Jewellery Fair 2011

It's the annual Jewellery Fair, the biggest event on the virtual jewellery calendar, and something that I've taken part in for the last three years. This year, the theme is "Elementals", and I snuck in yesterday to have a peep at the sims.
As customary, there are four themed builds over four sims (Water, Air,Earth and Fire). Each are looking spectacular. Something that's a departure from the norm is that you will not need to stagger drunkishly across sim borders to walk from area to area. Instead, you will arrive at a central port, and need to merely touch each portal to teleport gently to each landing place. Fingers crossed. This is because the builds are at different heights, and this does wonders for not only creating the (very) unique atmospheres in each, but also assists with lag issues.

As has been the custom since I've known, the elected charity is Oxfam. The jewellers voted several years ago on this, the choice was easy to make, and nobody has seen a need to change it. We respect Oxfam utterly, and I believe that we also recognise that our efforts need to be on a world scale. Nothing makes me happier.

Plus their shops are full of really cool stuff, and they make me drool.

The Eclectica display is on Water sim, chosen as I see the clarity of water as reflecting the brilliance of gems. It feels like it suits me best, and I like to go with the flow (bad pun intended).

A new jewellery design, "Opulence" will be available exclusively at the Fair.



It has four versions, but I've had fun with colouring and tucked an extra version in each box, as I really couldn't make up my mind. This might inspire you to do your own tinting (just remember to zoom in and "edit linked" and only ever do this to a copy in case something unintended happens, hee hee)

"Pewter"


"Gold"


"Black"


"Silver"


When designing these, I went for a very swirly Victorian feel, but a bit of Bollywood may have crept in somewhere. They are lovely as they are, but you certainly could vamp up the hues a bit, and for that reason the texturing has been kept simple and contrasty.

Each set has a basic necklace and earrings, plus a recoloured version of each. All are copiable and modifiable, but not transferable. They contain no scripts. A demo pack will be available at the Eclectica display at the Fair (by the door as you come in).



The Opulence set above has been made for the Charity Auction. If you want a unique set, based on Lovely Bluey-ey Wateriness, come have a bid for it, and help raise some money for Oxfam.

Check out the Official Blog for more information.

March into Spring

Ahh! Spring is springing (so I heard) and new growth bursting forth all over the place, apparently sending everybody into paroxysms of creative and fertile stirrings. Well, this may be true for half the planet, that other half vaguely over there where I don't live, but never mind as I get to naturally feel like that most of the year round in my sunny home. So even if the days are shortening over here, I can still get into the spirit, and share the joy with the best of you.

What nicer way to completely ignore any Autumn Blues than to be involved with a Spring Fair!

Embody Poses and Shapes is holding a "March into Spring" Market up on it's sunny rooftop, and Eclectica is joining the happy bunch.

As well as this being a chance for a group of original designers to display their wares, a hunt has been arranged (not a ginormous 500-sim event, just a nice smattering of businesses on the one sim for a bit of fun). Many of the designers have generously provided $L10 items as well so that you can get a taste of what's on offer.


"Flounce" earrings in Dark Pink can be picked up for $L10 at my display.....


.....and this "Flounce" brooch in Dark Pink is a hunt gift.

Come pop by, pick up some good bargains, grab an Eclectica Demo Pack if you like, do a little hunting if that's your poison, and celebrate the change of seasons with us.
When: March 5th to 20th.
Where: Embody Rooftop.
For extra information: visit the Embody blog here.

Marketplace giftgiving- a vast improvement

It's with great pleasure that I announce that my old tute on how to navigate the Marketplace giftgiving shamozzle is completely obsolete. It is now a wonderfully more simple and intuitive process.

Please delete the previous instructions from your brain, and replace with these: (biiiig smile, as the process is so much shorter, and I have far more confidence in using it).

Pictures below will help guide you. Please click them to enlarge.
As usual, if you are already in my shop and want to send a gift, helper signs will take you to the correct Marketplace page. If you found me via the Marketplace search, you are already there, so ignore this bit.


Scroll down to find the "related items" if you prefer a different colour, and click it.



Once you have your colour version, click the lovely big orange button called "Add to Cart as Gift". Write your friend's name in the window below. Click the next button down called "Find Resident".


Add a nice message, and click "Finished".


Hurrah! It's done!


The item is now in your shopping cart, and is ready to be delivered to your friend when you check out.

Much nicer!

Feathers

I've been making Feathers! These are matching gloves and neckpieces, all softly feathered and held with chains and gems.



Here I am, mincing about at home in "Just Beautiful Black" with Sonatta Morales "Mystere" gown.



And just for the hell of it, mincing about without said gown.



Aaaand, here's the full range. Please click for full sized images, as the feather detail is worth it!

Just beautiful black


Black & silver


Just pure white


Black & gold


Black & burgundy


Black & blue

These are all copiable, modifiable and script free. Each set includes two glove styles- opaque and semi-transparent. Demos can be found in the Sinaburoe Mainstore here. And if you'd like to do a little Marketplace shopping, find them exactly here.

The Gentle Art of Script Deletion

Once upon a time, we all put resizer scripts in everything. And made everything no-mod. Let's not go into the reasoning behind that, as it was 'the done thing', and has been greatly debated everywhere. Like many, I've rethought my practices since then, and made everything modifiable, and now do not add resizers to new releases either.

(24/12/2012--I'm editing this to say that now yes I do. I now add texture changing scripts to some new releases that include resizers. These are a new generation of scripts, which are removable as always, but now are a single low-lag script (not one script per prim). One script per piece. Items are still moddable. Helper signs over each range will tell you what is in each set. The rest of this post about deletion is still just as relevant.)

Linden Lab is preparing to clamp down on scripts worn by avatars. Even if this weren't true, it's definately a good thing to keep them to a minimum, just for the sake of smooth teleports and happier lag-free living.

I've always advocated deleting these scripts from the jewellery I make. It's really really easy, and pain free.

Here it is in steps.


1) Acknowledge that you finally *do* have to part with the scripts. They are useful in the short term, but you do not want to be prancing about with them all the time. Make a backup copy of the jewellery, and put it in a seperate folder. Then, get to work on the copy. Wear it and say a final "byee" to the scripts.


2) Touch the first piece, and wait for the blue dialog box to drop down. Touch "All Prims" as shown.


3) Wait again for the next blue box. This time, take a deep breath, hold it, and touch "Delete". I swear nothing will suddenly go all weird on you.


4) Breathe out and in again. Then do all the pieces in the set in the same way.


5) Smile- you have just done something wonderful for the grid. And if you ever need the convenience of resizing with a script again, pull out the original. Or just do it with the edit menu, of course.

Rococco

"Rococco" is a jewellery range I designed when one day needing something romantic, curly, and a little historic to complete a gown.
The colours are light and subtle, with minute variations of gem colour, and the twinkling that comes with the interplay of prims and virtual light.
Gems are sculpted, and the rest is straight prim-work.



The gems and "metalwork" support softy-carved cameos.


Ever indecisive, I couldn't choose between two necklace ideas, and so both are included- longer and shorter. Each set also has long earrings, bracelet and dress ring.


Each piece is copyable and modifiable, and so the hues can be adjusted using the edit menu to match any colour scheme. Size can also be adjusted using the edit menu, or using the removable resizer included if that's just not your cup of tea.



Rococco is available in six variations. The "cream" vendor is shown. Free demo packs are available in the Sinaburoe Mainstore, to help make your decision easier. Or harder.

Herbals

This is me, still catching up on this bloggy thing and having some fun taking photos. I'm wearing Eclectica Herbals "rose", part of a garden-themed set of jewellery.

A lovely lady, Vic, who lives next door, is off sleeping, so I've snuck over through the hedge to take advantage of her early snowfalls. Her bit of the garden is putting us to shame.

It's a great chance to finally show some close-ups of this jewellery range. I had the 1930's in mind when designing these. They are soft, subtle, made of soft, glowy translucent glass held by hand-forged metal. The shapes are simple, and nicely support the tendrils and vines.

Close-ups.....
.......close-ups......
...close-ups...ugh!..what the!!.....what is that claw!!!!??!


Damn I hate this. It's got to be the bane of every jeweller. We make lovely bracelets and rings, which would look stunning on any human hand. And they do appear natural and wonderful when watched as we gracefully saunter across the room in SL, but as every jeweller knows, just try freezeframing a hand for closeup inspection and it's enough to give the most stalwart matron cardiac arrest. So...wipe that picture above from your mind and scroll down below to my prettied-up hand.


See...that's what we all really look like, with most of the multiple-fractures removed.

Below, you can see the full range of Herbals. All available at the Eclectica mainstore, or on the Marketplace, and are all copiable and modifiable.


Violet
Rose
Moon
Leaf

Elizabeth

This is the Elizabeth range. As with any photo, please click to see a bigger and better view.

Two different necklaces and earrings are included in each set.







I made "Elizabeth" a while back, and I still love it and wear it. It's pre-sculpty, and there are goods and bads in that. It rezzes faster, being pure tortured prims. You won't lob up anywhere as a mass of balls, however it has a few more prims and therefore perhaps slightly higher arc. It shows a certain prim-learning that may not be as widely used lately. Some people always like that. I do, and I'm glad that that's where I learnt my craft. I have no intention of retiring this range, as it's a good example of it's kind in a certain period. And it always looks gorgeous on any ballroom.

I've recently been re-watching the Elizabeth movies, and have to admit that I have a bit of admiration for Cate Blanchett (she being a fellow-countrywoman and all). The costumes are all stunning, and if I were a SL clothing designer I'd probably never get out of photoshop.

I can tell this is a theme that I haven't finished with yet.