Valkyries: Life and Death

Violent Seduction is currently having her yearly 50% off sale, and it is awesome! These two dresses can be gotten for only 250$L, and I hope you agree they are worth every penny! It's a matching set, and the two dresses share many of the same characteristics - including headwings and backwings, the winged shoes, and the staffs. The "Life" version also has a delightful pearl crown included that I simply fell in love with. You can see "Life" on Deoridhe Starr, and "Death" on Deoridhe Quandry, though now both of me have both dresses since they're sold as a set. The headwings really remind me of Gaia Online, where they are one of the early donation item gifts (before they were monthly collectables!). The heels are pre-alpha, but everything included is modifiable (a real gem when I hit the torsos and needed to accomodate my rather sizable chest!), which means you can easily shrink the invisiprim and add a basic heel alpha. I actually didn't get to that yet on either of the Deoridhes, but it will take a fraction of a moment when I do - I ended up doing something similar on a lot of my pre-alpha shoes that were modify-ok. Besides the chest, the biggest pieces I ended up modifying were the armguards; since I'm short, my arms are correspondingly short and since my fat percentage is much higher, they are correspondingly large, so I ended up enlarging all the arm guards then shrinking the lengths of the three pieces involved and moving them together. Again, since the outfit was modify-ok, this was both possible and reasonably fast.

The hair is from the new Alice Project group gift, in the blond shade (her group gifts offer one of each of the standard hairshades plus some more rainbowlichous colors). On Deoridhe Starr I used the white tips and added some white streaks to make her a bit more angelic. She's also wearing the very sweet group gift skin from Curio, which has very delicate features and a sweetly pink mouth. Both Deoridhes have the same shape, so you can see the effect different skins have; in contrast to Deoridhe Starr, Deoridhe Quandry has wider and more defined, less pouty lips on her De La Soul skin and lipstick. One of the things I like about photographing Deoridhes together is how these skin contrasts can really clearly show up on the same shape. Deoridhe Quandry, as you can see, is using black tips and black streaks in her Alice Project hair - yes, both of them are in the group! Booyah! One added point on the hair - it is mesh, which means the pony tail is rigged to stay behind the shoulder no matter how the head moves, but the hair itself has no movement - which I know is a downside to a lot of people.

At this end of an old year and beginning of a new one, I'm really struck by how much the last year has taught me about high contrasts - about the dark and the light and how they are both evermoving and ever-entertwined. Like twin ouroboroses,they rise and fall with each day, each week, each month, and each year. Within every sour there is a core of sweet, and within every sweet there is a core of sour. The older I get, the more I find my loves and hates evermore tightly bound, my joys ever tempered by sadness and my sadness evertempered by joy. I find this contrast, this reality, to be one which suits me and on the whole leaves me content to stay on the wheel of time, within the bounds of the world with everyone.

May the new year bring you what you want and also what you deserve.

( More pictures here. )

Credits: 

Quandry:
Skin: De La Soul, Aestali - Cream Rose
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes 1: *X*plosion, Prim Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Hair: Alice Project, Sunye (group gift)
Ears: Illusions, Mystic Ears
Dress & Shoes: Violent Seduction, Valkyrie - Death (Promotional Item)
Bloomers: Sn@tch, Bloomers - Black
Ring 1: Alchemy Immortalis, Nestling Talisman
Ring 2: Earthstones, Eternal Blossom Ring - Bouquet

Starr:
Skin: Curio, Petal - Angel (group gift)
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Eyelashes: Flugeln Brise, 09-cup
Hair: Alice Project, Sunye (group gift)
Dress & Shoes: Violent Seduction, Valkyrie - Life
Bloomers: Sn@tch, Bloomers - White

Poses Quandry: aDORKable Poses
Poses Starr: Glitterati

Location: Fehu Isa Heimat der Asatru
Light Settings: TOR, NIGHT Bright Blue Horizon
Water Settings: Glassy

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Bubblegum Weekend: Rainbow Love

I've never been particularly attached to having limited edition things.

Especially on a place like Second Life - my inventory is so voluminous that I've rarely seen something I own on someone else and I've never worn the same thing. If I did end up wearing the same thing, I think I'd be more inclined to want to pose together for a picture than get affronted like a fifties television character!

My drive to get a custom rainbow dress done was more about how difficult it is to get really well done, solid, bright rainbows. It's similarly difficult to get good orange and teal clothing, and some shades of green are particularly elusive, simply because people tend to stick to the big favorites - white, black, red, blue, pink. For someone like me, who really craves a variety of colors and well done fades, it can sometime seem like a sea of torment.


When I ordered this dress from Falln Angel Creations - and ordered is the right word - I specified rainbows and roses with sparkles. I think it more than fit the specifications - and beyond! All of the roses are actually color changing in a slow fade, which means there's a constant, slightly fading effect all over my body. The tulle of the skirt is a separate layer, which means when I move there's flashes of paler and darker colors. The wings were a complete surprise, and something I have dear Tomoyuki to thank for! I love how the colors of all the roses are staggered, too - so there's always a rose of each color at any given time even though they're constantly changing.

I paired it with the Rainbow Addict skin from De La Soul, though it matches up well with my Curio skin as well. I also took advantage of starting up with Phoenix's Firestorm viewer to layer Adam n Eve's Hapset eyeliner over it, and I think the effect is rather striking! I paired it with a brightly colored hair from Wasabi Pills for Bubblegum Weekend, a secondary challenge I'm trying to do where you wear an unusual shade of hair for a picture (or in my case a set!). I bought these at the hair faire after getting some samples from the creator - I love the bows over the ears!!!


I figured since there's a chance Viewer 1 may no longer work in August that I finally need to bite the bullet and move to a 2.~ based viewer. The multiple body layers is a wonderful side effect, and I'm looking forward to trying shadows and more naturalistic photography in the future as I settle into it. The one thing I miss - and this is a nitpick truly - is being able to easily move between windlight settings using the arrows one way and the other - I used that every time I took a picture, so without it I struggled. I also really missed the inventory screen coming up over notecards - having the notecards always float on top means I'm constantly moving things around my screen, since I tend to layer. I'm sure I'll get used to it, though!


I'm at the Arctic Greenhouse sim, which is actually a flower and plant store but is set up in a fascinating way! It's actually set within a snow globe, with little models of the snow globe set all over the sim in varying sizes! The concordance between the snowglobes was amazing, and I had a total ball watching the sun and earth rise over the rim and then fall again! I tried to get them in a few pictures - though I didn't pull off the sun, if you look closely you can see the earth in a few places. It also has some garden areas decorated with plants formt he store and little moving things, and as you can see, it's simply breathtaking.


( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Rainbow Addict (with blond brows)
Eye Liner: Adam n Eve, Hepsut
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Falln Angel Creations, Rose Vine Wings - color changing
Hair: Wasabi Pills, Mochi Hair - Aquatic
Dress: Falln Angel Creations, Deo Custom Gown
Stockings :R(S)W, Socks Brigh Rainbow Gradient
Shoes: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - whiter

Poses: HelaMiyo

Location: Arctic Greenhouse
Light Settings: TOR, MIDDAY - Morally satisfied
Water Settings: Valdez

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Being a Winner

I've never won a contest before.

I did end up with a picture in a gothic pin up calendar, but that wasn't a contest with prizes. Usually, I thumb through the winners, admire their work, sometimes follow them on flickr, and nurse my bruised heart in secret.

Not this time, yo!


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: Curio, Petal April - Rainbow 1
Eyeliner: cheLLe, Cleo Called teal
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Truth, Miku - macaroon
Dress: Blue Blood, Oceanic Sonata
Necklace 1: Silent Sparrow, Chapiteau Locket - seanorse
Necklace 2: Earthstones, Tree of Live Necklace - Summer
Pose: Glitterati, 087

Location: Eagles Island (Adult)
Light Settings: [TOR] SCIFI - Fog mystic 1
Water Settings: [TOR] Meridian verde

Ocean Sonata had been in my "to be photographed" folder for a while. I have a huge amount of my inventory taken up by Blue Blood, and for a while I was buying... pretty much all of her fatpacks. Ocean Sonata was a special purchase, and comes with the gloves. Especially in comparison to the other two winners, I selected a very bright, cheerful layout for my picture - not at all gothic. It took forever to photograph because the flamingos in the pictures were actually mobile - so there was a long time spend waiting for them to get into an attractive relationship with my poor, arm-stretched avatar.

I paired it with double necklaces from Earthstones and Silent Sparrow, continuing my doubling up on jewelry trend from denim week. I also added the cheLLe eye liner - something which is quickly becoming an addictive habit; it adds a wonderful hint of color, subtle but strong, and sets off the Curio skin - one of my rainbow favorites - gorgeously. The hair is Truth's Miko, a cute, Japanese-styled hair with a tintable bow that almost instantly became teal for this picture. The pose is Glitterati, which is quickly becoming my go-to pose shop. I love all the different moods, though some of that might be an effect of owning... well rather a lot of her model poses. In fact, almost all of them but some of the mid-twenties.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Tukinowaguma, Adelita - Gold w/black roses
Dress: Blue Blood, Tahiti - Pink
Shoes: G Field, Rose Bootie "Diva" - pink
Pose: Glitterati, 140

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] Awesome Atmo 4

The prize for first place was 3k in Blue Blood clothing, and honestly it didn't take me long to decide. I've been focusing my money on Meeroos recently, and the odd horse, and fallen back on my purchases. Bad Deo! It doesn't help I'm sadly in arrears with opening my boxes, though I've managed to sort through my "new" folder. It didn't take me long to pick out a truly blessed selection of dresses, and it took me only slightly longer to go, "I should make a blog post!"

The first photoshoot illustrated for me, though, why I'm not purely a fashion blogger. I love fashion, and I love photography, but the Tahiti Pink dress above (also from Blue Blood) has been remade into an entirely different, magenta-red color by the lighting I chose, and I'm far to amused by my having green skin despite wearing a Cream Sparkle skin from De La Soul. This is a bad advertisement in some ways, as you need this rather odd windlight setting to get the color and effect, but I love how it looks despite it being... ominous.



Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Magika, Mini - Golden Blond
Dress: Blue Blood, Karina - purple
Shoes: Eclectica, Garden Party Shoes - lilac
Pose: Glitterati, 012

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] Eno Would be Proud

I don't particularly enjoy picking apart clothing and offering critiques. Now and then I will - and so far I've gotten positive responses even from those being critiqued - but when I wax long-spoken I'd rather it be on some obscure point of philosophy rather than whether I can see a seam, or if something lines up. That being said, I sometimes thing the combination of philosophical ramblings and pretty pictures of a faerie in different clothes is a somewhat... shall we say messed up premise? There seems to be this tension between being pretty, and being academic; or perhaps it's just that those who like one don't as much like the other? I'm not as much sure.

It is also odd for me to shift between credits for pictures, and commentary on them - and whatever greater point I have. I'm never sure if the transitions are smooth, or whether I should put all the credits up near the top so the people just interested in the clothing can move on without being bothered by endless rambling on things which matter only to a subset of the internet. This is made harder in posts like this, where the pictures are of a wider variety than normal - how do you balance the two, appearance and depth of thought; credits and self-indulgent verbiage?


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Fairy Ear
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Anathema, Loose Ponytail (not available yet)
Dress: Blue Blood, Karina - Whitegoth Green
Boots: katat0nik, Ice/Berry Sweetheart Boot - light green
Pose: Glitterati, 194

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: Places: Astryls Wild

As a side note, Blue Blood has joined the wide number of creators with auto-unpacking boxes for their clothing which are also decorative. I took a picture wearing what some of the dresses came in, mostly because it struck me so strongly as an amazing sort of thing. The temptation to begin hanging on to packaging for the purpose of wearing it as a form of clothing is immense - and that adds an additional delight to clothing. There is an underlying theme of multiple layers - of things which are multiple things at once - which is intrinsic to human beings and uniquely possible in Second Life.

Like my bottle opener which is a fish, and like trying to be a fashionaerie who lapses regularly into existential philosophy and social psychology, I like things which operate on multiple layers; I like things which offer a variety of things, a variety of ways to be depending on taste, desire, and circumstances rather than One True Thing to rule them all.

Ironically, this could be viewed as a One True Thing of multiplicity.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hat (with hair): Eclectica, Knitted Cloche Hat
Jewelry: Eclectica, Manhattan - Quartz
Dress: Blue Blood, Tahiti - Black & White
Boots: Dilly Dolls, Shrew Boots Dark
Pose: Glitterati, 061

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: Places: Astryls Wild

I've been dwelling recently on how we can value differences while honoring our own truth. It seems like a basic problem which expands to multiple areas of life, from my forays into social justice to blogging about fashion. So often the praising of one thing implies a critique of others; there seems to be an underlying urge for focusing on the few, an inner core of sorts, even within diverse populations like second life. And so you have the somewhat artificial "battles" between Second Life and Facebook, which seem less to be intrinsic to one belonging to one, the other, or (in my case) both and more manufactured to give a sense of controversy and in-group belonging.

Likewise, I find the implication that breedable pets make Second Life somehow less creative to be less a central conflict, and more a shibboleth of a certain, self-referential identification. Meeroos don't make it impossible for artists to do art; they simply offer something else for people to do and focus on. More options, not fewer. Having never been involved in breeding before, I've been enjoying trying different things with my meeroos and seeing what happens - never before has a hobby I had involved a spreadsheet! It's also not led me to neglect my actual, offline pet, any more than the breedable plants I'm making involved neglecting my offline plants - though in the latter case I can keep needed information on a notecard instead of breaking out the office software.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Hair: Lamb, Wild Nothing - Honeycomb
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Red
Boots: Favole, Devil's Advocate
Pose: Glitterati, 004

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] HORROR - Namob Isle

I find myself increasingly frustrated by the demand that we be only one thing, focus on only one thing, belong to only one group, have only one focus. Granted, it is sometimes difficult and frustrating to belong to several seemingly mutually exclusive groups. I currently have three circles of friends on Second Life that I have to keep separate, for the enjoyment and peace of mind of members of each group. I also have a group and place I cannot be a part of, for my own enjoyment and peace of mine.

I remember, the first pain that I suffered through Second Life triggered an unusual reaction in a dear friend of mine - she asked me to please not leave the grid. It honestly hadn't occurred to me, nor did it seem something I was likely to do, simply because of a deeply bruised heart. In reflection, though, and after reading some of the louder and quieter 'leaving Second Life' posts on various blogs, I understand more clearly where her worry came from. One possible effect of having a singular focus in Second Life is that when pain occurs along that line, the desire to remain engaged can quickly wither and die.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Favole, Peace
Hair: Tukinowaguma, Ariana Gold w/white roses
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Lilac
Pasties: Beautiful, Dirty, Rich, Heat Pasties - White
Belly Ring: Caithlin Carter Designs, Pure Butterfly
Boots: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - white
Pose: Glitterati, 122

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] HORROR - Namob Isle

Likewise, having only one or two things one does in any given medium means the interest is both volatile and fragile. One of the major advantages I've found to blogging is that it begins to form even more connections for me through the appreciation of the creations of others, and their approval of how I present them. One of the disadvantage is the delicate, unspoken threads of demands - the feeling within myself that I owe responses, owe posts, that I should review this or that. There is a quiet guilt for not covering more of my friends more regularly, a pleasure when I can fulfill a request, worries when I can't or don't want to review something, a vague wonder if I will be found wanting for letting something linger in my inventory until I remember it or inspiration strikes.

I want to emphasize these are internal pressures, not based on the actions or reactions of anyone toward me.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: Favole, Peace
Hair: Exile, Sadie - Blond frost
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Teal and Whitegoth Green Mixed
Boots: G Field, Flower Pumps "Eve" - White
Pose: Glitterati, 111

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] FOGGY - Mint Teahouse

I began the blog as a place to share my photography and a few of my thoughts, and it gradually formed toward a fashion blog as I responded to the responses of store owners and friends. One thing I've learned through time-crunching events like the Fashion Faire, though, is that my strength is not in up to date responses to things as they happen, but rather reflections back and responses to the zeitgeist of the blogs I read and how they intersect with thoughts and experiences in non-SL online places and offline. For my blog to be a joy, and not a chore, I must respond to internal triggers, to stretch my net out widely and catch up any number of fishes, spreading them out for those who are interested.

Sometimes I think I spread too widely, pulling together too many things into a whole that is not cohesive. Balancing many things is a challenge - keeping plates spinning, then setting them down one by one without cracking any of them.


Credits:
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Skin: De La Soul, Charlie - Cream Sparkle
Ears: Illusion, Mystic Ear
Wings: ReToX, Bone Wings - Black Metal
Hair: Gauze, Obscura - Gold
Outfit: Blue Blood, Karina - Black
Piercing: Rol Glam-arous, Corset Piercing - Black
Boots: G Field, Bow Strap Shoes "Kate" - black
Pose: Glitterati, 121

Location: Omega Point
Light Settings: [TOR] EUPHORIA low saturation dull deposit

And then I remember I'm not a clown, and this isn't a performance - it's more organic than that. This is the multiple threads of my life, online and off, all interacting and effecting each other in different ways, making up the tapestry of my life. It's a tapestry where I want - where I prefer - variety. It is also a tapestry where I dismiss some threads without a thought, or with minimal thought; it's hard for me to remember that I don't have to accept all opinions of those around me, or spend time weighing them for veracity. I can simply focus on the things I want to, however multiple those may be.

( More pictures here. )