Valentine’s Day is coming up fast…

Yessssss, we’re coming up to Valentine’s Day — one of the bigger sales days in the slives of jewelry creators. And we’re busy! All of us. I’ll try and give you a rundown on everything I’ve been up to the past few days.

First, the store in Asbury Heights is open!! It’s gorgeous and it will be something that evolves with me. This is the store that will have every piece that I have to offer. I have a few satellite stores, in Twisted & Bent (or TB Style) on the Panthera Sim. I also have a store in the Alley Shops at Vancouver Mall on the Vancouver sim, actually, it was my very first store and I’ve recently expanded it since the store next to me vacated.

I’ve been doing the job search thing in real life, filling out applications and sending out resumes. Pickings have been slim for print production managers. I’m a graphic designer, too, and also do freelance work if asked. But printing and ink and paper are in my blood. I love that business, I really would love to find a position within that field again. And, as long as I’m doing my wish-listing… I’d love to do it for a non-profit and put my skills to use for the betterment of humanity. Being unemployed sucks, and its the first time I’ve been in my entire life. The unfortunate real-life circumstances are what allows me the luxury of being inworld and doing my creative things in Second Life(tm). It’s necessary for keeping my creativity up.

Speaking of Valentines, and creativity… I’ve got the most adorable gift-giving teddy bear up for sale!  You can use him to put any transferable gift in (like my jewelry) — or buy any of the prepackaged Valentine’s packs I’ve prepared! Pictures below…

Here are the links to the prepacked items on sale on XStreet…

Jordan*s Marlene Dietrich Ruby Necklace Valentine’s Package
Jordan*s Marlene Dietrich Ruby Set Valentine’s Package
Jordan*s Open Heart Set Valentine’s Package
Jordan*s Tangled Hearts Necklace Valentine’s Package
Jordan*s Kaj <3 Black Cord Bracelet Valentine's Package

“Push It”

So much is going on now that I’ve restarted the jewelry creations.  I’m in the process of adding a new main store for Jordan*s. It’s located next to my club, Centerfold.  It just got to the point where I have too much to offer for sale that it won’t fit in a vendor stall in the lobby (even the double-wide one I have).  This week is all about “pushing it”.

Now, I have to tell you that I think I’m a better than average builder.  I built the club and my house, I love constructing things. I feel that I don’t push thing far enough when I’m building, and sometimes when I’m creating.

I wanted the store to have that “real-life” shopping experience that so many offer, yet have that Second Life quality.  I kind of do that with my jewelry, too. I mean, really — if you want it to be so “real,” why not just do it in “real life”? So I was straddling that rl/sl fine line the better part of this week.

So, back to the store. I know you all are gonna love it.  I did purchase a prefab, but I have modified it texture-wise quite a bit. It has, so far, that rl/sl feel to it. I hope it will be a good shopping experience for all and offer a little bit of everything.

I have something new to tickle your fancies — new earrings! I found I learned so much this week, observing other people’s work, how they texture. Not “what textures do they use?” but how do they apply them.  I went to several SL shops of creators whose works I admire. My brain and creative center was in high gear. I created the first draft of these earrings, but something just left me flat. So, I went out to learn. To push myself. To push the creative juices and to push the particular design on these earrings. I really want to make it clear that I didn’t and don’t plagiarize other people’s works. I’ve always felt that my texture work could be improved, and I went out of my little work area a few times to learn what other creatives are doing texture-wise.

I believe these are two of the best creations I’ve done. I am incredibly proud to put these out for sale, since I made these textures specifically for these particular prims on these particular earrings. The gold on the Soleil earrings is this shimmery pale gold that I adore. Most gold jewelry textures are way too yellow or too brown or too green. It’s a damned hard metal to recreate effectively, but I think I’ve got it. In my opinion, I do. We’ll see if the SL public shares that opinion, if they ever get the attention that I believe they deserve. The Artemis silver two rows of moonlight-shimmery silver tube beads and I love this metal alternative just as much as the Soleil metal.

Enough verbage. Time to show you what I mean.

Back and Hopefully, Better Than Ever!

It kind of blows my mind how long its been since I’ve made a piece of jewelry to sell to the general population. What have I been doing with my time? Well, most of it has been spent with my club, Centerfold. Some of it is spent with Twisted & Bent – an awesome and just plain old fun shopping experience featuring scripted furniture and home and garden accessories. And lately, its been making jewelry.

So why now, you might ask? Well, I blame Brianna. Truth be told, I usually do blame her for most everything these days. She had some cool sculpts and showed me a picture of a glitzy Hollywood piece, and the bug bit me again. I must be going in the right direction, because I profiled my former teachers at the Career Instiute of Fashion & Design last weekend. This week, I accidentally ran into her at a store and we caught up a bit. Strange metaverse!

So I do have quite a few new pieces to show you all. I hope you like them. I’ve learned a number of tricks over the years and I think these are some of the best pieces I ever did. But then again, I’ve always been pretty proud of all the pieces I’ve done in the past. I won’t put them out if I don’t like them or would wear them myself. And I *do* wear my own jewelry! All the time!!!

So, without further ado… my newest creations…

THE VALENTINE’S PIECES:

Tangled Hearts and Open Heart Necklaces are my two newest. (Well the Tangled Hearts is last year’s Valentine’s piece but it went out with so little fanfare, and its really one of my personal favorites that I felt it deserved a little “woo hoo!” with the other piece).

FOR THE MEN:

And, for the men, I reworked the popular Greg Choker, seen below:

And made a really awesome new piece, in two textured ways … named after my friend Kaj Juutilainen (I know I butchered the spelling on that one the first time around, but I’ve fixed it now…). He was the one to suggest the theme for the piece. Kaj is my fashion-forward friend with the magical ear for the best music around. He DJ’s inworld… check him out sometime! (Just profile him…. cut and paste like I do!!!! Kaj Juutilainen)

THE HOLLYWOOD  COLLECTION

THE MARLENE DIETRICH PIECES (aka “All Brianna’s Fault”)

And I do believe these pieces to be well-crafted, and absolutely stunning. My thanks goes out to Brianna Altneau of Twisted & Bent (and she sure is twisted…). Check out her stuff on XStreetSL.

I think I’ve babbed on enough for now. I’ll definitely keep you all updated with the new pieces.