The Little Mermaid theme was obviously a challenge for all designers who participate in Enchantment, and they came up with so many great ideas and approaches to the theme. I had the chance to have a little talk with Kol Tchailenov, owner and designer of Mer-chandise Cove who created a classic mermaid tail in various color options for this event.
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| - picture shown with kind permission by Kol Tchailenov - |
"I absolutely love all things mermaid, both in real life and Second Life and have since I
was a young girl. When I first came to Second Life years ago and saw a budding mermaid
community, I was hooked! Some creator friends at the time helped to show me the
ropes on how to create things in Second Life", she explains her beginnings as a designer as well as her specialisation on mertails and accessoires. I grin and bait her: "I have seen that first life tab picture in your profile! You snorkel!" She laughs: "Haha, yes! That was at a marine park in the Dominican Republic where I also got to have a dolphin encounter, and play with a dolphin for a whole half hour! It was pure magic." I am astonished and even a bit envious: who didn't love
Flipper?! But I also have to admit that I probably wouldn't have the courage to swim with dolphins.
Of course, I did a bit of my homework for the interview and have had a look on her marketplace before. But I didn't find so many products yet. Did she just start, I wonder? "I actually used to have more things on my marketplace. But
like many creators, I am trying to keep up with the times and have deleted almost
all of my older non-mesh merchandise." She sounds like an organized and up to date person to me. And I have also a sneaking suspicion because we all know our beloved creators: they tend to be perfectionists! So I have to ask her: "Are you a perfectionist?" I am sure, I made her laugh with my guess. "I am also a perfectionist, haha!", she laughs indeed but continues to clarify: "I will not be someone
who cranks out products that I know are below the quality my custo-mers expect.
I have several things I’ve made in the last few weeks/months and some items at
events like
Enchantment and
The Fantasy Collective that will be up on
marketplace shortly. I am also getting more serious about releasing new products
every couple of weeks now. I see so many areas in Second Life lacking for mer that I want
to be able to branch out into new types of products for mer. I’m so excited about the direction I plan to go with the store."
I am excited to hear that, too. While I caress that awesome mertail creation of her which I am wearing during the interview, I nod enthusiastically and want to know more: "You offer mertails and accessoires so far. So what kind of new types of products for mer may we expect?" -- "One of the most exciting things I plan to start offering more of is seascaping. I’ve started here and there with some high quality, low prim rocks, like the
Ariel rock at
Enchantment. But I want to broaden to things like large underwater caverns of the same caliber, and low land impact. I absolute love creating whole underwater environments so I want to start releasing all the building tools one might need to create a breath-taking underwater area, from vegetation to caves and coral formations."
I turn my head around.
We are underwater on a wonderful roleplay sim which just openend, and where mermaids (and mermen, too, of course!) could find a new home. I can absolutely imagine more great and colorful sea decor. You just can't have enough of that! "Seascaping is certainly something which many designers have not on their screen yet", I agree. And I am already looking forward to her upcoming mer products since she already made me curious when I have seen those great advert pictures for the
Ariel rock. "It's not just advertising pictures. It's a story!", I say, and she smiles: "One of my favorite things are vignettes, little scenes/stories, and I hope to bring more of that to the mer community in Second Life." Talking about stories, I want to make sure what her favourite
Little Mermaid is: the original, or an adaption? "My absolutely favorite
Little Mermaid was actually the third
Disney movie,
Ariel’s Beginning. We got to see so much more of her life under the sea, her family, and how the stage came to be set for the beloved movie I grew
up with."
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The advert pictures are not just advert pictures...
- picture shown with kind permission by Kol Tchailenov - |
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... they tell a story!
- picture shown with kind permission by Kol Tchailenov - |
"You have also your mainstore on the
Nymphai sim. During my
interview with the owners of Enchantment, Duchess Flux and Sorchiee, I got to know the
Ippos Community a bit better. What is your relationship to this creative community?" -- "I love the
Ippos Community! Sorcha Irelund and I go way back
to the early roleplay days of Second Life, and Duchess Flux has been a long time custo-mer of
mine. So I was elated when they asked me to consider moving my mainstore to
their beautiful sim. Being a part of
Enchantment for the first time, especially
this round with the
Little Mermaid
theme, has been truly delightful and I can’t wait to get more involved in the
sim events."
On a sidenote for everyone who is not used to the
Ippos Community yet: the sim events are not always about shopping only. Just before
Enchantment openend, I was able to attend a great concert with Redhawk. A musician who knows to entertain not only with his great voice and his guitar skills but also with funny comments to introduce his next song. If you ever have a chance to listen to him, I highly recommend to not miss this opportunity!
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| Impressions from the live music event with Redhawk at Enchantment |
Finally, my little smalltalk with Kol Tchailenov has to come to an end. We make ourselves comfortable on the
Ariel rock for a picture of the two of us. I am not used to wear mertails yet and have to rearrange its fit. Wiggling my bum, I twitch at it and grin when I notice once more that I am currently looking like Ariel -- apart from the fact that I had to overdo it with my headdress(es) again! "Your offer is really quite close to the theme", I state the obvious laughingly. Kol laughs, too: "Oh, I was doing backflips when I heard the theme this round of
Enchantment! At the time they asked me, I was the only designer they knew of who was going to be making an actual mermaid tail for the round. So I felt a sense of duty to bring the classic look to the table." I nod and push the camera button. The flashlights illuminate the underwater world. Kol disappears in a vortex, and I remain with a fun snapshot and a smile. Many thanks to Kol for taking her time, and for introducing us in her underwater world of mermaids!
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| Kol and Rubilyn during the interview, chitchatting on the Ariel rock. Kol wears the Rebel mertail she offers at The Fantasy Collective. Rubilyn wears the Princess mertail available at Enchantment. |
Lumae came up with her first skin that has scales. For the head / head appliers, you can choose between with and without facial scales. As usual - and I'm always so excited about that fact! -, one tone comes with so many appliers:
* Omega head and body (can also be used for LOGO Alex head)
* Omega Petite body for Yabusaka Petite V2 (use with Omega head appliers)
* SLink hand, feet, Physique and Visage
* The Mesh Project head and body
* Maitreya Body
* Belleza Body
* LeLutka Head
* Genesis Lab Head
* Eve'olution Head
* Loud Mouth, Nyam Nyam, Sweetlips and Kissers Mouth
* Soul Ears
And last but not least: with matching Leevi ears in three sizes. Each color - hold your breath! - is available at 100 L$ only! Because Lumae wanted to make sure that everyone is able to play a mermaid or sea fairy! How awesome is that?! Underwater Love! *lol*
The Plastik surprised me with a set of sea decor, including seashells and starfishes that comes with a HUD with no less than 40 color options/textures to choose from! They are low prim at 1-2 LI cost only, and since the original size is already quite huge it is guaranteed that resizing it won't blow up your available prim count.
Now go, go, go, visit! You have still time until Sept 5 to check out all the great offers at Enchantment!
HEAD: LeLutka Mesh Head Stella
