Otherworldly

I have tried swearing off gachas more than once, but sometimes a release crops up that is just too tempting. Such was the case when I saw the previews for Ane‘s Moroccan Market gacha for The Chapter Four. Fortunately, I managed to get enough pieces to put together the build (alas, still missing the filler walls) without spending too much, giving me a nice backdrop for some photos.

The collaboration between Fallen Gods and Faida that began quite recently has now produced yet another lovely gown and, even more fabulously, an outfit for those of the male persuasion as well. Ran and I thought our avatars would make a rather fetching couple when dressed in these creations, and fortunately I had some couple poses by An Lar that wanted to see some use.

Not my usual style, but I wanted to do something that fit a pose set that I picked up from elymode. Then I spotted the bodysuit from Luxuria for Fifty Linden Friday and Ran suggested that I go with the white version (you also get a black and a nude) and use a more austere build than what we normally go for.

Time for another of those portraits inspired by The World of Ice and Fire. Both Ran and I are big fans of Dorne and we were absolutely thrilled that GRRM wrote so much about the region for the book. In particular, the story of how Nymeria led her people to Dorne and joined forces with Mors Martell made us squeal with excitement when we first read that part of the manuscript. So, of course I had to do an interpretation of Nymeria. There are a couple of great pieces of art in the book showing her as well, though in this case I didn’t really look at any of those.

This is a post of last minute reminders for A Tattered Page, My Attic and for various Black Friday sales. We’ve had a busy weekend (culminating in a dog show today), but its a few hours until midnight still (especially if you’re in a different timezone from us).

Its Midsummer here today, but for my blogging I am abandoning Swedish traditions and heading out into the desert courtesy of the latest round of Genre - Arabia. I also added in a dash of Totally Top Shelf, a new event where the first round is inspired by Greek mythology.

Pose Fair 2014 is underway and it is time to fill up those pose stands with some fresh new poses. I have to admit that my shopping so far has been rather limited as I feel I have plenty of general modelling poses already. Instead, I look for sets with interesting themes as well as for props. Seeing as most of my posts are fantasy/role-play looks, I am particularly keen on finding poses that suit such photos, but that’s anything but easy. For example, I don’t want my avatar to look like she’s modelling the clothing/accessories, I want it to be more of a portrait look. And while I am at it, I might as well wish for some couple poses depicting combat, like sword-fighting/fencing. ;)

But, I did find some must-have poses on my first visit to the Pose Fair. oOo Studios has several new sets out, including two sets of seated poses, and one of these proved to be just what I needed to shoot a few pieces from Sax Shepherd Designs.

ieQED has been producing a nice series of A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones inspired (but wholly original in design) crowns for various gatchas and for the Secret Affair the set included one called Sunspear. Being the big fan of Dorne that I am, I knew I wanted to feature it, so this look and these photos were largely built around the crown. The other item I really wanted to focus on was this brand-new henna designs from Chandra Masala’s Jalwa brand. It includes both arm and leg designs which you will see in more detail inside the post.

I couldn’t quite get out of the lovely Snow Queen skin from Jalwa just yet, so I added brows of a different colour (browless skins are so handy) and a lip tint to make it look a little less frosty and more suited for the gorgeous Thetis gown from Senzafine, another We Love Role-Play release. I thought it went really well together with the stunning Artifact set from Eclectica at the Jewelery and Accessories Expo.

Life has continued to be more hectic than I would prefer (especially in December!), but I have at least managed a bit of reading lately. One of the books was an ARC of Mark Smylie’s The Barrow, which is quite the old-fashioned Sword & Sorcery adventure. It was just the inspiration I needed to create a look from a couple of the new releases for this round of We Love Role-Play: Jalwa’s Snow Queen skin and ieQED’s antler pauldrons.