I've decided to keep the old build, after a) managing to shrink it and b) failing to come up with a better design. It really does look better now that it's smaller -- I even was able to add back in a few sections of wall -- though I do have to fix the textures on the outside. (I'd been unable to shrink it before, because the glass ceiling panels included prims that kept resetting their dimensions back to 10 x 10 x 0.01, even after I'd made them thicker. I'd completely forgotten about this little feature when I first tried to make the build smaller, and assumed I was having problems because I was dealing with 930+ prims at once.)

Bah. I was hoping to be nearly up and running again by now, and instead I'm still working on this remodel/move. And it's not just me being slow. My right wrist has been sore lately from too much time at the computer, so I'm trying to be responsible and limit the amount of time I spend on SL stuff. I don't want to injure myself! Also, for reasons unrelated to my hands, the last few days RL have been pretty bad, and the last thing I've wanted to do is log on and deal with the frustration of trying to design a store. I still don't really know what I want the new build to look like, and it's getting kind of-- well, okay, it's been a cause for anxiety, because I worry about anything and everything, but now the anxiety is starting to drift into the realm of not entirely irrational. I've been looking at pictures of Art Nouveau architecture (when I can find them), but it's all urban, and so of limited use.

I think I'm going to redo my new store build. I've plunked it down on my new plot, to see what it looks like, and it's awfully large and imposing. I even made it smaller (so that it actually fits!), and it's still too big. Don't get me wrong: I think it's a wonderful build, I adore the staircase, I'm all around very proud of it, and I'll be very disappointed to tuck it away into my inventory. But I just don't think it works in its current location.

Grar. My lousy computer is so frustrating. I'm trying to do some actual digital painting on it -- I am once again trying to start a skin, and will presumably fail like I have the other dozen times I've tried this -- and the machine's having none of it. It's a 1024x1024 file, and it's struggling to keep up. (Add to this my existing troubles of getting a smooth gradient when doing this kind of hand painted -- I don't know if it's my crappy generic brand tablet, or if I just suck -- and it's so aggravating.)

I want a computer that doesn't suck! Something where the keys work the first time they're pressed. Something that doesn't shut itself down during the arduous task of cutting and pasting things in a 512x512 image. Something that doesn't crash if I move the mouse too quickly while painting. Something where the mouse settings don't go back to the default every time it goes into sleep mode. Something where the graphics card doesn't slow down every thirty seconds.

Okay, here's one (currently the only) color of the new dress. There will be, hopefully, a mesh skirt and a couple more prim skirts, but the mesh one needs a bit more work and the two other prim skirts aren't made yet.

I'd wanted to keep releasing things as I've remodeled, but that doesn't seem to be happening. It's just such a pain in the butt to have to do two sets of product photos, and it's not like the rest of what I'm supposed to be doing (texturing the store build, revising a collaboration that has stubbornly refused to get better, the aforementioned new product photos) isn't annoying enough as it is.

Because I am inclined to go find something new and shiny to do when things get tedious and difficult, I've made a dress. It's actually coming out really well; I hope to post pictures in a day or so. I tried out a new technique for putting down lines of seed beads, and it came out really well; the beading on the top looks nearly photosourced, IMO.

And I'm about, oh... 75% done with texturing the new store (product pictures excluded). I'm generally pleased with it: there are a couple pillars that don't look so hot, but I'm proud of the rest of it. It's got drawn in shadows everywhere, it's pretty, there's effectively none of those large patterns you can get with repeating textures, and I kept my texture sizes way down.

Building continues. I've managed to pull out 60-100 prims; turns out, when they were textured, they were barely visible. I'm tempted to rip out more, but I don't want to butcher my baby too badly.

The texturing is going surprisingly well, though. The textures for the last build took me months! These are going quickly so far, though. I'm even doing some basic "baking" (it's not true baking, since I'm just doing it by hand), and my goodness, that makes things look so much better. I'm not thrilled with my brick texture (I'd love to get my hands on the old Welcome Area brick textures), but I think it'll do.

I should probably throw together lovingly craft something new to release too, I suppose.