Otherworldly

Happy new year and time to get used to writing 2023! I’ve had the usual lazy first day of the new year, which has involved a few hours (or so…) in front of the computer. Part of the time was spent setting up a medieval kitchen from Del-ka Aedilis and taking some photos of a bit of virtual cooking, which is about all the cooking I am up for right now after the holidays. I should probably stick to virtual food for a while as well. ;)

The kitchen set includes the hearth, a table setup for sausage making, a sideboard with a basket of vegetables and cutting boards and a simple stool. The set is rustic and nicely detailed, with a very authentic feel. The only animations are in the stool, which has a few basic sits. For the photos, I used animations from Dutchie’s New Amsterdam Kitchen. I would actually love to see a HUD with various simple roleplay animations, perhaps one you could expand with different animation sets. That would be great for matching with sets of furnitures and props that don’t come with their own animations.

With the holidays coming up, one question is likely to crop up more than once—what am I going to wear? I think I have decided what I am wearing for Christmas IRL, but my virtual self is even more indecisive. Not to mention that she has a much, much bigger wardrobe in her overflowing inventory.

What better way to illustrate that well-filled wardrobe than with the latest release from Dutchie, the complete women’s walk-in closet (matching the complete men’s walk-in closet released earlier this year). This modular closet set includes 11 different closets, 3 that are closed and 8 that show different sets of clothing, shoes and bags. A colour-change menu offers the choice of 6 wood colours and if you are comfortable editing and tinting you can customize the clothing within the closets as well. Additionally, extra clothing and accessories are included in the full package (and available for purchase separately), for example the red and black dresses shown in the image. These pieces are perfect props for photos or for personalizing your living space in Second Life with a bit of stylish clutter.

I love the We Love Role-Play release from deviousMind, “Mistletoe”. Not only is it a sexy holiday dress, but the little scythe for harvesting mistletoe hanging from the belt is the icing on the cake. Perfect for the girl who wants to ensure that there’s mistletoe hung wherever it is convenient. Alternatively, if she has any Norse gods to slay and needs to fashion herself a few arrows. The set includes an unrigged piece of mistletoe as well, which you can spot in the background. The rest of the decor is from various holiday sets from Libertine, including the awesome decorateable tree.

Today is the last day of the 12th SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair and I’ve let the mustangs out to run wild in the snow. These horses were made with the Teeglepet Fjord Horse and then I applied the new Mustang shape deformer from Mythril. It is available at the Breedables Fair as a donation item for the American Cancer Society and I am really happy with the resulting shape. It gives you a sturdy little horse that looks strong and rugged.

The two horses in front also have coats from the Breedables Fair, from Run for the Roses, and both Santa’s Cookies & Cream and Rustic Pinto are limited editions and donation items. I am afraid I don’t recall what the other three coats are, I didn’t note it down when I set the horses up. (That is probably my number one wish for the Teeglepets, a way to see what applier is being worn.) But I’ll let that slip for this time, since the focusing is on the Expo anyway.

Lighting up the dark winter night with a lantern from 3rd Eye, I went to explore the SL Christmas Expo. Of course I was drawn to the Teegle lot where you can see several of their Teeglepets as well as the brand new Winter Hayride Wagon, a truly festive way to travel. There are also three new Teeglepet deformers from Mythril available at the Expo; Alter Real, Mustang and Tall Quarter Horse. Perhaps one of them will show up on the blog this weekend.

My dress is from Grasshopper St., a brand I have seen at a few previous rounds of We Love Role-Play, primarily with various kinds of period head wear. I have been tempted before and this gown made me take the plunge. It is very nicely made and features lovely textures, so I am really happy with the purchase. This red version has a very Christmassy feel I think. The fact that it is made for Slink as well is fantastic.

Have you been to the SL Christmas Expo yet? The 12th SL Christmas Expo & Winter Breedables Fair runs from December 2 to December 11th and raises money for the American Cancer Society. The theme of this year’s expo is “The Magic Of Holiday Stories” and the beautifully decorated sims offer some amazing winter wonderlands to explore. There is lots of shopping available but also several exciting events. Don’t miss it!

In the words of Siddean Munro:

“I am holding a huge 50% off everything in the store sale - Slink, One Bad Pixel and Cinnamon and Chai - from RIGHT NOW until 11:59 on November the 28th. This sale includes everything. EVERYTHING IN THE STORE. I’ve never had a sale like this, and I never will again! Now’s your chance to grab that thing you have been dreaming about! Only at Slink (Marketplace not included).”

As I have no doubt mentioned a few times, the Slink Physique Original body is my favourite body for a realistic shape. Slink Physique Hourglass is a bit more exaggerated, but I am still very fond of how it handles the stomach and hips. The very best stomach and hips, however, can be found on Cinnamon & Chai, which is the entirely separate body that Siddean launched some time ago. This sale seemed like a good excuse to take a sexy shot of each body, dressed up in clothes and shoes from Siddean’s brands as well.

Del-ka Aedilis latest release is a Roman tavern table (though it will fit into many historical/fantasy scenarios) that offers a selection of single and couple animations, for male and female avatars. Some of the animations, like the eating and drinking ones, include auto-rezzing props. I setup the table in one of the builds from Fanatik’s Roman village set; this one is technically a warehouse but works nicely as a tavern as well. The decor in the background is also from Del-ka Aedilis.

Proper Roman clothing for women is pretty hard to come by in SL, so I opted for more of a fantasy look with the Pandora gown from Tres. The Celeste hair from Magika isn’t all that Roman either, but very pretty. Red hair was quite popular, often achieved with various more or less disgusting bleaching methods and then henna on top of that.

Royalty is the theme for the current round of Enchantment and Fantavatar & Moonstruck has made a chest fit for a queen, with elaborate painted decor on all sides. The chest is scripted so that you can open the lid and use it for storage. At the default size, I think you might even be able to hide a body in it, should the need arise. ;) I’ve sized it down somewhat for these photos and set it up next to a furniture set from the same creator.

The pretty gown is Alisse from Senzafine and the Maia hair another find from Magika’s 50% off sale that is still going on. The castle is one of my favourites from Fanatik, the Dungan Castle; I really love this sitting room with the large fire place and have appropriated it as royal quarters.

Sometimes, you just want to do a good old-fashioned romance cover and the “Die With You” couple pose from Be My Mannequin? for The Grid event definitely suited that idea. Did our swashbuckling hero liberate his love from a harem only to run afoul of rival pirates? Because surely he is a pirate too with that shirt. ;)

We’re both wearing gorgeous outfits from toksik, who recently did a 50% off sale on all except their newest release. I paired my Allure set with the Sarabande slippers from lassitude & ennui, a lovely pair of leather slippers that are out for the current round of We Love Role-Play. Ran is wearing the Eternal blouse and pants, with the Bloodlust boots. The ship is Neptune’s Revenge from Maxwell Graf at Rustica.

And speaking of sales, my hair (of which you can’t see that much) is from Magika who is currently doing a 50% off sale on all her hairs. Stock up!

There is certainly no doubt of what inspired the “Green Queen” dress from Old Treasures, the stunning green gown worn by Queen Alicent in episode 6 of House of the Dragon. A great choice for a dress to bring into Second Life, and it looks wonderful in this red gold/copper version as well. It (as well as the icon green version) is included in the Dark pack and there is also a Light pack and a Fatpack.  The Verity necklace and earrings from Random Matter finish off the royal look.

The impressive braid is from Wasabi for Anthem and this has to be one of the best styles they’ve ever released. I just love the way it looks and its handy that the braid can be worn over either shoulder. Optional, unrigged bangs are also included.

Just a moody shot inspired by the season, dark and autumnal and with the Samhain Rune Tree from Del-ka Aedilis as the focal point. With a carved stone set in front of the tree and runes made from twigs dangling from its bare branches, it definitely fires up the imagination. Has perhaps more gruesome things hung from those branches as well?

I am a slow blogger these days. I’ve had the gorgeous Capulet dress from Old Treasures in my inventory for well over a month and the Delight hood from the same brand for even longer. But sometimes you just have to get the right idea and for me it came with this pose from Le Poppycock that I picked up on The Saturday Sale. I did have to tweak the right arm a little, as it was half sunk into the dress, but I didn’t touch the left arm with its very gracefully posed fingers.

The Capulet dress as well as the Delight hood are available in two gorgeous colour packs, dark and light. The Delight hood includes coiled braids and a hair colour HUD with colours that match LeLutka hairbases. I have a little renaissance-inspired mini town setup on the sim, using builds from Del-ka Aedilis and Fantavatar & Moonstruck, and that’s where I headed for a sunset balcony photo.

As promised in my previous post, a closer look at the new Prima Femme body, created by Fizz Savira. I picked up some very minimal lingerie from Faida to show off as much as possible of the body and selected the elegant, expressive “Creo en Mio” pose from Be My Mannequin? for the “fancy” shots. The hair is a new style from Wasabi, a sleek ponytail with a bit of a witchy hair clip. I included a close-up of the same pose to give a better look at the hair, scroll past that for the “review” shots of the body and all the details.

A little while ago, Fanatik released a wonderful collection of Roman buildings. With these, you can build your very own Roman town, with houses, warehouses, temples and a forum. There was also a package of Roman roads and a gorgeous villa Rustica, for the country lord living in style outside of the town. The textures for these sets are fantastic and they are easily resized if you find the defaults a bit too large. I am showing just a few shots here, to give a sense of the overall look of the pieces, but I am thinking of doing a video walk through of a build as well.

Another piece of Roman-inspired decor is the well bearing the SPQR inscription seen in the first two shots. It is from Del-ka Aedilis and also nicely resizable for when you’re rather short by SL standards. It looks great in the forum!

The hair is from F&M Oblivion, an elaborate updo that I don’t think was intended as Roman in style but sort of could pass for some of the braided arrangements we see on busts. My dress is from TRES for We Love Role-Play, a sleek fantasy gown with a nice ornate belt detail and a lovely back. For this release, TRES has added sizes for three new bodies, Belleza Gen X and Prima Femme Busty & Petite. I am actually wearing Prima Femme Petite for this post, together with a few of the very nice body deformers that add extra versatility to the shapes you can achieve. I will be digging into this body with a full review shortly! In the meantime, check it out at FaMESHed!