Mardi Gras Masque 2009

It may seem a long way away, and when other merchants are thinking of hearts and white and red, the mask makers think of Mardi Gras.

It's almost time again to don your purple and green and gold, bake up your King Cakes and get with your krewe!

Although the day itself falls on the 24th, some folks do have to work on the weekdays, and so we'll celebrate a bit early. It also allows for the possibility of RL revels!

The theme is obvious, if you come in green, purple and gold you certainly won't be out of place. However, if you want to depart from that to be utterly fabulous, you're more than welcome. Just keep in mind that this is a formal affair, and keep that leather harness tucked away for your boudoir escapades.

When assembling your costume, please keep these rules in mind. For the sake of all of us, if each party-goer abides by them we should all be able to dance and camera around without molasses.

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. You don't need a walk or any other anim if you're not moving. 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. Try to avoid scripted items at all if possible.

As always, there will be a costume contest, determined by vote, to vie for the title of King and Queen of Mardi Gras. Two previously unreleased, themed masks will be awarded as the prizes, along with 1500L each. I will also have the 150L fee to join the Masque group raffled off to the members, the winner receiving 5000L.

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.

This may very well be either the last party held in the current event hall, or the first party held in the new one. As I'm working on renovating my sim, it's very possible that we'll be breaking in the new hall with this bash! I'll be providing a SLURL when the position is certain.

Masks are required, but a freebie mask will be included, 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 the 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 Mardi Gras Masque
Saturday, February 21st, 6PM SLT
Illusions Event Hall, Carnivale
(Join the "Illusions Mardi Gras Masque 2009" Group)
Formal Dress and Mask Required

Divis

Ok, so yes I'm a tease. The reason I didn't say what my breakthrough was was because it's incredibly simple and I'm just embarassed. But I might as well share, at the jeopardy of actually proving to the world that I have almost no clue what I'm doing.

So basically what I never knew how to do, was work on more than one object at a time in Zbrush. Anyone who's familiar with Zbrush... shut yo mouth >:( So this means whenever I wanted to make two pieces of a mask that fit together, I'd have to work on each separately, then upload to see how they looked, then go back and edit them both to try and make them fit better. Then I'd upload it again and again until it finally looked right. That's how I made my boots, all of my masks, jewelry etc, each piece individually and completely independent from each other. No longer! It turns out that in about two clicks, I can work on any number of integrated pieces at once, all together. So yes, that was very embarrassing.

So one of the perks of my new found ability is being able to build a mask right onto an avatar's head. Like this! Can you believe I've never been able to do this before?



Divis is very different from my other masks, as it's actually made from torii, not a sphere. It has eye holes, not just eye wells, and obviously it's made from two prims. This means people who have had problems with fitting my masks to their faces will find this one a breeze... no nose to worry about, no disappearing eyes, and it should be easily rotated to fit.

Since it's two prims, I made it so each prim can change texture independently so you can have one side be one color, or another, or even invisible if you'd like to show off some neat eye makeup :)

I think you can expect a few more divided masks like this one in the future!

I made a break through with my sculpting. I'm finally able to do something I've been wanting to do for a year or more, and it's so incredibly simple that I'm incredibly embarrassed I didn't figure it out sooner.

But it just made things a lot easier for me. Perhaps there shall be a few releases here and there :)


Work is still going on with my model/mockups as Miriel finishes architectural sculpts for me. I'm also working on something for Shir, I'll explain that more when I figure out what I'm doing. Just wanted to share my "I'm an idiot for doing things the really hard way" revelation and give you a status report :)

Slow Releases For a While

As I mentioned earlier I'm currently working on rebuilding my sim. You won't be seeing any changes until much later (I'm sure I'll mention them), but it is going to be taking up my creativity, productivity, and of course time, for the next month and a half. At least, that's my estimate, and we all know how those things go.

I'm sure as I work, I'll reach pitfalls and obstacles and I'll want to do something different for a while, so that means there might be a release or two to keep you guys happy for a bit. But the main point of this post is to say... hang in there. There will probably be a release drought for a while.

I also want to mention that I applied and got added to the Fashion Feed of SL, which means that every post I make will be posted in a major fashion feed. It does make me feel a bit more self conscious about writing rambling posts or small substance-less updates, so I might be a little slow to post until I have something I feel is worth sharing with the world. I might also be making those little "I'm still alive, this is what I worked on today" posts with a "what I wore while I was working on this darn thing" section, just to be interesting :D

Today I burned through what must have been ten ear tone requests. I think it's time for some revisions, I might be combining the "proprietary" skin options (the TRAP and Aether collections) with the Drow and just make a "Fantasy" skin tone collection. It would certainly make things less confusing. I also have a very large number of skins I'm accumulating in the Naturals collection from various popular skin makers, and I think I could just stick those in there too.

Any vendor revisions I'll be doing will be for the sim opening/unveiling. And by the way, I don't plan on closing the sim for any longer than three days. I'll be assembling all the architecture in the sky beforehand, so all of the actual building should be done when I close. From there, it'll be like playing in a big doll's house where I get to arrange and place everything.

Thanks in advance for being patient with me :)

The Odocoleinae Challenge: Results

It was simply scintillating seeing a steady stream of sylvan sylphs strutting their stunning spiky spirits. There certainly was no lack of fabulous personalities, and I'm happy to say I can eat my words. I had plenty of pictures to choose from, but three folks especially just leaped out at me.

(make sure you click on these, my blog clipped them)

Damn imposing indeed. Cerdwin Flanagan (Blu282 on Flickr) definitely got my attention. Great outfit, great picture, and he wears them as nonchalantly as a ball cap.

Polly Pavlova is a friend of mine, but I have to admit I'd be more biased to ignore this beautiful submission from her. She looks like a creature you've just startled as you were reaching for a sip of water in the wilderness. Just lovely, and very primal.

My personal favorites were by Freyja Sinister. She submitted another, but this one showed the antlers better, and I liked the feel of mysticism. It almost seems like it could be Tarot art for The Hierophant.

A few other pictures I really enjoyed, they were just very cool outfits and ways to wear them, but didn't have the same sort of "o.o" factor:

Sureal by Maloevs
Mourna Biziou
Honeydew Lake
hyasynth Tiramisu


The three winners will be getting a copy of the Lumina antlers (or 1750L refunds)and everyone I mentioned in this post will be getting a special pair of horns I made especially for myself :)

I want to say thank you to everyone who sent in submissions, I love seeing how you guys wear my things, and based on this I don't think this will be the last Flickr contest I do. So if you didn't win anything this time, you'll be getting another chance later :)

Happy New Year!

I sent out a white version of my merry hat to my group members tonight, so if your im's or notices get capped, make sure you pluck that out of the Masqueraderie notice history.

Tomorrow I'll be taking the Odocoleinae Lumina antlers down, at 10pmSLT. So you have until then to nab them, and then they'll be gone forever, and your only chance at getting a pair will be some opportunistic fan who nabbed twenty copies and will be sitting on them until he can sell them for triple their original price. (hint, if you have the money, be that fan ;)

(your last chance! posted for the benefit of the feeds who missed the picture last time)

It's also your last chance to grab my friend hya's (silent sparrow) matching outfit that she created. She did a special recolor of her Maida Suite because she wanted to match. I'm not sure exactly how long it will be out, but her sign says Jan 1st also.

Oh, yes, and I'll be announcing the winner of the Odocoleinae Challenge tomorrow, and if some people forgot to submit their photos to the Flickr group today, I'll be checking the queue tomorrow before I pick winners ;)

Merry Christmas to All

I hope you all had a happy holiday, and if you didn't, I hope you at least got some swag to ease the pain.


I sent out presents to my update group on Christmas Eve, and I set them out underneath the tree at the store in case anyone missed them. Inside, you'll find three gift boxes that you can reuse for your own presents, a pair of wreaths (low prim and high prim), a red choker and matching arm bands (shown in my picture, with the wreath) a candy cane, and a blast from the past: the Christmas Indigo plushie. He matches the Merry Jingly coat and he's very snugglable.

I'm going to leave the holiday stuff out until January 1st. If you're wondering what will be taken down, it's everything with a little santa hat on the vendor. So the Lussinat crown, reindeer antlers, snowflake and merry jingly coats and the holly jewelry are all going to be stashed in my inventory until next year.

The only thing never going back up is the Odocoleinae Lumina of course. So if you want to get your hands on my amazing, flaming hot rack (hehe), you only have five days left.

I also would like to say... in this case, I'd be fine with someone reselling these. One of the reasons I hate doing limited edition items is that people end up regretting missing their chance. I would rather people still have a chance to grab one through opportunistic fans. If you want to grab multiple transferable ones and wait for a while, my guess is that the price will appreciate. Something tells me there will be a few desperate voices in the months to come asking Masqueraderie if there's anyone willing to sell a pair.

Lussinat: Happy Solstice

There's more than enough red hats and christmas lights and sexy santa outfits. They're everywhere, the jingling bells and the holly. But this year, as I think you guys noticed, I'm getting down to the older and deeper roots of yule. It was frightening, to have a long hard winter ahead of you, and be facing the longest nights of the year at a time in history which had no electric lights, and barely the flicker of a flame to keep the monsters of your imagination at bay. Come together and feast while you can, enjoy your family, because you could never be sure who might not make it through the cold.

From those times of fear, we have rituals of light. Hannukah, Yule, and the lesser known Lussinat.



Lussinat is the root of the modern St Lucia's day (most celebrated in Sweden), which is associated with the Christian St. Lucia/Lucy. The story of St Lucia's crown is that back in the days of the Romans, she gave sanctuary to persecuted Christians. She hid her fellow believers in the city catacombs, and needed both hands free to carry supplies. So, she fashioned a crown of candles to serve as a primitive miner's helmet. Today, young girls wear crowns of candles set in wreaths of lignonberry, and greet the morning of December 13th with pastries and a yummy breakfast. There's often a procession, where one girl wears the crown, and others follow with single candles in their hands.

But originally Lussinat was a celebration of the solstice, and less a celebration than something to be afraid of. Lussi, in the original Scandanavian pagan beliefs was a dark fairy or witch, who would ride with her followers in a wild hunt on the wind. In fact, in an odd way, she was the birth of a lot of the Santa Claus mythos, in that she flew, and would come down the chimney to punish bad children. And if you think about her chasing and hunting deer, it's not too much of a push to think of a sleigh chasing them instead, is it? That doesn't honestly have much to do with the crown, I just thought it was cool.

Also, I apologize for this being late, RL solstice/christmas comes first :)

The Odocoleinae Challenge

Apparently I inadvertently threw down the gauntlet with this quote:

I realized when I first put them on that the people able to wear these are few and far between. Me, Selos, and of course the incomparable Swirly Cyclone can all pull these off but... who else on the grid could be fabulous enough to wear these?

Terry Toland especially was eager to make me eat my words, and so she illustrated her Tale of the White Stag with my antlers. Winter Jefferson as well wanted to show me what's what with a winter ensemble, and so I decided to go ahead and make it official.

I hearby issue an (official) challenge, in the form of a Flickr contest, for you guys to rock your Odocoleinae antlers and make me revise that list of fabulous persons! The winners will receive the limited edition version of the antlers, or a 1750L refund for those that have already purchased a copy.

Here are the rules:

Wear the antlers (obviouslay)
Rock them righteously (a given)
Post them in the *~*Illusions*~* Flickr Group
I'd say title them with the challenge, but honestly... it'll be sort of obvious.
Get them in by Wednesday, December 31st to be counted

I'll be judging on composition, artfulness, awesomeness of outfit, and general fabulousness. I'm not sure right now how many people I'll choose to be winners, I'd like to keep that open in case more than a few people wow me. I might also bestow yummy extras to anyone who can really make my jaw drop ;)

(and yes, I believe it's oh-doh-co-leh-nay :)~ )

Ltd Ed: Odocoleinae Lumina

I haven't been really that Christmassy lately, even in my first life I only just put up my tree when it was ten days to go! People are sending out red and white things like mad, Santa is everywhere, all the TV shows are on their Christmas breaks and I'm... well... hmm.

I'm not Jewish, nor am I pagan, yet I'm very appreciative of the darkness of the winter solstice. On the solstice of course is the shortest day of the year, only a few hours of daylight before the longest night of the year. Many cultures have traditions revolving around keeping light through the long night. So being in the mood that I am to make antlers, I decided to make a way to keep a light with you while the night is at its longest.


On your head, of course. Beautiful drippy wax to fall into your hair, and bright dancing fire to catch your holiday decor aflame with. But seriously, I've been wanting to (and Selos has been nagging me to) make these ever since I first started working on antlers. They are also my first limited run item evar, since I felt they were a little too special and unique to be a normal release. I wasn't sure if I was even going to release the plain Odocoleinae so you can imagine how I feel about these.

After running into trouble with a lot of people being unhappy and upset at my limited number editions (the Gods of Illusions masks), I decided to never again do a limited number release. Too many people IM to ask and beg and then turn away sad and defeated that the mask they covet they can't have. So this is my first try at a limited run piece, and depending on how this goes there might be more unique things on the horizon.

I've included a copy of no transfer plain antlers with them, which is one of the reasons I told the folks who love them to hold off a bit if you were interested in the limited ones :) I've priced them at 1750L, and they'll be on sale until midnight SLT on January 1st. They still have the copy or transfer option, which is something I played with changing. I kind of like the idea of only the people who were there being able to have a pair, yet I realized people will want to give them as gifts or even hoard multiple copies and resell them much later. In that way, they might be a little less exclusive, but I hope everyone will be happy.

Oh, there's a built in light in order to get the proper candlelit glow; that picture was taken at the midnight setting with no other lights. Because of this, to get the best look I definitely suggest you don't wear a face light with them, or check and make sure your hair doesn't have any included lights in it either. They also look best with glow, as the candle flames are stationary prims and the glow gives it all of their flicker. But of course you can just try a demo and see how you feel about them, you don't have to take it from me ;)