Miriel Enfield

I'm glad people are enjoying themselves, and that the lag isn't so bad.

(This also fills with me with a great amount of righteous "I told you so." I had a few vendors who were very adamant that we should be more like Hair Fair, and one of their arguments was that expo lag was unavoidable. Well, yeah, but there's a big difference between Jewelry Expo lag and Hair Fair lag.)

__________________


Miriel: My store! I sell jewelry, eyes, and a smattering of other stuff.
3.5 on the Internationally Recognized Trout Recreant Scale of Slutwatoosi.

"Blender is the Pai Mae of 3d programs. It hates newbies, despises windows users, and has nothing but contempt for English speakers. It will let you learn, but mostly because doing so will give Blender a chance to amuse itself by making you suffer."
- Twenty Sided

Chav Paderborn

I managed to move about easily and got round the whole thing twice without horrid lag. AMAZING!

__________________
The Steamstress: Steampunk, Victorian and misc.
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Maske/22/81/127/

Cocoanut Koala

Hey! I didn't even notice the decor on your booth! That's not damning with faint praise; I didn't notice the decor of anybody's unless it slapped me in the face, and that almost always detracts from the jewelry and kind of annoys me!

(Well, okay, one exception: The pink one with all the candy jewelry - but nothing is anything without an exception to the rule! I'm just one of those who wants to see the jewelry and doesn't care about the booths.)

What I noticed was your jewelry! I made mental notes to compliment you on two of the sets. One was the Bird of Paradise earrings, which I thought were just phenomenally creative! And the other was the "Secret" set, with necklace with a key on it, probably one of the most beautifully crafted and unique (in the good, understated way) pieces I saw at the fair (or anywhere). And the names chosen - perfection!

A few notes on the fair itself:

A number of the designers really need to reconsider their box art. Some of them, you can't really tell much about or actually SEE the jewelry on the box!

Box art is an art in itself, of course, but I did notice that a number of designers need to improve on that, because I would have to strain to see what the product WAS, and then still maybe not have a good idea.

And this business about having a cutout of the object itself to represent the item - effective when done well, but very hard to do well. Often it is difficult to see the item (jewelry, especially, is small), and often it doesn't give enough branding to your items, or enough information about them. Only one or two people who did that did it right. (If I recall correctly, Shiny Things was one that I thought did it right.)

In general, arty is fine, but not when it totally detracts from your item, which is what happened in the worst cases I saw of this.

About the setup itself, I think those center stores aren't as nifty as people think they are. I like the setup of the fair; it is simple and easy to see everyone's things, unlike those malls and fairs which are absolute mazes you can't easily keep track of, and end up leaving before you're SURE you've seen everything.

At this one, my practice is to start at one point on the outside, then work my way around. (I figure most people do that!) It's the first thing I do. Also, I can't keep track of which of the center stores I've been to and I haven't - maybe making each a different color might bring more attention to them, plus easily enable us to keep track of which we've seen.

I loved the little hidden boxes of freebies - that's fun!

And I liked that - apparently - you could be sure that in the stores, the main boxes of freebies would always be 0 Lindens and not 1 Linden if the box had the expo design. (There were some without the design that were 0 Lindens, but there were also some that were 1.) You could trust it, and not have to keep checking.

(No point in having a 1 Linden freebie these days, anyway, except greed over one Linden, which looks worse than our stinginess over spending one Linden!)

I also liked that you could get landmarks without having to join a group. I don't know what it is with these events where you can't get a landmark without having to join their group (I think NPIRL was one, and I heard that the Burning Man, which I haven't gone to see, was another.) Just a great way to make sure people DON'T take your landmarks!

Anyway, loved the fair, thanks for your awesome work in getting it done, Miriel! I would be truly bereft if we didn't have it.

coco

P.S. Yes, lack of lag, like everyone else said.

__________________

Ran Garrigus

Speaking of box art, I will say that Ryker Beck's box art for her Genesis jewelry is an example of good design. Works really nicely... too nicely, maybe, as I've now got a new pocketwatch and monocle set...

__________________

• Old Fashioned -- Occasional SL fashion reviews.

Lourdes

I wanted to wait until the initial rush was over before stopping by. I will stop in this evening for sure.

Now if only the initial rush for the new Oz sim would simmer down...

__________________

Cocoanut Koala

I have to very definitely agree with you there, if it is the same pocket watch I saw. (And I greatly doubt there were any others!)

A really, really neat product. And the fact that I noticed it is testament to it's good presentation. I can still picture that watch in my mind, and what it says it does, though I don't remember the box art itself. Which is, of course, the point!

I found myself standing in front of it trying to determine how to justify buying it.

My question, though, was - how does one use a pocket watch in SL?

coco

Ran Garrigus

You don't, really. It's pure luxury. I've got some Victorian/steampunk suits where it'll look very nice on my avatar. The fact that it opens and keeps SL time is superfluous.

Although ... I guess you could: attach one on the spine or stomach, attach one to your hand. When you run a command to "check the time", an animation triggers, the one on your spine/stomach goes invisible, the one in your hand appears, the face opens...

Hmm. That'd be fun.

Cocoanut Koala

Well, not sure how you would wear it, though. Or how a female would.

I love that it's open, though, and keeps SL time.

coco

Ran Garrigus

Oh! It's on a watch fob chain, which in RL would attach to the appropriate point on a button. Generally it'd go from there into a fob pocket, but that's a bit where you have to fudge. It ends up looking a bit like this when attached (not the same watch, though).

Cocoanut Koala

That looks pretty good (albeit its a different maker from yours), and just how I was thinking it would be worn!

All around, excellent looking product.

coco

Aisuru Rieko

I walked around once last night and was amazed at the ease of movement, I had a little bit of lag when I first got there but once I started moving around it was all cake. very nice job with that. I can only imagine the headaches trying to get people to adhere to those strict rules but it makes a real noticeable difference when walking around. I wasn't in SL for the last one and so far this is the only expo/fair I've gone to that was actually easy to move around in and a pleasure to look around rather than a crashtastic experience.

I'll have to go back because I only got one hunt box XD and though it's off-topic here I'll say that the teardrop-shaped necklace that Siyu is giving away for free is one of the best freebies I've ever seen in SL. seriously amazing.

Natalie P.

I made the circuit of the expo in under an hour and it was no laggier than ETD on a busy day. Good on you for sticking to your guns, Miriel.

__________________
"Here I am once more in this scene of dissipation and vice, and I begin already to find my morals corrupted." - Jane Austen

Behold the pretties.

Freyja Nemeth

Btw, Miriel, will it be noted if more than the 12 initial boxes are added to the treasure hunt? Don't want to take up a spot there hunting for more if there aren't any.

__________________

Miriel Enfield

I don't think I'm going to be adding anything else, but I can make a post if I get something.

Were you able to find box #3, by the way? I've got someone who can't find it at all, and I could swear I put it out, but I can't remember where I put anything.

Chav Paderborn

Really, Miriel, you did great. I'm on a shit PC and even I didn't have too many problems with the place. It was amazing, I could see textures on the stalls! I went round once for the free stuff and then again to buy things when I saw how low-lag the event was. Well done, and may similar events learn from your example.

Freyja Nemeth

Cool, thanks.

LOL. Yes, Ran and I found it, so it was there at that time, at least. It was a tricky one though, I seem to recall.

Miriel Enfield

Oh, good. I was starting to worry I'd forgotten to put it out.