Jewelry Fair 2010!

So, its that time again already. Jewelry Fair in SL is on, opening officially yesterday at midnight. I had hoped to work on some new products to release specifically for this event, however a massive virus and hard drive failure sort of derailed those plans. I had to wipe my hard drive and reformat everything, which means that I've spent the past few weeks simply trying to recover lost programs and data instead of creating new pretties. :(

Despite the poor timing of all this, I did manage to do a much needed and very lovely update of my Dragonfly jewelry before the big crash. Its currently available at the Fair and included as a charity item, meaning that 50% of all the proceeds will go to benefit Oxfam, International. My other charity items include the Flora jewelry set and my recently released Forget-Me-Not set. There are also a number of other items available in my modest tent in the "Forest" section of the 4 Jewelry Fair sims.




I took a stroll around the Fair yesterday and there are so many talented and creative jewelers with wares for sale and the lag was not terrible at all! I hope you'll take some time to check it out! The Fair is open through October 17th. Here's the SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Jewelry%20Fair%201/242/135/22 Hope to see you there!

Random pretty awesomes

Coming up very soon, I will be starting to work on a few new items specifically to be released at the SL Jewelry Fair in October. There may not be a lot of new releases in the few weeks that I am working on this, but I will try to do a few small things just to keep releasing new products with a bit of regularity. The Jewelry Fair in SecondLife will take place during the week of October 8-17th and the theme this year is "Beauty and the Beast." I'll probably have a separate blog for the fair coming up soon with more information. So that's what's coming up and I'll be focusing my new things toward the fair release.

This week, however, I didn't have a specific direction or focus with my creating. I did tinker around and come up with some very lovely new things to add to my collection, though. It cannot possibly come to any surprise to anyone who knows me or my brand that butterflies play a role. I wanted to challenge myself and do something unique and intricate with metals and filigree. So, I set about making a filigree style butterfly ring. It took some time and frustration, but the end result is, I think, just lovely. It is touch scripted with 6 metal choices: gold, antique gold, silver, tarnished, brass, and copper. I also decided at the last moment to include two rings with each purchase; a left handed and right handed one. So, the wearer can choose which hand they prefer, or even wear one on each hand. Why not? :)

So, I released the butterfly ring and then sat around tinkering and trying to think of what to do next. I started making a ring that I'd had in my head for some time now. Just a simple ring with 5 nice sized gems creating a flower shape around a smaller center stone was what I had in mind, but as it came to shape it looked so lovely that , before I knew it, I was I was also making a necklace and earrings to match it. The whole set just took on a mind of its own and came together so nicely. I decided to name this set "Forget-Me-Not" because the flowers resemble the delicate 5-petaled appearance of forget-me-not blooms. Scripted for texture change on touch, as well, you can choose from six metal choices (gold, antique gold, silver, tarnished, copper, or brass) and the petal gems and center gems can be changed separately, each with 8 options for gem textures (diamond, ruby, emerald, amethyst, aquamarine, blue topaz, sapphire, and citrine).
Both new items are, of course, available in all the usual places in-world and on XStreetSL.com (see the link to my merchant page at the bottom of this blog) . Thanks for reading :)

Ellie

Tonight I finished scripting and released the "Ellie" Waist Chain, which I made almost as an afterthought to a matching necklace and earrings set that I released a couple weeks ago. I'm really pleased with how all the "Ellie" pieces turned out, so I'll show them off a bit here, too. I think they show how my creating has improved in comparison to the first few belly chains I introduced nearly three years ago.

The jewelry is all touch scripted to change textures and be customized. They all include:
6 metals (gold, silver, copper, antique, brass, and tarnished),
12 beads (Pearl, Onyx, Silver, Gold, Jasper, Cat's Eye, Turquoise, Blue Agate, Carnelian, Jade, Brass, and Copper),
and 8 gems (Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Citrine, Aquamarine, Blue Topaz, and Amethyst).

The story behind the name is a bit silly, but I'll share it here, anyway. I was watching some old episodes of one of my favorite shows, "Chuck." In one of the episodes, the character Ellie, who is Chuck's sister, was wearing a necklace that was sort of similar. While my set actually turned out quite a bit different and I made it my own, it was initially inspired by her...
SO ... here is the "Ellie" series:



You can find Ellie at my store in-world, on Xstreet SL, or any of my in-world vendors located in various cities.

Have a great weekend. :)

Veils!

Shortly after I released my new items for kajira/dancers, I was having so much fun creating new things for the Gorean community that I decided to continue by making face veils, as well. I didn't want to just make any veil. I wanted to redefine a product that's been around SL for ages by making it truly my own. I wanted my veils to be exquisite and beautiful with rich textures and gorgeous detail. I also wanted them to be scripted to be completely customizable, so that someone could buy one of my veils and almost never need another. I spent a lot of days scripting and adding options to these and I'm completely thrilled with how they've been received, as well.

Each veil was painstakingly pieced together, originally designed, and many of the textures are custom made by myself. They are all scripted for texture change with a script that is very low lag. Every part of the veil can be changed separately with more options than you can shake a stick at. The scarf alone can be any of 18 different textures in both silk and lace, and there's even 2 white textures that can be left white or tinted to allow for ANY color the user desires to match any outfit. I also included the ability to change the opacity level of the scarf, so the wearer can touch the veil and choose from 5 different levels from totally opaque to nearly transparent, or even no veil at all.

I currently have 5 veils available at all the usual places in-world, as well as on XstreetSL.
You'll probably notice I also updated the style of my product posters. :)

Some Modern/Urban Stuffs

As I mentioned in my previous post, I also created some more modern/urban pieces. These were especially fun for me and a departure from my usual pretties, into a more rough and dark style. Most of it contains some type of heavy, industrial looking chain links and metals available in rusted versions and padlocks as well. I also was able to add several new necklaces for the men, which was good, because I keep intending to make more male jewelry and I always get distracted by the pretty stuff and never get to it. >.>

Some of the new items:



In the future, I'm planning for a few more items in this theme to add to my collection. I may even add some mens and ladies watches or other accessories, as well. I'm also open to suggestions for new ideas, too. :)

Lots of NEW, Kajira/dancer Adornments

I think its about time I updated here! Since my last post, I've been a busy, busy woman. I created and released a number of items and accessories that could be used by the Gorean role-playing community in SL, or those in more Urban, modern role-play. What's nice about this is that it gave me a chance to be creative and really just make some fun, pretty things that were new to me. The other nice thing, is that many of the pieces can be used outside of role-play, just as accessories for anyone wanting something unique and lovely to adorn their avatar. I'm going to break this update into three separate posts in order to show it all.

I started by making a few sets of kajira/belly dancer adornments. They were so much fun to imagine up and create. Its also the first time I've made something that involved shaping it around the SL foot (whatever the paddles on the ends of the legs SL defines as "feet" anyway ...they really are atrocious, lol). So, that was a bit of a new challenge. I created 3 very different sets, all of them scripted to change textures on touch so that they could be totally personalized and customized for any look.






After I made these jewelry sets, I decided I really wanted to have some sweet belled ankle bracelets, too. I was able to track down a script to allow a sound to be played when the avatar is walking and with some reading up and some advice from better scripters than myself, I was able to modify my own script to play a sound when walking and also have the ability to change the volume level based on personal preference or turn the sound off completely. I found a perfect little tinkling bell sound and it all came together nicely. I made three different versions, which are all touch scripted for texture change and customizable, as well. Since I released them, I've found that the anklets are actually becoming pretty good sellers, which has made me really happy, since I loved making them.


In order to better serve the communities I'm marketing to, as well as be more visible in general, I've placed vendors in several busy city markets. Currently you can find my products in Tarnburg, the City of Kailani, Imperial Ar, and the city of Perdition. I also have a vendor at Jade's Jazz Island and there is always my Main Store, as well, which is still located at the same place in the Moondust sim. And as always, I list all of my new products on XstreetSL.

I can't say how much fun I had making all these. I love being creative and doing something that new to me and it has been wonderful seeing the response I've had from people over the new items. I'm very pleased with the reception I've gotten from the role-playing community and excited to keep making more, in addition to continuing to improve my skills with more mainstream jewelry and accessories as well. In my next post, I will show off some of the new items I created for the more modern/Urban crowd. :)

News and general goings-on at Elphen-Made

Its been a busy week. I feel like all I do in SL is work, these days, but I'm hoping it will be worth it. Thank goodness I love creating and my work is fun. :)

SO! Here are the updates:

NEW STORE BUILD!


I worked this week on updating and expanding the main store location. I was running out of wall space! :O So, it has transformed... magically...as befits a store that grew out of a fairy forest. ;)




Its still at the same location, of course ( http://slurl.com/secondlife/Moondust/190/34/118 ) and I invite you to stop by and check it out for yourself.


DISCOUNTS!
I have weeded out and relegated about 1/3 of my older products to a newly created "50L Discount Wall" Lots of well made jewelry sets can be found there for just L$50 now.


NEW VENDOR!
I've placed a vendor chock full of my products at Jade's Jazz Island just in front of the steps going into the main club. If you're out and about and see it, please give it a click.
I'll be updating it often as I add new products and release new items.


NEW PRODUCT!
As a bit of fun and fluff for me because of all this work, I took an old favorite of mine, the half-dozen Tulip Bouquet and kicked it up a few notches. It now comes scripted for texture change and includes a custom made animation for holding it gently across a bent arm (animation does not interfere with your regular AO).


The flowers can be changed to any of 9 different petal textures, as well as multicolored and "dead/black" versions. Stems change from green to "dead" as well.


Lastly, I'm working on a new release for the more Gorean-inclined community. >.> Its a beautiful set of kajira adornments. I'm very happy with how its come out. Its completed and I hope to release it this weekend. I will blog that separately soon. :)

Now, seeing as its 4:30am and I've nothing else to do...I'm off to sleep. :)