Otherworldly

Old Treasures makes beautiful, historically-inspired pieces, at first accessories and furniture and now also clothing. The jewellery is of course particularly appealing to me, as I love to hoard shiny things. The Kleos Necklace and Earrings may be my favourites from Old Treasures so far, especially as jewellery inspired by Ancient Greece is not exactly common in Second Life. Gemstones polished into beads rather than cut and precious metals decorated with fine etchings and little metal beads fit well with the kind of work done in the ancient Mediterranean. I am showing the set in gold with red gems, but the texture change HUD offers a choice of five metals and, for the necklace, five gemstones. You can get the necklace at the current round of We Love Role-Play. The earrings were at the Warehouse Sale but since that ended on the 18th they should either be in the mainstore or on their way to the mainstore.

It is that time of the year again, when it is time to get in touch with your darker side. I am easing into it with a moody evening shot which features a flamenco-inspired dress and a distinctly gothic jewellery set together with a skin pale enough to suit a vampire. Two elegant poses from Be My Mannequin are used to show off this intriguing blend of influences. Mon Cher and Cara Mia release today at the Dark Style Fair where they are sold in an event-exclusive fatpack called Gothic Romance. After the event, they will only be sold individually and the fatpack exclusive couple pose En Garde will not be available.

Maxwell Graf, the creator behind Rustica, has been on a longer hiatus from creating in Second Life. But yesterday he dipped his toes back in with the release of a versatile mesh fire, intended as a high-quality replacement fire for fire places, torches etc. Of course, since it is fully modifiable, I decided to do something rather different with it and created a demonic landscape with black crystals and fire. The fire can be turned on and off with a click and you can also edit the way the three different meshes that make it up fit together by editing linked parts.

The pose is Dark Matter by Be My Mannequin? and it is perfect for showing off the striking Draugr skin by Fallen Gods, here with the addition of the Orthae tattoo in silver. The hair is by Mythril and it allows you to set various specular maps; here I went for one with a fiery effect to match the surroundings.

With new and old items from the Dreaming Thicket, a tattoo from Fallen Gods and a pose from Be My Mannequin? I created this scene of a guardian of an enchanted wood. The gown as well as the tattoo are from the Age of Avalon event, which inspired me to think of a secret haven which not everyone could reach. The amulet—available in sun and moon versions—went well with the priestess/enchantress image and the forbidding stance of the pose makes her seem like she’s not going to let just anyone pass. The landscaping consists of items from Fanatik and Studio Skye.

Eos, the sister of Helios, was cursed by Aphrodite to fall in love with mortals, something she did several times. As always, immortal and mortal made for a poor match, ending in tragedy one way or another.

The “Worlds Apart” couple pose from Be My Mannequin? was conceived of as an underwater pose (it comes in a human and a merpeople version) but I wanted to reinterpret it. When trying the poses out, the idea of Eos descending on a mortal that had caught her eye was the one that stood out.

A litte Thursday quickie using a couple of things from the Fifty Linden Friday’s birthday event and this week’s Dark Wednesday release from Be My Mannequin? I used the Dutchie mid century mirror closet for the photo, which is made so that you can turn your camera around to look out through the glass and get a kind of mirror effect. This pose is one of a set of four close-up poses, meant to be shot from the waist up. The turn of the torso and the look over the shoulder really helps sell the mirror idea.

The style from Wasabi offers two different options for the bangs and a left side or right side braid. The dress from Blueberry comes in four patterns and tons of colour options for the lace and the ties. It also includes fits for a large range of bodies, including Slink Physique Original.

Given the upcoming ban on gachas, I decided to revisit another deviousMind gacha for this post; Chandra Meehan’s gachas will definitely be sorely missed as they have always been designed so that ever item is perfectly useable on its own. For this post, however, I am showing off the full Sylvari set, complete with the rares such as the headdress and the petal skirt.

The pose, which comes with the glowing orb, is another Be My Mannequin? creation. It has a very mystical feel, which is why I went full on fantasy with the look and the surroundings.

Still on vacation and on a laptop, so keeping things a little simple. But it suddenly struck me that this pose from Be My Mannequin? would work nicely together with the latest Experience Portal from Fanatik. I wanted something eerie for the EEP setting and green is always a good choice is the colour of sorcery. To match this, I edited the crystal heart prop included with the pose to be glowing green rather than red. I also raised the poseball off the ground, making it seem as if the magic is levitating my avatar.

I picked up both my hair and the outfit from the Wanderlust Weekend sale last weekend; that’s what I call great finds! The hair is by No.Match and the robe from 1313 Mockingbird Lane. I love the fact that No.Match has so many unisex hairs and longer styles for men, I definitely have to get Ran to shop there soon.

She had come to the ancient ruin, half-buried by the desert sands, to learn if the tales were true. Did a dragon of flesh and blood still roam the deep desert? The bones of such creatures, bleaches by the sun, were occasionally revealed by the shifting sands. But no man, or woman, had gazed upon a living beast for centuries.

The single pose “Hurt” from Be my Mannequin? immediately suggested to me someone looking upwards with a sense of wonder on their face. What an excellent opportunity to bring out our wyvern avatar from Prehistorica again! I had also had my eye on Zaara’s latest release and decided to appropriate it for a desert fantasy look, beautifully completed by the latest release from Stealthic, Lavish. The scene was set using the a sky landscape from Landscapes Unlimited and the Ruins kit from Fanatik.

Hair Fair, one of the oldest events in Second Life, is back again after a hiatus last year. Just as before, the event raises money for Wigs for Kids; a percentage of each sale is donated to the charity. The event runs for two weeks, untill July 4th, and covers a total of six sims. The layout this year is super easy to browse through and the sims are very low lag as well. There are gifts from many of the creators and there were quite a few styles for men available.

The first hair that I am going to show off is the Everly updo from EMO-tions. I had already decided that I wanted to put together a vaguely 17th/18th century inspired look for the couple pose “To Live” from Be My Mannequin for the Anti-Event. An elegant updo suited the look very well. Other than that, I decided to raid my inventory for my outfit and the decor, the latter being a mix of items from Rustica and Libertine.

Night has fallen over the desert. By the fruit trees and date palms of the oasis, a large, striped tent has been erected. There’s no sign of activity outside of the tent, but inside someone waits…

The sand storm delayed her and left few tracks to be followed, but eventually she found the site of the battle. But she was too late.

Be My Mannequin? is a pose store that I discovered quite recently and then was fortunate enough to get accepted as a blogger for. They offer single, couple and group poses of the “storytelling” variety, meaning they are great for building a scene around. That suits me perfectly, since I rarely have much of a need for straight-up modelling poses but instead want to show a moment from a story.

This particular pose included two variants for different shapes and I found that even though mine and Ran’s shapes tend to differ a bit from the SL average, the fit of the alternate version was very good. I also wanted to show how different a single pose can look depending on the angle, so I setup two similar shots from different angles.