Otherworldly

The latest release from Fanatik is a beautiful recreation of the Rorbuer, traditional fishermen’s cabins from Norway. These red-painted cabins sit on stilts and look out over the breathtaking beauty of the Norwegian fjords. I did not have any fjords available, but the Patagonia sim surround from Landscapes Unlimited gives a suitably dramatic backdrop vista. I also used one of the islands from Fanatik’s Land Shapes set, but since those do not (yet) have PBR textures, I switched the snow texture for a new one from Studio Skye to better match the beautiful PBR textures on the Rorbuer buildings and docks. The final result makes me crave snow, which alas is not something we got a lot of on the west coast of Sweden in November. Rain, on the other hand…

Anyway, the Rorbuer release consists of two sets, one with the buildings and the stilts and another with docks, stairs and lanterns. The work on the PBR wood textures is fantastic, it looks so real close up, and the interiors are just as good as the outsides, very rustic and cosy. The buildings have separate snow add-ons and the docks and stairs have a regular and a snow option. But be aware that they ship without the scripts in to make them leaner by default, so to change them you need to add in the included script to your linksets. But there are clear instructions included!

Autumn is truly here now, more rainy and grey than gloriously colourful at the moment, but in Second Life I can have whichever version I like. So I opted for a gorgeous sunset to show off the yellowed leaves of the Bunta tree from Botanical, with a few of them fallen and scattered on the ground as well. And speaking of the ground, it uses PBR textures from Studio Skye which under the right light settings can look fantastic.

The gazebo is a recent release from DICTATORSHOP, part of the Secret Garden range which I have already shown some other pieces from before. The textures are made to match the rest of the series and the HUD offers both preset combinations and full customisation of each element. Here, I opted for the aged wood preset, giving the gazebo a lovely, rustic look.

The warrior creeps through the woods, approaching the clearing with caution. In the middle of it stands a mossy throne, lit by the flickering flames of two torches. Certain that there is no ambush awaiting her, she approaches the throne, her spear in hand.

Tomorrow, a new round of We Love Role-Play opens, offering a great selection of new releases at discounts of 15% to 30%. Almost entirely kitted out by the event, my orc warrior has skin (with great muscle definition!), eyes and tattoos by Fallen Gods, wears an outfit by Athe Fantasy and carries a naginata by Thorn. The throne is by MoonSha and comes in several variants, plus a hud for each variant that offers different shades.

Another event, already on-going, is Hair Fair 2024. It covers six regions and offers hairs and hair-related products, with all items sold donating a percentage to Wigs for Kids. Don’t miss this fabulous opportunity to update your look, for example with the Nyx hair from Exile that I am wearing here.

A bit of a different beach photo, with dark clouds in the sky and dark waves rolling in over the sand. I wanted dramatic lighting to match the slightly windblown style of Imani, the latest Truth Collective collaboration between Truth and Wasabi. I also thought it suited the other collaboration I am wearing, namely the Bariel Bodysuit by Petrichor and Ersch. The dark blue shade I selected on the Gloss HUD, one of several available texture packs, put me in mind of a sea at night.

The new Teeglepet for the 2022 Horse Show is the stunning Clover, an Irish Cob. She has the most lovely eyes, a gorgeous long mane and a beautiful piebald coat. Whether you need a new best friend for your trail rides or a sturdy horse to hitch to your wagon, Clover will suit you very well indeed. Of course I had to show Clover in a video and this also allowed me to switch her into some of the new accessories, such as the braided mane and tail as well as the heavy harness, all from Teegle. I also brought out the fancy royal carriage by H-Mart to show how well suited she is to that as well. Below the video, you’ll find a couple of photos as well as the full credits.

The best kind of rain is a soft summer rain and sometimes it can feel wonderful to be on the beach when it happens, perhaps even take a swim in the rain.

Be My Mannequin’s “Feel How it Feels” pose (inspired by Stranger Things and its usage of Kate Bush’s fantastic Running Up That Hill) was perfect for the image of just sitting on the beach and letting a gentle rain wash down over you. The Lemongrass hair from Wasabi is a lovely, summery style which also comes with a hat for an even more beachy look and the Amelia shirt and shorts set from Salt & Pepper is part of their interactive Aquasense range, meaning it can go from dry to wet and vice versa when interacting with SL water and various scripted objects. Selected colours are on sale for the weekend.

I love how this image came out, both moody and seasonal. I’ve been struggling a bit with ideas again, but I think it is partly because I have been trying to force myself to blog the wrong things. For next year, I will need to rethink my blogging commitments. On the one hand, if I don’t have some things I actually have to do, I can get too indecisive and just never get anything done because I keep waiting for the perfect idea. On the other hand, if I have to work too hard to get inspired it can be draining.

Anyway, when I saw this lovely dress from Faida and Velvet Whip at Redeux, I knew I wanted to do something with it. But I’ve wandered about in it for a few days now without just the right idea (see above), until I remembered the Starlight Lantern from Contraption that I picked up a few weeks ago. Off to my little winter landscape in the sky I went and then the magic happened.

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.

You still have a few days to visit the current round of We Love Role-Play, where—among many other things—you can find the Evrim outfit from the Annex. I knew I wanted that one in gold as soon as I saw it (it also includes a sheer version, btw) but then Skin Fair came between me and setting up a desert scene for photoing it. When I finally did get around to it, I had picked up a couple of more things for the scene such as the beautiful lantern from the Dreaming Thicket and the ornate tack set by Cheval D’or.

We’re now heading into the final week of the Home & Garden Expo so I wanted to remind everyone that Teegle has two new Teeglepets at the Expo, the Fjord Horse and the Connemara Pony. I picked up the new pack of Fjord coats in all allowed colours from Teegle and decided that in this pale coat, he could play Bäckahästen (the River Horse, a creature from Nordic folklore) in this mystical woodland scene which features the Edo Freshwater from Konoha, also for the Expo.

It is only November, but I am starting to crave snow—especially instead of rain, rain and more rain! Right now, I have to settle for the virtual kind, however, so when Del-ka Aedilis sent out a blogger package with a wintry theme, I changed over one of my sky landscapes to match. Fortunately, Studio Skye recently released a 4 Season Bolt-On for the Woodland Path, which came in handy for this scene. The gown from Senzafine may not quite be warm enough on its own, but I rather like it in combination with this cape, an older release from Stitched.

Ever since I started renting a full sim, I have become somewhat obsessed with acquiring landscaping items and buildings. I am constantly changing up pieces of the sim for photos, so as a whole it always looks like a work in progress, and now that extends to sky landscapes as well. I guess I did not really need a path system, but when Studio Skye released the Woodland Path Building Set, I couldn’t resist it. Especially not since I joined their group a while ago and new releases are sold at 50% off to the group for the first weekend. So, then I had to build up a little area to show it off, which meant adding in the Scots Pine forest from Studio Skye and a few castles from Fanatik as well. Fanatik is currently having a big sale with up to 50% on a lot of items, so if you are similarly obsessed, don’t miss that!

The last month of the year is here and I am busy with the usual stuff (decorating, baking, etc) and some unexpected complications (a lame horse), but once I get through this weekend I should have a bit more time to breathe at least. For today’s photos, perhaps I should have gone for a winter look rather than an autumn feel, but I really liked the look of this skin in deep reds and greens. So, I went for an autumn faun/satyr prancing through the woods and coming across a curious well with a sculpture of a little kinsman!

Yesterday was one of those days where I had to indulge in some virtual retail therapy to cheer myself up, so I picked up some landscaping sets from Studio Skye that I have been eyeing for a while and did some rebuilding of the winter corner of our sim. I am rather liking the result and decided to use it as the backdrop for a new video, where I look at another animated/customisable hair from Little Bones and some new makeups from the Plastik.

I am not out of the woods yet. In fact, I am not sure that I will be able to get the woods out of me this time, thanks to Alia Baroque’s newest release for We Love Role-Play. Fallen Gods is offering both a new set of Wood Nymph skins (for men and women) and several new tattoos with a very green theme. I thought they were a great match for The Plastik’s offering for the same event, a set of impressive horns with an optional braid for fitting them to your existing hair.