I've been pretty bad about blogging new releases lately: I'm usually tired by the time I've gotten my forum ad up, and my new posts seem to get buried at the bottom of the feed anyway, so I tend not to bother. This week, though, I'm being good. See:



Hand painted, smaller irises, available singly or as a collection, choose your permissions, blah blah, I'm sure you all know the drill. :) I did want to have jewelry out this week, I think, but I also wanted to go out this weekend (I saw Pan's Labyrinth, and you should, too!), so you're stuck with eyes.

Work on the remodel continues. The prim count has exploded, thanks to the roof, but it still has fewer polygons than the current store. I'm actually pretty happy with the design so far. It's got four little departments off of one long main room. My only problem is that I've got some blank wall and floor space. I'm tempted to fill it up with pictures and furniture, but the lag created by both of those concerns me.

I'm also going to be doing a few things in addition to just plunking down a new store, such as making hair, tweaking my eye naming scheme a little (no more redundant phrases like "iridescent unnatural"), and putting out the live modeling stand for sale. (Actually, with all the space I've got, I could stick out my own live model. I don't know what my sim-mates would think of that, though!)

In unrelated news, I really need to fix some of my gem textures. I'm having a hard time getting my square gem textures to match my round ones, and there's a couple things (the earrings and necklace set from the Nouveau party, and a tiara) that I can't texture without them. Those things have sat in my inventory for months! It's sad.

I'm continuing work on remodeling, though it's not going so well. I had a design that I liked, but as I started to add all the walls and ceilings, it began to feel cramped.

On the plus side, I have built another insane staircase, which seems less laggy than the original one. It's a spiral staircase! The railings are a bit less elaborate, but it still looks pretty nice.

This week's release is a set of eyes. I'm rather meh about the names, but couldn't think of anything better. The black one was originally supposed to be called Oil, and part of a collection called Urban Decay. But I couldn't think of anything to put in that collection besides Oil and a rust colored eye, so I renamed Oil to Moonbow (well, to Night Rainbow and then to Moonbow) and stuck it in with the other iridescent eyes.

I think I've made some progress in redoing my store -- I'll even be able to keep the staircase, in a modified form. I'm still not sure I won't just keep the current build, though.

I'm also trying to make hair. This isn't the first time I've tried to make hair, but I've made some things that are actually passable this time. I'm dubious about this particular style, though:





It just seems kind of crude, particularly where the curls meet the hairline. I'm not sure if there's any way to make that look better, though.

(I'm wearing it a little too low on my head there, but that's basically it.)

So, I'm experimenting with remodeling my store. I'd like to cut down on the prim count (well, the polygon count, really), take some advantage of occlusion culling, and make the whole thing a bit easier to organize. All the while, of course, keeping an aesthetic that's upscale, refined, Art Nouveau inspired (with a pinch of Victoriana thrown in), blends in with the surrounding land, and bears a resemblance to an actual store.

It's not easy -- especially the whole "looking like a real store" part. That's really tricky bit.

My first attempt wound up looking like a cross between a greenhouse and a '50s tract home. Greenhouses are okay, but '50s tract homes are most certainly not. The second attempt was aborted too soon for it to resemble anything other than trash. The third attempt, currently hanging 730 virtual meters in the air, is looking like the bastard child of a cabin, a church, and the movie version of Rivendell. I think I could tone down the cabin aspects of it if I changed the roof and made the foyer area smaller, but I'm not sure what I'd change the roof into. Glass is a decent choice, but it's prim-intensive, and there's no sense in remodeling if I'm just going to clutter up the new build with prims.

If Nouveau were a city sim, this would be a lot easier. For one, most of the Art Nouveau architecture I can find pictures of is in an urban location. For another, designer stores aren't just plunked down in the middle of nowhere. I can't just build one of those tall, skinny buildings that older cities have and then plunk it down on my plot.

Since I really should (though it will undoubtedly get lost down at the bottom of the Fashion Planet feed -- one of the many fine features of Blogger Beta!), here's my review copy policy:

1. If you'd like a review copy, just ask, and tell me what you'll be using it for. If you've got a legitimate reason for it (and I'll be interpreting "legitimate" liberally), you'll get it.

2. I'll go ahead and drop things on certain bloggers without being asked, if they seem to like my stuff.

3. There's no obligation to blog about anything I give you. Really! Please don't feel pressured if I drop something on you without you asking.

I'm getting the urge to remodel again. Somebody save me from myself.

Harem Rose is, well, a silk. Normally not my thing -- this is not exactly an untapped market whose customers are already banging down my shop's figurative door -- but I made these for the Nouveau sim opening.

It's entirely hand drawn, and comes with a top, two bottoms (decorated and plain), a flexiprim skirt, and two flexiprim side skirt pieces. Each color also comes with a gold trim and a silver trim version. Colors are sold both singly and in a collection of all nine colors, and you can choose your permissions: copy/mod/no transfer or no copy/mod/transfer.


(Skin: Tete a Pied; hair: ETD)