2012 Fantasy Faire: Siren's Secret

I stepped outside of the Fantasy Faire bubble today for about a half hour, and ended up regretting it, so it's with great oy that I'm back to looking at the beauty created through collaboration and contemplating the fact that we raised over 25,000 USD to fight Cancer. That is the numbers as of the official close at 6PM today, but the faire is still open until midnight and some creators put out their donation boards at their store, so we could conceivably be collecting toward Friends Fighting Cancer for some time into the future. This is am amazing sum collected, though - breaks every record in second life and completely blows me away! So much credit belongs to the creators, managers, designers, and bloggers - all of whom raised and maintained the fever pitch of fantasy goodness which makes up this event every year.

My gorgeous green skin is one of the fantasy faire releases from De La Soul, and I adore it very much! I've shown a number of her other skins, and they really blow me out of the water. This is a very unusual color with a fantastically complicated tattoo on the face, and I really had fun accessorizing it. I added on Wasabi Pills' crystal hair, which is a special release for the fantasy faire and can be gotten for a donation. Finally, my amazing gown is also a donation item, this one from Kouse's Sanctum, which is one of my favorites for elaborate fantasy wear. Finally, I added a necklace from Tekeli-li, a cute simple shell design that really sang to me, and I was set to investigate the Siren's Secret.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: De La Soul, Ikon - Jade (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ears
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Hawk2 (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Dress: Kouse's Sanctum, Raphaela - Snow (Fantasy Faire Donation)
Necklace: Tekeli-li, Pectinidae (Fantasy Faire Donation)
Shoes: Lasssitude & Ennui, Doll Ankle Boots - white

Poses: Studio Sidhe

Location: Siren's Secret sponsored by Booshies
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Baskaholic
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Nu Orne

I've been putting a lot of things on hold during the Fantasy Faire. It's a lot to do in not very much time, and I didn't get as much done on the front end as I had hoped (there's always next year!). I do sincerely wish we could have the faire for longer, though. Even ten days isn't long enough to really pause and savor each as they deserve,and I always feel like I never have enough time to photograph things as in detail as I would really like to. Nu Orne had a lot hidden in it's tall tower city, and a lot of beautiful brilliance hidden in and among the cliff faces. I particularly liked the color changing flowers and the spots of brilliance in the darkly green jungle.

Getting closeups with petites can be a challenge, but so can getting a well centered distance shot, and setting your avatar into place for the pictures. Fortunately, as a blogger I have build rights on all of the Faire sims, so I've been able to rez a poseball to sneak myself into the hearts of flowers. One thing I've wished for a long time is that putting poses into things was standard. I love being able to perch on the edges of leaves, or curl p in the heard of a blossom, but far too often it's nearly impossible to place yourself there without a poseball - and being able to rez things is usually not allowed on the beautiful venues in Second Life - understandably so, given the actions of griefers.

Sometimes you get the angle just right, though, tripping down along the slope. Little spots of magnificence is all over Nu Orne, waiting for you to find them. The pool above was tucked in among the stores - a lovely little glimmer of light festooned with flowers. Water is a huge secondary theme in the sim, mingling with the jungle harmoniously and beautifully. One of the wonderful things about windlight is how you can make the water into reflections of the sky, with a wide variety of options then available for setting up your pictures.

Whether it's wild or civilized; ragged edged or smoothly contained, water is a near constant as you move through - and seems to be a constant through most of the sims this year. I love the pure flow of it, cooling and soothing me as I rush to finish the sims before they vanish forever.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:


Body: Skinthesis, Petite Flights 5 Pack - Thistle (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: Skinthesis, Lt Dollie (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Orion Petite Mesh
Outfit: Angelwing, Petite Battle Fairy (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)


Poses: Olive Juice


Location: Nu Orne sponsored by The Arcanum
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Eno would be proud
Water Settings: Glassy


Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Color Challenge: Week 18 - Thistle

Thistle is the next Color Challenge, and this time - instead of waiting for the last minute - I decided to pull out a new petite from Skinthesis. One of her recent releases is an amazing slew of colored petites, 24 in total. One was even named Thistle! My hair is Orchid from Wasabi Pills, a little brighter - which I thought was sort of appropriate. I love the butterfly mask on all of these skins; each comes with a white and dark masque along with a purple one to represent Relay For Life. I chose the white masque here to match this amazing release from Angelwing, which comes with a pose-inspiring staff. I had to adjust the staff quite a bit in order to fit it in the petite hand, but once I did it really was realistic with very little effort - as you can see in the pictures I took.

I'm truly falling in love with the petite effect, though I doubt I'll ever make it a full time sort of thing. There's something very appealing about being small in a large world, though, and so many of my favorite creators have shifted over to making petite things that it really feels like I'm not leaving much behind me. Having a reason to stop and enjoy all of the little things in Second Life is not to be underestimated, though; even though I may be small, I'm also fiercely dedicated to wringing the most out of my time.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Body: Skinthesis, Petite Flights 5 Pack - Thistle (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: Skinthesis, Lt Dollie (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Orion Petite Mesh
Outfit: Angelwing, Petite Battle Fairy (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)

Poses: Olive Juice

Location: Nu Orne sponsored by The Arcanum
Light Settings: TOR, SCIFI Eno would be proud
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Shadow's Claw

Shadow's Claw is, in many ways, the most realistic of the sims. No giant sandstorms, no enormous plants or buildings made of butterflies. It's a barren, rocky place covered in pine trees and topped with an enormous castle ridged with dragons.Ships have been broken against it's rocky shoals and dragons roost on it's roofs in wooden finery. There isn't snow, but the whole sim has the breath of icy days just behind us, a warm season not yet begun. You have to be careful of the law, to, as being caged and left to the elements seems a common punishment.

It's a perfect place to keep your down for a while until you're ready to take off in summer - and this new skin from Fallen Gods, called Feathers, is a perfect blend of anthropomorphic and birdlike. The copper in particular looks statuesque, shapes carved into solid metal and gleaming slightly as I move through the light. I added Falln Angel Creations' Owl gown, leaving the cloak and collar off so you can see the feathered textures across my chest. I really want to do something with even less clothing, though; the texturing is so amazing, it's difficult to show it off as it deserves.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Fallen Gods, Feathers - HAWK flame (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ears
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Wings: Favole, Laced Phoenix
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Owl Gown (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Boots: SLink, Tall Leather Thigh Boots

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Shadow's Claw sponsored by T R I D E N T
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY Baskaholic
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Meandervale

Luckily, the faire is open for an extra day, until Monday the 30th of April, so I might actually get to all the sims and take pictures! And finish the hunt. The hunt isn't that difficult, though, which is a blessing! You get a hint for each sim and it's pretty easy to find it - or at least has been so far in the two sims I've found it in. Once you find the shard for a sim, you can click on the store books on that sim and get in-store prizes, plus there's an endgame once you find all of the shards. I'm partly taking as long as I am because I'm trying to photograph as I go, but someone focused just on the hunt could get through it in a very short amount of time.

Meandervale is a gorgeous sim filled with giant fruit, lighbulb plants, and giant windmills catching wind using butterflies. I especially enjoyed it tiny, as a petite, because the giant things seemed even more huge. Enjoying the sim like this really makes me wish that the faire could go on forever - the sims are each so beautiful and each so individual that ten days seems entirely too short. I want to linger and enjoy each one, and I also want to rush through so that I can see everything. These conflicting desires makes me both love and hate each day as it passes! Hurry so that you don't miss the glory of Fantasy at the Faire!

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Body: Fallen Gods, Dove Transluscent (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Radiance Doll Eye (promotional item)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Monique Petite Mesh
Wings: Skinthesis, Luna Wings - Velvet (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Outfit: De La Soul, Gypsy Outfit (promotional item)
Boots: KaiAna, Petites Vinyl Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Meandervale, sponsored by The Looking Glass
Light Settings: London 2050
Water Settings: Fantastuck

2012 Color Challenge: Week 17 - Shuttle Gray

I am very late with this week's color challenge - in fact I doubt I'll finalize this before midnight - but I've been completely swamped with Fantasy Faire pictures. Shuttle Gray is an odd name for a color, but kind of a fun one to play with. I ended up taking the Dove Translucent Fantasy Faire Donation (only available for the life of the faire) and tinted it a darker gray. This is a petite avatar, and a really gorgeous design. The skin is also available in regular size, and if we're lucky Fallen Gods will release the other colors in petite, too. The texturing is like feathers; while it can look natural, it can also look slightly shiny and artistic, like a statue. I'm hoping to be able to put together a look that takes advantages of the unnaturality of it sometime soon.

The outfit I'm wearing is a new petite release from De La Soul. I have it on good authority - his - that pretty much his entire inventory is shrinking in the wash, and one of the first things to get tiny was his amazing gypsy Outfit. What's completely awesome is that the HUD color changes for the full sized outfit ALSO work for the petite, so you only have to buy each one once! I have a bunch of different looks, but for Shuttle Gray I aimed for a bunch of different textures of gray, and I think it works really well with my skin. The eyes are also from De La Soul, and are fitted for petites. 

My amazing moth wings are another release from Skinthesis, and they really make me happy. She released a metric ton of moth wings; I can only imagine she was out nights a lot to bag this many wings! I have an entire pile of Skinthesis releases, so expect to see many more petite things and moth wings in the future. I added in one of my favorite hairstyles from Wasabi Pills - Monique has this adorable braid and long hair which just makes me incredibly happy. I have it in full and petite size, and I enjoy it on any shape and size. The boots are form a new-to-me store called KaiAna, which has a whole lot of different petite shoes. Shoes are probably the hardest thing to find little, and these are a real bargain.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Body: Fallen Gods, Dove Transluscent (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Radiance Doll Eye (promotional item)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Monique Petite Mesh
Wings: Skinthesis, Luna Wings - Velvet (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Outfit: De La Soul, Gypsy Outfit (promotional item)
Boots: KaiAna, Petites Vinyl Boots

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Meandervale, sponsored by The Looking Glass
Light Settings: London 2050
Water Settings: Fantastuck

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Style By Kira 2

I've been industrious today! I pulled out the newest, limited edition release from Fallen Gods (only until the end of the Fantasy Faire!) and paired it up with this awesome posebox available from Style by Kira (who also created the awesome Twi'lek skin). It comes with five built in poses, all of which I took a picture of; I honestly adore them all. I look like the cutest tiny faerie ever, posing with mushrooms and riding a giant butterfly. I'm wearing an awesome outfit from Epic, along with one of the parasols Epic is releasing during the Fantasy Faire. I love the little flowers and the delicate ribbons on the arms and leg. It also comes with the tiny hair flower you can see me wearing, and the sparkly dark wings. This is one of the many items I picked up on my own recognizance while at the faire, and I hope you can see why!

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Body: Skinthesis, Dolly - Milky (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Radiance Doll Eye (promotional item)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Monique Petite Mesh
Wings and Outfit: Epic, La Fee Rose (Fantasy Faire Donation)
Parasol: Epic, Strange Daisy Parasol (Fantasy Faire Donation)

Pose Item: Style by Kira, Skybox/Photo Prop Fairy A (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Petite Treats

When I finally got to the adorable store Petite Treats, on Jungle Bungle, I completely fell in love with the two items she has for donation sale. One of them is this enormous, medication basket - the pose is animated and the butterflies swirl around you while you meditate in a truly gorgeous manner. It's the perfect corner seat if you're hoping to lure petite faeries to stay for a while. The lamp is also butterfly themed; it has a gentle glow and also has swirling butterflies from top to bottom. I really felt more relaxed as I sat watching the swirl as my arms floated up and down in front of my torso. If you're ever feeling a little stressed out,tjust pull this out of your inventory, settle a petite faerie down, and relax into the evening.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Body: Fallen Gods, Dove Translucent (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Radiance Doll Eye (promotional item)
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Monique Petite Mesh
Wings and Outfit: Epic, La Fee Rose (Fantasy Faire Donation)

Pose Item: Petite Treats, Butterfly Meditation Basket (Fantasy Faire Donation)
Lamp: Petite Treats, Flutterby Vanishing Lamp - Purple (Fantasy Faire Donation)

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Fantasy Faire: Jungle Bungle

Jungle Bungle is another amazing sim in the Fantasy Faire, but it took me three days to take these pictures - so I'm not sure how much more I'll be able to bring about! I love the extravagantly gorgeous colors, though, and the incredible tree in the middle (which I still want to get pictures of, complete with person dangling from it) living in a chocolate lake. The flowers and sparkles around the stores, the roads made of candy all around the sim, it seems like the kind of place I'd like to settle in for a while so I can grow sweetly fat at my leisure.

A hint for those looking for specific stores at the Faire, the 2012 Fantasy Faire Website is hugely useful and has pages with maps and store locations for each of the sims. It's been invaluable to me in terms of being able to find things and find my way around.

The flowers come from a wide variety of sources, from puff-topped Seuss inspired trees, to variations on natural flowers in amazing colors, to slightly creepy wide-mawed plants rooted near an enormous, feathered creature. The variety itself struck me as appealing; everywhere you look it's something different. It does make it very difficult to take pictures, though! Each way you turn, something new and amazing to record.

I'm wearing my awesome outfit from Sakide - the black one - and the amazing red Twi'lek avatar from Style by Kira again for this, and I added a necklace from Balderdash which is also from the Fantasy Faire. I love it's metallic curve and the sparks of color which seemed to reflect the visual cacophony of Jungle Bungle while still looking sweet. I finished the whole look off with amazing mesh boots from SLink, which I think look sexy without being over the top. I particularly like the arch of the heel; it's very high, but it still looks like I might possibly be able to totter around in them offline, too.

I think my favorite thing, though, I saw near the end - and you can get a hint of it in the picture below. Over every pair of stores, there is a pair of dryad people holding lilies. They fade between a couple of colors, paired beautifully, and I was really struck by them. It makes me wish I had a sim of unlimited prims, so I could have little houses roofed by lillies held up by these amazing dryads! That would seem like magic to me, flowers as roofs really appeals to the fae in me.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Style By Kira, Lulu Skin (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Jewelry: Balderdash, Whiskey Dracongscale (Fantasy Faire Donation)
Dress: Sakide, Runes Fairy Dress (Fantasy Faire Donation)
Boots: SLink, Tall Leather Thigh Boots

Poses: Adorkable Poses

Location: Jungle Bungle - sponsored by Epic Toy Factory
Light Settings: Places alirium
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Fantasy Faire: Style by Kira

The Fantasy Faire offerings from Style by Kira are amazing, a detailed and gorgeous skin with delicate facial markings that comes with the Twi'lek style tentacles and cap. You can see the faces in more detail down below - there are marks all around the eyes, then a fantastic subtle touch on the lower lip which just rounds the whole look out. I took off my fancier eyelashes so you can see the delicate shading around the eyes, and the spots angling down the cheek - I kind of wish I could get it in a separate makeup to apply with other cosmetics in different layers; it would be interesting to see how it looked. I don't normally dress up as an alien, but I really love the rich colors - and these are only the two donation colors! There is a whole slew of other colors for people who don't want to go red or white - there is orange, blue, green, everything under the sun, and all equally gorgeous! I've accessorized my awesome Sakide duds (also available at the faire), so just wait a little while and you'll see a lot more shots of this amazing, striking skin style.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Style By Kira, Lulu Skin (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Eyelashes: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Dress: Sakide, Runes Fairy Dress (Fantasy Faire Donation)

Poses: Adorkable Poses

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

Pose Faire: I Love my Companion Cube

This is not a picture from the Fantasy Faire - it's from the Pose Faire, which is only around a few more days - but what I'm wearing is definitely Fantasy Faire stuff. The tunic is a free gift from De La Soul that she gave out while she was in prison; it comes both for Petites, as shown here, and for biguns. I have it on good authority that it will be available as part of the Fantasy Faire hunt starting on Tuesday the 24th, so check out her store on Shifting Sands tomorrow once you've found the key!

I'm a member of a very fun group where I semi-regularly quasi-roleplay; that is I offer up things in chat - like offering food, or laying out dominoes, or something else people can respond to. The most common response I get is minimal or none, at least these days, the second is for people to play back with me, which used to be the norm but no longer is. The third is the one which niggles at me, though; it's people who respond primarily to bring about a negative consequence. For example, once I brought out an enormous plate of truffles, and someone immediately posted stealing them all. Another time I posted running through the chat, and someone stuck out their foot to trip me. A third time I posted filling the room with a giant sundae and someone posted disgusting things she did in the sundae. It's an impulse which really interests me because it is simultaneously alien and familiar; I don't respond this way to playful, roleplay-esque content but I do to people complaining about things or objecting to things universally; for example, in one of my groups a person complained about someone on Second Life standing on her table and  protested that I enjoyed standing on tables. I think part of the underlying impulse is to correct whatever is going on in the chat to our moral standing; I object to people making blanket statements while other people object to people being nonsensical and playful. It's an interesting impulse, and one I want to keep a closer eye on - in myself and in others.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Body: Skinthesis, Thumbelina - Sunny Freckles (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee - Static Rainbow
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Amandine Petite Mesh
Wings: Skinthesis, Luna Fantasia (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Outfit: De La Soul, Free Tunic Petite - Violet (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Shoes: Ravenwood, Soft Leather Hide Boots - Petite

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Pose Faire
Sky Settings: AvatarOpt
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: The Tides

One of my decisions when I started blogging was that for "my" assigned storees I would try to do a second photoshoot on the sim their store was one; Skinthesis is located on The Tides, which is a gorgeous sim set on platforms above the ocean, styled in a very Greco-Roman manner (all pillars and statues and marble). These pictures only hint at the total majesty, complete with long falls of water under the buildings and fascinating, complicated figures hiding underneath the platforms. There was also an amazing Giant Avatar which hung out within the platforms like a Titan come to Earth - I'm a petite in these pictures, but she dwarfs even a normal sized avatar. I didn't get as close to some of the high up delicacy as I wanted - only seeing it toward the end - but if I have time I may swing back to take some more pictures; everything is so complicated and beautiful, I wish it could stay.

I'm having a lot of fun in my petite avatar; this is another RFL release, this time with a purple Luna mask instead of the rainbow. Sadly I didn't get the matching wings until after these pictures were taken, but you'll see some of Skinthesis' Luna wings soon, I promise! The hair is another from Wasabi Pills from the Petite collection; I also got my paws on a new script for resizing which corrects for narrow bits of hair which might keep you from fitting the hair to a petite, here on the marketplace for only 5$L. For those of us increasingly obsessed with our petites, this adds a valuable resource for tweaking down hair and clothing to match. My necklace is from Elemental again - part of her petite jewelry line - and the dress is an RFL donation item from Solange which I completely fell in love with, which comes with the arm jewelry (I picked up a cyan dress, too, but I likely won't have time to show it before the end of the faire). One advantage to petite clothing is that everything fits out of the box; one disadvantage is that there is no modifications in the shape for us to individualize our forms. My Deoridhe usually has wider hips, matching larger belly and butt, and a larger bust; I wish I could replicate it in a petite, but right now that isn't possible.

Unfortunately, the Faire is only open for a very limited time - so hurry and check out the gorgeous views before they all disappear back into the inventories of their creators. Pictures don't do the full majesty justice, but you can find a lot more in the Fantasy Faire Flickr group, where I also submit all of my pictures.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Body: Skinthesis, Petite Mesh AV - Obsidian Dualities Elementals (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Small Eyes
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Monique Petite Mesh
Jewelry: Elemental, Petite Black Velvet Necklace - Peridot (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle Iridescent
Silks: Solange, Petite Innocence HH - Green

Poses: Glitterati

Location: The Tides sponsored by Fallen Gods
Light Settings: Sim Default
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Devil's Locket

Devils Locket is a multi-layered sim, with a wonderful curve of above ground stores and then a hidden wonderment below covered in crystals and with hidden, furtive aquatic creatures - and in two cases enormous, shiny aquatic creatures. I wore my gorgeous Spyralle outfit to match, and I'm still hanging out in one of the De La Soul skins released for the Fantasy Faire; she has an item in the silent auction, too, which looks well worth the linden. I played a bit too much with windlight, which made it difficult to shop but lovely to view, because I thought a world made in hues of blue and pink would match both well, and bring out the shininess of my Alice Project shoes. I added a necklace set from Eclectica which I adore (it always reminds me of chandeliers, so I thought it suited the bright formality of my gown), and finished it all of with gorgeous hair from Wasabi Pills with a cute ponytail and some fun dangling wisps in front of my face.

One thing which has struck me doing this rush of pictures and posts is how curious it is to have a list of things worn that were all promotional items, and many of them promotional items from a single event. In most of my pictures so far, only a handful of things were paid for by me and all of those predated this event by quite some kind. I'm building up a significant backlog, too - one which won't get much play during these events - and friendly relationships with a number of different stores. I mentioned to one of these store owners, partly jokingly, that I am a leech on the creativity of others. I do believe I'm adding something extra, but the quality of remixing is one which is becoming increasingly curious to me, especially as the interactions between me and creators become more thinned - where I give feedback, and then see that feedback acted on. Recently, I ran across the idea that much on the internet (and by extension human creation in general) is remixing; we all build on each other - sometimes explicitly and sometimes implicitly. This becomes fuzzier around copyright law, and Second Life has seen some really negative responses to people being inspired by each other or by similar sources. I like the idea that I'm part of a complex web of creation, though; that I am one of the visible faces of that creation - combining sim creation, clothing, and skins to make something unique and beautiful.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Beatrice Ikon - Pearl (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Eyelashes 2: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Mask: Spyralle, Rhapsody Mask (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Lipstick: Croire, Glittery Gloss - Barbie
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Annette Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Jewelry: Eclectica, "Opulence" - gold (promotional item)
Wings: Spyralle, Rhapsody Fractal Wings (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Dress: Spyralle, Rhapsody in Purple Gown (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Shoes: Alice Project, Faelin Pumps - Vibrant Iridescence

Poses: Pffiou!

Location: Devil's Locket - Sponsored by Rustica
Light Settings: TOR, The Pink Tower
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Spyralle

On my wander around the Fantay Faire, I ran across the wonderful creator of Spyralle - who has a passion for fractals that I really appreciate. She has outdone herself (I'm using that phrase a lot, but it's true!) for the Fantasy Faire with a lovely shop, a number of furniture additions you can see below, and this amazingly gorgeous dress I'm wearing above. The mask is either just a tattoo layer, or has an additional curve around the outside which makes is fan out like a lovely fish! I love the flutteryness of the skirtop, too - the little tufts and frills which make it truly unique. The bodice is a combination of darker and lighter colors; if you have paler skin it will look very revealing without showing any skin! I also love the thin lines of turquoise which really set off the other colors; combined together this is a dress which will stop people at twenty paces and make them pay attention (it did, in fact - I had someone pause and ask where I got the dress while I was changing into it). Set on Shifting Sands, the store is easy to find and lovely to enjoy.

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Beatrice Ikon - Pearl (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Eyelashes 1: Flugeln Brise, 05-A Planty
Eyelashes 2: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Mask: Spyralle, Rhapsody Mask (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Lipstick: Croire, Glittery Gloss - Barbie
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ear
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Annette Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Spyralle, Rhapsody Fractal Wings (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Dress: Spyralle, Rhapsody in Purple Gown (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Skinthesis

Pictures really should be enough for this amazing avatar from Skinthesis (this is only two of multiple colors - you'll see the others later, I promise!). These are part of the Exclusive Releases from Fantasy Faire, and I adore them like nothing else. Everything you see, except the pose, is Skinthesis - the hair, the outfit, the wings; this is such a complete look that it blows me away every time I see it. The other colors are equally amazing, but I loved the pairing of light and dark with this two in particular and was completely inspired. The delicacy of the texturing, the amazing winged mask eyes, the whole setup just blows me away. If you're going Petite, Skinthesis would not be a bad place to start - you can pick up everything you need, all in a bundle.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Body: Skinthesis, Petite Mesh AV - Dualities Elementals (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Eyes: Skinthesis, Lt Fahtoms - Bright  (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Mask: Skinthesis,  (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Hair: Skinthesis, Thumbelina (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Hair Ornament: Petite Asparas in Sky (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Wings: Skinthesis, Luna Elemental Flexi Wings (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Silks: Skinthesis, Petite Asparas in Pink

Poses: HelaMiyo

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Shifting Sands Sim

One of the perks of blogging the Fantasy Faire (which opens at Noon SLT on Saturday, April 21), is that you get in a bit early and get to look around. I took total advantage, taking shots of all kinds of wonderful things - this is only a fraction of the pictures I took, and I included some shots of stores and store creators as I got them, so go check it out! This is all shots from Shifting Sands, where Ru-Works is located (I covered their releases a couple days ago, and today I picked up a set of wings I didn't have to show before - also available for an RFL Donation!). I added a Majika hair to my avatar - not a petite sized thing but one I resized myself; luckily it shrunk very easily.

The jewelry around my neck is a new petite-sized set from Elemental that's available for only 45$L this weekend at her store - not a Fantasy Faire release but still completely awesome. I have it on good authority that a lot of her jewelry will be getting smaller soon - it's amazing out much is being put out for petites after only a couple of months! I was also amazed by the number of petite offerings at the Fantasy Faire proper, including an awesome ancient Egyptian style set of outfits that I'm still debating on whether I want to grab them. There was also petite sized furniture, like below. Make sure to take the time to look for the little things in the stores; people have really outdone themselves!

One of the things I love about Fantasy Faire is that there is a single path all the way through the sims, so it's easy to keep track of where you've been and where you're going. Most of the stores have decorated in theme with the sim, like you can see in my pictures. It's also really worth it to seek out the central area on each sim and see the gorgeous decorations put there. Each sim has a story, each has amazing displays of art, and if you've ever wanted to try photographing in the wild sims this is an excellent place to start. I had a lot of fun being enormously tiny, talking to store creators, and fluttering around a nearly empty sim - but I can't wait until it's clogged with people and the Linden start flowing in for Cancer Research!

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Body: Fallen Gods, Petite (promotional item)
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH (promotional item)
Hair: Majika, Ribbonetta Blonde (shrunk for petite)
Jewelry: Elemental, Petite Black Velvet - Peridot (45$L for the weekend)
Wings: Ru-works, One-Piece - Blue (promotional item, Fantasy Faire Donation)
Outfit: Ru-works, Himeshiro Wings - Divine Blue (Fantasy Faire Donation)

Poses: Long Awkward Pose

Location: Shifting Sands - Sponsored by Solarium
Light Settings: Abracadabra2

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only

2012 Fantasy Faire: Falln Angel Creations

I have the great pleasure of showing off all of Falln Angel Creations' exclusive items for Fantasy Faire, and Azriel really pulled out all the stops this year. His first outfit seems like it was made for me - it's RAINBOW! A set of rainbow silks is a really amazing thing, and these also have a velvety texture and a beautiful pattern on them. They come with two bikinis - one set black, and the other white. They can be mixed and matched, as you see in the middle. There's also a scarf that hangs over the back. All of the outfits are modify-ok, which means if things are a little too long it's easy to shorten them up. I found it fit mostly out of the box, though; I just needed to make the hips a little narrower. If you love this style, there are many other silks in a wide variety of colors available.

The Mianoa robes are one of my favorites;I own this outfit in orange, and featured it on my blog. The combinations of colors is really striking, and if you're prone to being a wandering ghost to terrify the grid you really can't do much better - whether your of a fiery nature or more icy.. Like most filmy outfits, you will have to deal with alpha occlusion errors, but the layering of levels seems to balance it out nicely and I didn't have too much difficulty snapping these pictures (everything is unedited - this is how it looked in Second Life). I adore the corset style on this outfit in particular - I love the dark tone and the curve of cloth around the waist; it makes me enormously happy. This is a bit of a more complicated fit for me, since I'm a round fae, but I think most body types will find it fits easily out of the box.

Anyone who lived through the eighties should recognize this outfit from the movie Labyrinth - only remade in shades of red and black instead of the white and cream in the movie. This is a men's outfit, but all I had to do to fit it was to reform the ruffles on the chest. it comes with the boots and the necklace - both also in the style of the movie. As you can see the boots are a touch too large, but I rather liked the effect; like I stole into Jareth's closet and went wandering around in his clothes. I particularly like the cloak in this outfit - it really looks raggedy and rough.

Not to be undone by Sarah's clothing, Azriel made this awesome dress for women to match the Owl Outfit - complete with the amazing feathered collar. If you clook closely, you can see the collar isn't quite fitted perfectly; I'm going to need to sit with it a while to move feathers around to fit my tinier neck. It looks amazing to me, though - the rich texture off the shoulders, the matching roughness of the skirt. I see matching up my boyalt with Deoridhe in concordant outfits for some future pictures; I really think these outfits would look very striking together; if you aren't as fond of red, both are available in an enormous amount of other colors at Falln Angel Creations' Main Store.

Sanaka is another outfit I've featured before, and is another dear favorite of mine. I love the skirt, and the amazing arm and leg bands. In this case, Azriel took single colored petals and re-imagined them as a fade. I love the combination of gold tips with the cooler inner petal colors and the slightest hint of red at the heart. It's really an amazingly striking, and I hung out in it for a while once I was done with pictures, just to enjoy. The only thing which would have made me happier, was if the petals were RAINBOW!

Next faire, Az! Next faire.

( All pictures here. )

Credits: 

Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, Rainbow MESH
Eyeshadow: Damned, Rainbow 2 II
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, PrimLashes
Eyelases 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Lipstick: Mock, Opal Lipcolor Dark Kiss
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Shiki Mesh Hair (promotional item)
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Outfit: Falln Angel Creations promotional items
Feet: SLink, Women's Natural Barefeet - rigged mesh

Poses: Glitterati

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, mixing, and reorganizing