Otherworldly

No, indeed, it is not. Fantasy Faire 2018 was supposed to end today, but the Fairelands will now be around until May 7th. Official programming will still end today, but you will be able to continue shopping, exploring, doing the quest and of course donating to RFL. I will be gone for a couple of days myself and when I come back I do have some non-Fantasy Faire blogging lined up, but I hope to show a few more favourites before the 7th.

To celebrate that today is not the end, both Ran and I went shopping at Silvan Moon Designs, picking up a nice set of RFL retexturings of a pair of her outfits which we both paired with Wasabi hairs. I also added a jewelery set from Acios and used the Mythril Roleplay HUD for the bow and the curtsey. The house and the furniture set are from Rustica.

I am taking a brief break in my Fantasy Faire coverage to take a look at a gacha collaboration between Stealthic and Toksik called the Off-Stage collection. The hair is of course made by Stealthic and the photo studio, backdrop and various props (lights, toolbox, ladder, chair) by Toksik. The rares are the hair and the photo studio itself but there are several other pieces that you can use on their own as well. The backdrop, for example, makes for a nice photo backdrop and all the lights are functional light sources.

Today it was time to wander the Fairelands for a while. Wearing the beautiful Verbena set from Dreaming Thicket, I was well prepared to make my way through the sands of Sanoria to walk in the footsteps of the ancients and see the remnants of their civilisation. There are clues scattered across the sim to who they were, a little mini quest that you can enjoy while exploring the sim and the merchants present there.

While I don’t roleplay in Second Life (instead, you’ll find me on Blood of Dragons MUSH), I am most definitely a roleplayer. I also like capturing what you might call “roleplay situations” in my fantasy blogging and I often find myself frustrated by the lack of poses for such scenarios. Enter the Roleplay HUD from Mythril, which offers a wonderful variety of poses and animations for roleplayers and photographers looking for something different.

In addition to the HUD, I also showcase Wasabi’s two new hairs for the Fantasy Faire as well as a neat outfit from Stitched.

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.

The Pose Fair has now been going on for about two weeks. I actually went shopping on the first day, but haven’t had time to blog my purchases until now. My favourite find has to be the “Shame Stand” from Artis, a pedestal with seven poses (versions for flat and high feet included). I used them unaltered for the first two poses, then used Animare to tweak the head position in order to better show off the jewellery from the Plastik in the close-ups.

This will be unusually brief, but I fell off during my riding lesson today and landed on my behind, so I am not sitting very comfortably. As a result, I am simply going to make a short and sweet introduction of Jenna, a new skin from Adam n Eve that is made exclusively for Vista’s bento heads. Jenna comes in the usual six tones from Adam n Eve and with four brow colours plus a no brow option. She was designed on Diana, the second of Vista’s two heads, but I think she looks just as good on Lia. To show her off, I decided to dabble in some close-up head shots, something I always find a little tricky. You will find Jenna at Vista’s mainstore.

Spending the morning at the stables is always a good way to start the day. I am helping start up a horse that has been resting after an injury and this time of the year the cold weather can make that a rather “exciting” affair. Fortunately, she’s very well behaved and has been keeping all hooves on the ground. I suppose I should add a “knock on wood” here, because you never know.

My Second Life is rather undressed at the moment; I have ended up with a variety of more or less naughty things to review. In this post, a harness from Voluptas Virtualis plus decor from the Plastik and Roawenwood. I will need to feature the Roawenwood item in more detail later on, I didn’t have a playmate on hand for these photos. I’ve also made another shape for Vista’s new Diana head, this time for an alaskametro skin.

Last Friday Vista Animations released their second bento mesh head, Diana. As I had purchased Lia when it came out and been very pleasantly surprised by its quality, I wasted no time in demoing and ultimately buying Diana. It certainly did not hurt that she is currently on sale for L$2000 (regular price will be L$2500) PLUS if you purchased Lia already and buy Diana on the Marketplace, you get an instant rebate of another L$1000 which makes it a truly excellent deal.

Since I already had a vlog in mind for Roawenwood’s We Love Role-Play release, I decided to combine this with a look at Diana as well. Also featured is a new outfit from Dreaming Thicket and a new hair from Stealthic.

It is not easy to find motivation to stay at the computer when we finally have some snow outside. Or time, for that matter, since the dog would prefer to be outside playing all the time. (Un)fortunately, the snow also came with a rather cold northern wind, which makes cozying up inside a little more appealing. The dog still insists, though, and sighs in a very suffering fashion if he doesn’t get what he want.

Given the cold, I opted for a warmer scenario for this post. I had picked up this rug with massage and cuddle animations from Roawenwood during a prior 25 Linden Tuesday and it came in handy for shooting one of the new sets from Voluptas Virtualis.

Time has rather run away from me this week, in part because I’ve ended up spending too much time trying to reorganize and clean up a room to fit in a treadmill for our dog. As a result, I have been waltzing around in the new gacha set from Voluptas Virtualis for a few days without getting around to doing the blog. In the end, I ended up deciding to show off some of the options included on the HUD through a video. This also allowed me to demonstrate the bento animations included with the Snowlace Cookies from the Plastik. I also took the opportunity to highlight some perennial decor favourites.

Yesterday, I received an update to one of the products I own from Landscapes Unlimited, the Sky Water. With new textures and options, it has become Sky Water and Ice, allowing for wintry scenes featuring water up in the sky. I decided to do a quick video to showcase the new hud and the options included with it. I also talk (okay, ramble) a bit about the overall range from Landscapes Unlimited, which has proven very useful for setting up multiple landscapes on a single sim.

I’ve spent most of the last four days at a big dog show in Gothenburg, leaving very little time for sitting at the computer. Which isn’t bad, admittedly, since both my work and several of my hobbies involve the computer. The dog training doesn’t, except of course for talking on dog forums, looking at training videos and so on. ;)

But anyway, I did find myself at the computer in the evening today and I finally came up with a nice idea for how to shoot this cloak from the Dreaming Thicket. I had picked up the Wood Works set in Light wood from Fanatik during their sale, and using that at the edge of our wintry woods gave the feeling of someone venturing out into the woods on their own in the deep of winter.

Alaskametro has recently released several, sparkly festive new items that fit the season perfectly. One of these is the shimmery Kristal bodysuit, here worn without the optional underlayer to make it less sheer. To make myself feel a little cosier, I added a cardigan from Cynful; the size I am using is actually for Physique Hourglass, but for a loose fit like a cardigan it worked fine on Physique Original too. The decor in the scene comes from Noble Creations, Senzafine and the Plastik.

I have been making more shapes for Vista’s Lia head and the latest one inspired me to do this photo, featuring the charming new Briar Rose gown from Dreaming Thicket (formerly Anachron) together with two gachas from the Arcade by Wasabi and HEXtraordinary. The gown comes fitted for Belleza Freya and Isis, Maitreya and both Slink bodies. Wasabi’s gacha hair, Sloane, comes with and without a cosy knit hat. HEXtraordinary’s Owl Keeper gacha includes several varieties of owl as flying or perched and they can be rezzed or worn. The rares include the Snowy Owl in both versions as well as a brass cage and a brass stand.