  While my sketch of the Poison ear had a downward curve, I brought the dip and upturned tip in from the fae style.  The long trail keeps the shape feeling delicate and realistic and kept it from being too unwieldy.

These are the last of the basic elven ears I'm planning on doing.  I haven't ruled out, however, doing a few completely new ears.  As I mentioned before, people seem to be really excited at the prospect of semi transparent finned mer ears, or torn and chewed up elf ears.  If I do those, they will not be in the same glorious spectrum of shapes and will mostly likely be in just one or two varieties each.  I just have to decide if I'm going to start doing jewelry first or after!  But don't worry, jewelry is definitely going to happen.

Out now at the store: 300L

Pixie Ears on the marketplace
Sprite Ears on the marketplace
Sylph Ears on the marketplace

A New Generation of Ears, Day 3: Elfin and Drow

Over the past two days I've been releasing my brandy new mesh elven ears, from the adorable Fairy Ears to the regal High Elf ears.  Now I'm putting out the final ears of this series, did I save the best for last?

The Elfin ears are an old favorite.  By far, the most popular of my ear shapes from my first series, the Elfin ears seemed to have hit the sweet spot of the right shape and size for most of the elves out there.  I feel I've captured the spirit of the originals in the new and amazing detail that mesh allows.  The new pair is a more refined shape, obviously, but sure to satisfy fans of the old ones!

Now these, though, are something new. 

While in my first series, my Drow and Poison Ears we're sadly the least popular of the collection, I'm sure these will break the mold.  The old Poison and Drow ears were stiff, with the Poison ears being almost huge for all but the bravest pixies.  These new Drow ears are a far better shape, and a fantastic way to make sure your elven pedigree is obvious, no matter what hair you're wearing.  They come up well past your head in an elegant curve, and just as well if you have a big foofy hair style. This new incarnation is sure to do this sort of elf justice now.

Even though this is my final release of the series for now, I'm certainly open to hearing suggestions for more before I start creating add-ons like jewelry and other decor.  This is the time to speak up!  If you feel I've missed a style, please do send me concept art, sketches or other material to inspire!  I'm looking specifically for elven ear shapes that could be made from the same models as these.  People have already suggested torn up ears, mer ears and a few others but they would require an entirely new mesh and texture.  So, if you have a shape you feel is missing, do let me know before I start releasing jewelry sets.  Send me a notecard or IM in world, or a PP on Plurk!

Out now at the store: 300L

Elfin Ears on the marketplace
Drow Elf Ears on the marketplace

A New Generation of Ears, Day 2: High Elf and Brownie

Yesterday I released the first of my new generation of elf ears, the Seelie and the Fairy ears.  But that was only release two styles.  How could I possibly only release two, when my old series of ears had five different sizes?  Because there are more coming today!

First off, I noticed that a lot of people enjoy the droopy sort of elf ear shape.  It succumbs to gravity, and has a sweet sort of pathos too it.  It looks quirky but can also seem almost "gobliny" on the right person.  I'm not a fan of the ones that droop too much like animal ears, so my take on it is a sweeping curve with an almost aerodynamic feel.  If you're running through the woods you can't have those ears catching on anything!

Next up is my personal favorite:

The High Elf ears are the height of elegance.  If you wish to be an aloof, regal elf such as those in Lord of the Rings, these ears are perfect.  With delicate points and a refined shape, perhaps your home is in the fairie court rather than running with the wolves. 

Once again, these ears are HUD controlled with customizable shading and highlight layers.  You can resize, input RGB values, or use the color picker if you get a color close to yours through the thirty two different presets.  Finding a match is easy, especially with the soft blurry edge around the ear to help cover any imperfections. 

Another awesome thing is that if you purchased the Seelie or Fairy ears already, your HUD from either of those will be able to control these!  You can effortlessly transfer your saved skin tones and settings, after you've found a good match for your skin.

Another two pairs are coming tomorrow, so keep an eye on this blog and on the release notices!

Out now at the store: 300L

Brownie Ears on the marketplace
High Elf Ears on the marketplace

A New Generation of Ears, Day 1: Seelie and Fairy

 If you weren't in Second Life before sculpts were introduced, let me tell you, it was the best kind of revolution. In 2007, it was still the early days and there were a lot of things that hadn't been made well yet.  Elf ears was one of those things, and when I made mine they were one of the very first sculpted pairs. I was absolutely delighted and amazed when they became more popular than free pancakes on a college campus, and there was a time where if I saw any elf ear on anybody it was one of mine.  Oh, those glorious days!

But, all good things come to an end, and as more people made their own pairs of ears, mine naturally fell into one of many choices.  I thought of making new ones, but as I was making a new texture for all of the dozens of colors I supported, and even doing custom skin tone matching, it was frightfully inefficient and I simply couldn't and wouldn't put myself through that again. 

However, mesh has made it irresistible to revisit them.

 Mesh allows me to put geometry exactly where I need it, making neat tight squares in all of the right places.  Sculpting in the delicate details and curves of a human ear, with an elven flare, was almost effortless compared to struggling with sculpts.  Over the past four years I've had plenty of time to stew and think about what I would like to do with my ears.  If I made that new awesome mesh shape, what would make them perfect? How could I offer everyone a perfect, seamless match without putting myself through making dozens and dozens of unique textures again for each skin?  The obvious answer was a color picking HUD.

As I was going to go with tinting for my new set of ears, I chose to customize and reskin the Encogma Advanced Color Picking HUD, as it is intuitive and had all of the control I needed.  But, the problem with items that use color picking is that with high quality textures you lose their depth when they get tinted.  They never seem natural or look as good as an untinted version because the highlights and shadows get drowned out.  This has made other people, who make tintable body matching items, have to carefully make their textures without strong highlights, making their items seem sometimes flat and dull.  But, highlights are crucial for truly matching the look of the lustrous skins that are available.  My solution?  Making the highlights and shadows customizable layers.

So, finally, we come to my new generation of elf ears.

With precision color matching, soft lustrous highlights, and customizable shadows that can also be hand tinted, playing with matching new skins should no longer be an ordeal.  Not only do you now have thorough control over your skin tone match, but you also have a little lee-way through a softly blended alpha fuzz edge around your ear.

The Seelie Ears in particular are a style that is both whimsical and wicked.  They have a curve of mischief to them, and whether that mischief is for the good fairies or bad fairies is up to you.  And speaking of fairies...

The smallest of the six different ear styles I'll be releasing in the next few days, the fairy ears are a subtle way to show others you're not just another human.  With a cute and elegant curve, you can show them off with a short bob or let the little pointed tips speak for themselves under your hair.

If you're thinking of waiting on getting these until I make my inevitable awesomely decorated earring sets, don't worry!  I plan on doing them as ear add-ons, allowing you to keep your ear and coloring without having to customize a new set for every look you might want.  Any jewelry or other add-on I do with these will be sold separate from the ears, with the possible exception of occasional "deluxe" packs.  So if you like the shape, go for it!

Another note, (because I'm so nice), is that if you purchase multiple pairs of ears, the same HUD will be able to control all of them.  You will be able to effortlessly transfer your saved skin tones and settings to any new pair of ear your purchase with your old HUD. 

So, what are you waiting for!  Try them out, there are fully scripted demo versions in the store now!

Out now at the store: 300L
Seelie Ears on the marketplace
Fairy Ears on the marketplace