Otherworldly

A somewhat eclectic mix today, with everything from decor to new eyes. We’ll start big, though, with another building from Del-ka Aedilis. This one is from their medieval series, so it seemed to fit well with wearing a Viking-inspired gown by the Muses. The kitchen garden on the side is a separate item from the same series and can be combined with most any of their houses. The jewellery is more fantastical, a fairy-delicate set from lassitude & ennui that comes in a range of beautiful, shimmering mixed metals.

The braids are the latest style from Wasabi, which comes in a straight and a slightly windblown version where both the bangs and the braids have swung to one side. And then we have the eyes, the Oculi from FATE. Damien Fate calls them spiritual successors to the FATEeyes and that is fair enough, though they are quite different in many ways. The HUD is sleek and easy and even with just the included textures they are highly versatile as they tint beautifully. The HUD also allows very easy positioning vertically, horizontally and depth-wise.

There is also a free developer kit for making your own textures, something I am eager to have a go at. Their biggest new feature is properly speaking the realistically dilating and contracting pupil; it is perhaps not what excites me the most, though I need to play around with how it can affect expressions in photos and how it looks on video. Either way, I like these eyes a lot. They may not be the ultimate mesh eyes (for that, I would like BoM as well as appliers, but because these use special textures that won’t work), but they get close in that they offer both excellent positioning and easy customisation.

As my herd of Teegle horses has grown, I’ve found myself wishing for a stable that would fit in with the rest of my sim which is full of castles and the like. The latest release from Fanatik goes a long way to fulfil that wish. It may not be a full-on period stable, but it definitely looks great and suits my Teeglepets perfectly.

But that’s not all I’ve got for you! The Muses has a new mainstore, so I am showing off a favourite from their current collection of gowns, and Skin Within has another new skin out, the second after their return to Second Life. So do keep reading for more photos!

I love it when an idea comes together and the result is a scene where you can feel that there is a story behind the picture. In my mind, I drew some very loose inspiration from the Wheel of Time as it could conceivably accommodate the two outfits we wanted to show off within the range of cultures and clothing styles described for the world. That would make my character an Aes Sedai, perhaps from one of the Borderlands given the style of dress, and Ran could probably pass as a nobleman of Andor. And yes, we used to roleplay on a pair of Wheel of Time MU*s, before A Song of Ice and Fire took over our lives, so for a while we were very immersed in that setting. In fact, the first characters I tried to create a look for in Second Life were my WoT-characters.

I think I am well on my way to becoming a virtual horse hoarder. I’ve now got six of the seven Teeglepets plus the Teegle avatar (on a separate account, so I can take myself for a ride) roaming around on the sim. The latest addition is the absolutely gorgeous Arabian, beautifully modelled to have the distinctive dish-shaped face, large eyes and nostrils and proudly carried tail. The movements of this horse are also very well suited to the breed and while I did not do a video this time, I tried to capture some of it in the shots I took.

The Arabian is currently an event exclusive at the Princess Bride round of Enchantment and the same goes for the lovely Arabian Nights tack from Jinx that I also picked up. This made it easy to decide how I wanted to show off the horse and so off I went to setup the Sahara Oasis solid sky landscape from Landscapes Unlimited. To this I added the new ruins from Fanatik and tinted these to blend in more with the desert sands. As for myself, I decided to be a desert prince rather than a desert princess—easier to find clothing suited to riding astride.

In time for Valentine’s Day, Roawenwood has put out a set which I guess one could call romantic BDSM at We Love Role-Play, the “Yearning Heart Collaring Ceremony”. Well, that was an excellent excuse for breaking out a silk set from the Plastik/Petrichor & Lune for myself and getting Ran to wear a newly bought and very princely necklace from Old Treasures for the current round of Enchantment. Which, btw, I will be showing you more things from soon since I may have acquired yet another Teeglepet horse.

This started as an entry for Enchantment’s photo contest for their King Arthur-inspired round. Together with the Homeric epics, the Arthurian legends were among the first stories I fell in love with in the form of retellings for children and the wonderful Classics Illustrated before I got to the “real” versions of the legends—which of course with the Matter of Britain is a very nebulous thing given how many different versions there are! In any case, of course I had to attempt an entry for the contest given my love for the legend, it was just a matter of picking ONE favourite scene/element. Fortunately, it also had to be one that could be portrayed in SL, which narrowed the field somewhat. In the end, I settled for Arthur’s body being taken away to Avalon. Yes, there should be three queens—I guess the other two are hiding in the back (or front, rather)—and Excalibur is generally back with the Lady of the Lake rather than in Morgan le Fay’s hands, but we are allowed some liberties and personal tweaks. Like I said, there are so many versions anyway.

Nephilaine of the Muses has been on fire lately, releasing a string of fantasy/roleplay outfits, some for women and quite a few for men! She sent me a selection of these and of course I had to tell Ran to pick some up as well, so that we could do a photo together and show off a pair of the new releases. Since I don’t have a separate male alt, that meant changing myself into ManFreyja, which is always a bit weird since I’ve just got a female AO. ;) I am not sure what I dislike the most, standing around with the female AO on when I am dressed as a male or standing around with the AO off and looking like a noob. That may actually be more painful.

Anyway, back to business of showing off these outfits! We headed off to our tavern by Fanatik to play some nice, in the form of a working dice game by the Dreaming Thicket.

In my previous post, I mentioned having picked up the latest makeup release from Alaskametro, Summer Beauty. In this post, you’ll see a gradual addition of makeup from that set, matching a few of the animations available in Dutchie’s fantastic mid-century vanity. This stylish piece is such fun, with an excellent selection of animations. I had no idea there were so many animations for putting on makeup and brushing your hair available, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when there are lifestyle/roleplay animations of so many other kinds available. I would have loved to do a video as well, but that doesn’t quite work when we’re not at home. As it is, I am really pleased with the photos, though I could easily have added twice as many because there were so many nice animations to pick from.

Without any help from cute cartoon animals, this Cinderella has to sort out a gown for the ball on her own. I just love the kind of scenes you can setup with well-made roleplay props and some of the best definitely come from Roawenwood. The latest set is out at We Love Role-Play and offers not only a few different work animations but also options for rezzing different in-progress garments on the dummy. The top and skirt seen here is one such option, the dress shown in the background another.

Another post about my favourite event as well as one of my favourite designers, the Muses. And this time, Nephilaine has outdone herself with a gown closely inspired by a portrait of Anne of Cleves, who was Henry VIII’s fourth wife but survived both him and all his other wives. The red and gold version seen here is the original colour scheme, but the gown is also available in black and blue. As it covers the whole body, it is only made in a single fitmesh size, which falls quite close to bodies like Maitreya and Slink Physique.

I paired the gown with a hair from Fantavatar & Moonstruck which isn’t quite right for the period but suited it perfectly well. I then switched out our massive Iron Throne for a smaller throne from Dysfunctional Designs to complete the scene. I had also planned to show off some new banners from the Dreaming Thicket, but since I opted for such dark lighting, they barely show at all. I will have to get back to those!

Last week, I was reached by the sad news that Nephilaine, the creator behind the Muses, had lost her RL husband. A fundraiser had been set up for her and their twin children, to help with the expenses that cannot be avoided in a situation like this. In the long term, however, it will undoubtedly be important for the Muses to reach as many customers as possible. With that in mind, I created a video showcasing the store, hoping to encourage some old and new customers to visit and do some shopping.

The last Deco(c)rate shipped out a few days ago. I did not buy it this month, but I have subscribed a few times and will be sad to see it go, though it does seem like subscription boxes have a limited lifespan. I do have one item from the last crate to show you, however, namely the Vina Dining Set from the Plastik. While the theme for the crate was La Dolce Vita, I found that this rustic set of tables, benches and side table looked quite nice next to one of my medieval village houses from Fanatik. So, I opted for setting up a very rustic “garden party”, using some food props from Aisling.

A touch of whimsy with this setup from Noble Creations, the Muses and Wasabi, inspired by the fact that the hairstyle is from the current round of Enchantment and its Alice in Wonderland-theme. The Rusty Gate (available with green leaves or rotten leaves) and the low wall make for a beautiful entrance into the enchanted woods, separating them from the mundane outside.

Today it was time to flit through the woods on delicate fairy wings, discovering a clearing full of strange and wonderful flowers and vines from Adorably Strange Wares.  The beautiful Daphne dress from the Muses felt like something a fairy might wear and the autumn colour went nicely with the wings from Les Encantades. But a fairy doesn’t need to keep to one season, so the Gaia crown from Acios has more of a spring or summer feel with its lush blooms. My fairy-self also has a taste for other treasures and wears a stunning necklace from Bliensen + MaiTai.

I have a great fondness for fairy-tales and my book shelves bear evidence of this, being home to a number of different collections of classic fairy-tales as well as various modern retellings and reworkings. Once I knew I wanted to photo the Lucrezia gown from the Muses—out now at the February round of We Love Role-Play, which has a brand new and quite striking build—in front of a window in my castle from Fanatik, a spinning wheel seemed like the perfect fairy tale decor item. Fortunately, I had one from Cheeky Pea from an earlier Deco(c)rate. It also seemed appropriate to decorate the walls with some tapestries from Paper Moon.