Otherworldly

I talk about this a bit in the video as well, but this will be a rather brief post as my typing is currently hampered by an injured finger. I will just leave it at saying that this video is a brief look at Vista’s latest bento mesh head, Zoe, as well as the latest release from Voluptas Virtualis, the Sheryl gacha set from the Epiphany. Unless my finger heals faster than I think, there might be quite a few more videos coming up.

A rustic wooden bed with texture options (three wood colours, five fabric colours) and many, many animations is the featured item of this post. The Vilnai bed comes from Roawenwood but it is by no means limited to a roleplay setup. The style and texturing of the bed will fit into any rustic home. It is also done in the same wood style as the bondage star previously released from Roawenwood and briefly seen in this post.

Also shown in this post are two new hairs: Marcus (unisex style) from Wasabi and Bewkie, the March VIP Group Gift from Truth.

At first, this was going to be all about this nifty Grecian-inspired armour from Noble Creations. But then I ended up making a new shape and using a new skin from Skin Fair, so of course I had to add in some nice body shots as well, though I passed on doing close ups of all tones since I had decided on this bright red hair and it really didn’t go with the darker tones.

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.

The first Shadow Box series from Death Row Designs has finally been completed with the release of the sixth box and of course I have an unboxing/reveal to share with you. If you have been following the series, you also know that not only do I have the new Light & Dark furniture sets to showcase but also the bonus Light & Dark houses where all your Shadow Box furniture can be displayed. I have been awaiting these bonus houses very eagerly and I can tell you right away that you will not be disappointed. This time around, I have included two extra still shots with the blog to show the exterior of the houses, but if you prefer to see them first in the video, you can go straight to it instead:

Apparently, we have a spot of bad weather moving in, with wind and rain or snow. Typical, when today started out so nicely and I had planned to take the dog tracking tomorrow as well. Fortunately, we did take advantage of the good weather today to do some training and tracking, though usually our dog expects more of the same next day when we’ve done something fun the day before. But tomorrow sounds like it will be a day for cozying up indoors, so I should have plenty of time to browse through the Blush event when it opens. Judging by the previews I have seen—one of which is the focus of today’s vlog—it will have some very nice things on sale. In addition to looking at the release from the Plastik for Blush I also showcase the latest VIP gift from Truth to show why its a great group to join.

My apologies in advance for my voice in this video. A persistent cold is keeping my company since the holidays, which is anything but ideal when trying to do a video. However, since the fifth Shadow Box in the first series of six from Death Row Designs came out on January 1st, I didn’t want to wait too long before showing it to you. This time, I had to break out a large villa from Trompe Loeil to fit in both the Light and Dark kitchen sets that made up the fifth box.

To learn more about Shadow Box and how to subscribe, make sure to visit the DRD website linked above. And remember, if you get all six boxes in a series, you will get both a Light and a Dark bonus build. Just one more box to go now!

There’s not many hours left of 2017 now. I am taking a little break before preparing the rest of tonight’s dinner (a quiet thing at home; my mother was the one who always did the big parties, and I find I cannot quite follow in her footsteps) to make what likely is the last post of the year for me. While there are a lot of other things competing for my attention right now, Second Life continues to be a nice outlet for my creative impulses, and I am looking forward to what 2018 will bring. I am particularly excited about Animesh, but I am also hoping for some nice surprises since LL has said that they will be making considerable investments in SL over the next few years.

I am also going to give Sansar more of a try. So far, we’re not getting along when it comes to the controls and the character customisation options are too limited for my tastes, but it does look gorgeous. I have also downloaded and setup the trial of Marvellous Designer that was offered to all Sansar account holders, to see if making clothing for Sansar is something I could learn. In SL, I will stick to shapes, but I do plan to try and do some more as well as rope Ran into making male shapes, now that he’s got a few mesh heads.

I am in the middle of organising a puppy show (have to get up at 4.30 am tomorrow, ugh), so this will be a few short words and two pictures. It was that or nothing, I am afraid. The Plastik has been doing some bento attachments lately, tails in particular. This set features both a tail and ears as well as a bejewelled horn to turn you into part unicorn. This would be the more deer-like variety of unicorn, as evidenced by the tufted tail and the style of the ears. The pieces come with HUDs both for colouring and for controlling the poses of the bento attachments (if you get the fatpack rather than one of the six preset colours, you get additional options), allowing for both static and animated positions.

I am still playing around with the Lia head from Vista, making shapes and trying out skins. For these photos, I am using the YS&YS skin that was included with the head and I made a shape specifically for it which I also put up on the Marketplace. And, since I was also planning to showcase the Enelia set from Voluptas Virtualis, I made the shape for Slink Physique Hourglass, which is one of the three bodies supported for the set (the other two being Belleza Freya and Maitreya).

For November, Enchantment takes us to the world of Snow White, full of poisoned apples, dwarves and evil queens. I think I saw at least three glass coffins on sale as well, which brought back fond memories of a lovely pose prop from Studio Sidhe. There were also a few magic mirrors, which makes me fervently wish for reflections in Second Life. But enough reminiscing and wishful thinking! I have a lovely dress from Dreaming Thicket to show you, together with a pose set from Double Take, a new-to-me pose store.

It has been a few months since I last tried a Deco(c)rate, but with November being their 1 year anniversary I decided to treat myself. The preorders also included a MadPea scratch card with chances to win various prizes as an added incentive, but alas, my result was just three empty boxes. Fortunately, my Deco(c)rate was anything but empty and I ended up with a rather lengthy video looking at what each of the 15 designers had made for the theme “Cozy Nights”. It turned out they had gotten very cozy indeed!

I know, I know. Autumn has barely begun and I am doing snow & ice pictures. But I really couldn’t think of a more fitting surrounding for the Opal skin from Fallen Gods, which has a lovely, icy feel thanks to the iridescent patterning. And since the idea was to show off the skin, I opted to pass on any clothing and simply accessorize with a hair from Truth and a new set of horns from the Plastik.

The third Shadow Box in the first series of six from Death Row Designs was released yesterday. As with the second one, I decided to more of a reveal than an unboxing, to show the items in a planned setup. I admit, the theme of this box threw me for a little loop at first, since it is not the kind of furnishings that I tend to use in Second Life. However, after rezzing everything out, I really took a liking to the Dark version in particular.

To learn more about Shadow Box and how to subscribe, make sure to visit the DRD website linked above. And remember, if you get all six boxes in a series, there is a bonus item at the end.

While I did not manage to win the massive castle from the Bloodcroft Castle Gacha by Death Row Designs, I did come away with some very nice furnishings that I decided to setup in my castle from Fanatik to make a cosy, gothic scene. The fireplace, in particular, is gorgeously detailed. Then I dressed up in the Claire gown from the Muses and took my place as the lady of the manor.