Otherworldly

One reason behind the redesign of our blog and the rest of the site was a closer integration between our two virtual pursuits: Second Life and MUSHing. We are still very much active MUSHers and have been running our own A Song of Ice and Fire-based game called Blood of Dragons for several years. Text-based gaming is hardly a booming hobby these days, but for some reason, this little TV show called Game of Thrones has resulted in a lot more interest in the game this year…

In any case, today’s little photography and post-processing exercise started out as an attempt at illustrating one of my characters from our game, Lady Aisling Ryswell.

The first mesh hairs are slowly cropping up and so far I am pretty thrilled. Its early days still and no doubt plenty of room for further evolution, but that hasn’t stopped myself and some others making a particular style wish on Plurk:

Really, really long mesh hair.

We’re talking hair that Lady Godiva could be proud of, perfect for those dressed-only-in-my-hair photoshoots as well as for various roleplaying purposes; no self-respecting medieval maiden would have less than knee-length hair, after all.

What I am thinking now is, why not make a design challenge out of it? Put forward some guidelines, try to reach as many hair designers as possible, and see what they come up with? Then feature the resulting hairs in a series of blog posts, perhaps in a dedicated Flickr group as well. I don’t know that it needs to involve any voting or scoring of the designs, but a constructive look at the pros and cons of each style might be a good resource for future mesh hair developments.

So…any thoughts? Any interest?

For today’s Moody Monday, Elysium Eilde of elymode dives into mesh with a mini skirt as an optional add-on to her Evolu set. You still have some hours left to head over there and try a demo before these limited colours disappear.

A final look at the Jewelry Fair (it ends today!) with a lovely set from Bliensen+MaiTai. I’ve paired it with a new partial mesh dress from PixelDolls, a skin from the massive sale at Dutch Touch and a pair of gorgeous new eyes from Poetic Colors.

Yesterday, Ran provided a guide to what you’ll find on each of the Jewelry Fair 2011 sims. Today, I thought I would pick out a favourite from each sim (in addition to the stores I’ve blogged earlier) to give a little more information about what they have to offer.

The stores in question will be CentoPallini from the Air sim, Ashira’s Aerie from the Earth sim, Studio Sidhe from the Fire sim and LOGO from the Water sim.

As seen by Freyja’s posts these last days, Jewelry Fair 2011 is in full swing. As usual there are many sims (four in total) and many, many stores to visit! Below you’ll find a guide to where all the shops are, and a few thoughts on the design of the sims, as well as on the charitable efforts of the fair organizers and participating designers.

This year’s theme is the elements, and each of the four sims are inspired by one of the four elements. The organizers for the Fair have done a fine job keeping everyone informed about who’s participating and listing all the participants, but I thought it might be helpful to point out which stores can be found on each sim. See below for a full, detailed list—with SLURLs (either to distinct sections of the sims which are easily navigable, or with individual store sims in those cases where there’s no straightforward navigation).

So, have you made it to the Jewelry Fair yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Its not as busy as one might fear right now (or as it ought to be), so browsing through it should be a pretty pleasant experience.

In case you need some more convincing, take a look at these goodies from Dark Mouse (whom you will find on the Air sim).

I’ve already shown some of the sensual poses included in 1001 Dreams from chanimations in a post focused on the photography rather than the reviewing. But with such a large set, there’s definitely room for a second look.

The Jewelry Fair is here again, with four sims full of goodies to temp any treasure-hoarding dragon…or jewellry-obsessed blogger. Benefiting the Oxfam International charity, via a charity auction, special charity pieces from each designer and gatcha machines, it opens to the public tomorrow. Then you will be able to explore sims inspired by the four elements—Air, Water, Fire and Earth—and see some great pieces from a large selection of SL jewellers.

My first post on the fair features a striking statement piece from Kunglers which is paired with an equally striking hair from Wasabi Pill and a lovely skin from a new brand called RocoQue.

I’ve found another pair of mesh boots that fits me—meaning, the alpha doesn’t eat up a huge chunk of my leg—though to be fair, “found” isn’t exactly right. The size I am using of the Rebel boots from AnE MeshWorks, the mesh “division” of Adam n Eve, were modelled on one of my shapes.

I am also in the mesh hair from Alice Project again (can someone please make tons of really long mesh hairs, please?) and I am playing with yet another prop from chanimations.

Elaborate pose props are a weakness of mine, and 1001 Dreams from chanimations hits all the buttons. So, Ran and I couldn’t resist having a bit of fun with it…

For someone who had (and still has) considerable reservations about the no-mod aspects of mesh, I do seem to be blogging a lot of it. ;) Given my reservations, I really want to highlight those creators that make mesh items that work for me as well as the types of mesh items that seem likely to work well for a range of shapes.

Today, the time has come for my first mesh hair, courtesy of Alice Project. This is actually my first hair from this creator, but I joined her subscriber during the last Hair Fair and today’s new release notice caught my attention when it advertised several mesh hairs.

I am continuing my foray into trying various mesh items, this time with a top from Pixel Dolls new mesh brand, Gateau. I am also wearing Lassitude & Ennui’s overknee boots again. The skin is Adam n Eve’s Victoria and the hair is a brand new release from the sister-brand to Analog Dog, Point B.

Naergilien Wunderlich of Wunderlich’s has been on a release roll of late, with skins and elaborate tattoos. I am showing her Irezumi tattoo in this post, in colour and in greyscale. Its worn together with the latest skin from Adam n Eve, Jamila, and a new hair from Wasabi Pills.

Mesh has been live on the grid for little over a week and more and more releases making use of this new feature are hitting stores. At this early stage, most everyone blogging mesh products give a run-down of its pros and cons; me included.

Mesh allows for worn items to be rigged, meaning they will move and deform with your avatar. However, while rigged items will stretch or shrink with certain sliders, a few notable sliders are not taken into account, namely those controlling fat and muscles. For those of us who prefer to add a bit of fat and muscle to our shapes, this can pose a real problem. I’ve tried most mesh items that are sold with demos—an absolute MUST which I am very happy that designers are embracing—and so far, none have worked very well for me. That is, until today and the release of Lassitude & Ennui’s overknee boots. These actually work really well for me!