Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Introducing the first Mer Betta Limited Edition tail

Mer Betta™ Limited Edition Melite-Polaris Periwinkle

"Mer Betta Limited Edition Melite-Polaris Periwinkle Halfmoon mermaid ensemble".... I know, it's a mouthful. :D

This tail is a significant milestone in Mer Betta history. It's the first recolor that I'm releasing. And it's the first limited edition tail. Whether it will be the only limited edition tail will depend on how well this is received.


Recolor

Up till now, I have been reluctant to do any recoloring of Mer Betta tails for two reasons:

1) Recoloring, if not done properly, washes out the nuances in the texture and makes it look like it's been splattered with thick paint. I just now figured out how to do it right.

2) I wanted to stay true to nature. That's the awesomeness of these tails; Mer Betta showcases nature's beauty.

However, I seriously considered making this tail because I've received many requests for a purple tail and purple bettas are rare.


Limited edition

This recolor was a request from a loyal customer who said, "I just hate when I show up in the same tail as another mer". She initially wanted a one-of-a-kind. However, either it would be too expensive for her, or it would be a loss of potential income for me, based on the history of sales of the Version 2 tails. So, as a compromise, we agreed to make it a limited edition tail instead.

We are hoping for a minimum of six participants. But no more than 10 copies of this tail will be sold -- ever.


If you're interested, please go to the Mer Betta main store in Dunbeath and touch the ad with the same texture as above. You'll get a notecard explaining the details and another notecard embedded inside it that you fill out and return to me if you're interested in purchasing.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Disruption on XStreet

My apologies if you tried to search for the new Mer Betta tails on XStreet.com earlier today and didn't find them.

I received twenty trademark violation reports today (both for Mer Betta and Ms.O.Lei-ny) and LL deactivated those listings without specifying which terms or phrases or images were trademark violations.

The listings are active again. LL is currently investigating to determine if those reports were generated by a bug in the system. If it's not a bug, then it might be an act of griefing/harassment.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Fantasy Faire video by Kyota

It seems that the mer sim at the Fantasy Faire isn't getting enough publicity. Methinks landwalkers are afraid of the deep....

But Kyota Spitteler created a promotional video of the mer sim! Check it out!

Fantasy Faire opens its doors to the public two hours from now. Be sure to get to the mer sim to see it for yourself.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

New tails, new store preview, Fantasy Faire

Tala!

This is going to be a quick and dirty announcement because I'm still cramming to finish decorating the Mer Betta booth at the Fantasy Faire which starts on Monday June 15.

But I wanted you to get the news a day early:
- new store preview
- four new tails
- Fantasy Faire


NEW STORE PREVIEW

Mer Betta's main store is moving to a new location:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Dunbeath/160/170/9

I'm still not quite done with this store; I need to add signs, notices, group inviters and whatnot. It won't be announced in the old store and in other locations until I'm done with the fit-and-finish stuff.

Why should you visit this new store now?
- new tails (only available at this location and the Fantasy Faire until after the faire is over)
- reduced prices on old colored tails (now 550L, instead of 650L)
- secret sale of Pastithea White Moon Bridal (currently 1,000L, instead of 1,600L) until the end of June

Warning: Watch out for the hungry pelican on the shore.


FOUR NEW TAILS

- Mer Betta Byzia Gold Delta
- Mer Betta Halimede Red Halfmoon
- Mer Betta Lilaea Green Rosetail
- Mer Betta Melite Turquoise Halfmoon

I'm calling these "Version 3" although they're very similar to the v2 tails, except for the following:
* enhanced scales with better shading
* pasties version of breast covering

More tails are in the pipeline, as well as add-on products. Stay tuned.


FANTASY FAIRE 2009

This event is a fundraiser for RFL and starts on Monday June 15 and runs until the 21st. I'm frantically decorating the Mer Betta booth now, but you'll see it at this location on Monday:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/The%20Mer%20Market/62/114/3

Well, that wasn't quick and dirty, but more details in the Mer Betta website and in this blog blog later this week.

/me goes back to frantically cramming.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Squeezing among the pirates

Mer Betta has a new store at the new Role Play Market sim.

Actually, Mer Betta is the first mer tail merchant there, and, in fact, the first mer *anything* merchant there. The owner said he would add "mer" to the search keywords for the sim and to other marketing stuff for the sim.

Meanwhile, go find the Pirates section and you'll see it there.

/me elbows her way through the throng of pirates.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Mer Betta Pasithea is in WedEx'09

WedEx'09 is a wedding expo that's going on now until May 10. Mer Betta has a booth set up. I'll also be showing the Pasithea at the fashion show today at 2pm SLT. The fashion show stage is on the upper deck from the landing point.

If you visit the booth, buy the Mer Betta fund jar for 0L. Besides getting a copy of the fund jar (which you probably already have if you picked it up from the main store), you'll get a new jewelry set in it that I created under the Ms.O.Lei-ny brand. After WedEx'09, this new jewelry set will be available again after I open the new Mer Betta main store. (Yup, Mer Betta is moving, so join either the Mer Betta SL group or slap the red sign near the landing point of the current main store to join the Mer Betta HippoGroup so you'd know when it opens. Yes, there'll be new products. :) )

More news:
* Mer Betta gets a bigger booth at the Mermaid Temple!
* If you haven't already, come and join the SL Merfolk group which Azaiya Aeon created in Ning. Maybe we can pull all the SL mer communities together.

Monday, April 6, 2009

A tutorial, a portal, a worry, a pleasant surprise

So, I (finally!) put together a tutorial on fitting. I had originally wanted to do this in a machinima, but since I have yet to find time to record in Fraps and learn how to edit video, I figured this would be faster.

In the process, I figured I should create a nice portal, instead of having the merbetta.com domain point directly to this blog. So, there I was, looking for a free website host. And, as I tried to create the site in Google Sites, Google tells me that I couldn't use that name. Curious....

So, I did some investigating and it turned out that there is a user who uses "merbetta@gmail.com". I still have to figure out who that is, and I don't know if Google would tell me. I searched all over Google before adopting that name almost two years ago to make sure it wasn't in use. I'd hate to think there's someone out there with not-so-honorable intentions for stealing the trademark.

Well, I did a Google search to see if I could dig up clues and found some (unrelated) pleasant surprises. (Yeah, I get distracted easily. LOL) I found a couple more blog entries from customers about Mer Betta products. And here's the big surprise: The Second Style magazine has two pictures of Mer Betta tails in their 22nd issue! They're on pages 24 (Mer Betta Pasithea) and 32 (four of the colored tails). You can also see them here in a nice two-page format:

Isn't that cool? Mer Betta is now officially haute couture! *grins*

But, anyway, back to the original topic.... (Did I mention I get distracted easily?) Simply go to http://www.merbetta.com to get to the portal page for everything Mer Betta. The tutorial is in the "Fitting tutorial" link.