Everything Old is New Again

Baked on Mesh is a new feature in Second Life, available now on both the official viewer and the Firestorm viewer. Basically, it allows us to wear system clothing and skin on mesh bodies. This is exciting because I, like many others, have favorite clothing and skins that were never available with adapters. So, how do you do it, and how does it look?

BOM ready mesh and system layers are coming out, but if you want to wear something that's not BOM ready, there is a work around. Just wear this with your mesh body and head: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Bake-on-Mesh-skin-applier-Omega/14391590 , click it, take off your alphas, and wear your system layers.

This is how it looks:

I'm wearing a BOM ready system skin from 7 Deadly Skins along with MOCK makeup on a system tattoo layer. The dress is from Skye Qi, and is system layers and a flexi skirt. My head is from Genus, and my body is from Maitreya. Hair is from Exxess, ears from Swallow. Note: If your system skin is not BOM ready, the hands may not line up with the nails. You can fix that with these gloves: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/p/Rose-Nail-Gloves-White-Modifiable-Bake-on-Mesh/17933441 Toe socks are also available. Here's a photo showing nail gloves on the right:

You may have to wear Omega System relays for your specific head/body. If you see system hair on your head, wear a bald base, usually a system eyebrow layer. If you look like this, it means you are still wearing an alpha:

If you look like this, it means you're not on a BOM enabled viewer:

Pre mesh creators take heart, your clothes and skins may find a new following. Please put your clothes on Marketplace if you decide you don't need an inworld store anymore. If you want to learn how to make your own mesh, I recommend joining the inworld group, Blender Benders, to find out about free classes, both in Blender and in Avastar, a program for making mesh clothing in Blender. Or you could team up with a mesh creator to continue making original creations. Some of those pre mesh creations are still favorites and our new alts want them.

Phantom Obsession

When I first saw the 1925 silent film version of "Phantom of the Opera", I wasn't haunted by Lon Chaney's unmasked face, or even by the unrequited love story. They affected me, but what I really wanted was Christine's bed:

I always called it the swan bed, though it's shaped more like a boat. Christine, held against her will, hardly notices it, but I was captivated by the shape, the trailing drapery, the utter wonder of it.

So what happened to it? In a stroke of genius, Norma Desmond has it in "Sunset Boulevard" (1950). Gloria Swanson played a silent star trying to make a comeback, surrounded by memorabilia from her Hollywood days. And yes, it was great seeing Buster Keaton and Erich Von Stroheim again, but seeing the bed was even more thrilling.

I started Second Life in 2008, and thought, "Maybe here I can have the swan bed!" But no one had built it. In 2009 I tried to build it myself and got this far:

I tried again in 2011 with a bit more success, though it still wasn't what I wanted:

I'm telling you this to let you know that this bed is something of an obsession for me. In 2015 DRD did a Phantom gacha. I played it until i got the bed. It's nicely done but the design is a bit different, more masculine:

Skip ahead to the present, and I'm taking a Blender class. There was an assignment to make a bed. Can you guess what my first thought was? I still can't do the baroque carving, but I'm getting closer.

Sex, Art, and Fashion

Last night I found this stunning mesh riding habit at We Love Roleplay. The Lady Worsley riding habit is a collaboration between Belle Epoque and Jinx, and the skirt is rigged for Water Horse's drafts and light horses. The riding habit is available in a number of colors. You have to buy each skirt separately: the walking skirt, the light horse riding skirt, and the draft riding skirt. I wish there had been an option to get all three skirts in one package. But what if you have a riding unicorn or one of Cheval d'Or's add-ons? And who was Lady Worsley anyway?

Seymour Dorothy Fleming was an 18th Century aristocrat. She married Sir Richard Worsley when she was 17. She was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in her riding habit, which was designed to match her husband's military uniform. The marriage was unhappy, and she had many lovers. She and her husband separated and when he died, she married her current lover who was 21 years younger than she was. You can read more about her and find out about book and movie versions of her life here.

Reynolds was known for his full length portraits, and was knighted for his contribution to the arts. Here is the portrait:

The mesh version of this riding habit is not the first to be offered in Second Life. Amethyst's Accessories offers it for classic avatars. Her package includes a walking skirt and a side saddle skirt, in addition to the astride skirt which drapes over the horse's back. It is designed to fit AKK horses, and is adjustable. Here is the side saddle version:

The mesh habit is rigged for the Water Horse riding horses. My favorite horse at the moment is the Friesian add-on from Cheval d'Or. It works with the WH riding unicorn. There's no demo of the riding skirt, so does it work? The skirt made for the light horses fits the Friesian fairly well, though a little clipping happens in back. It's worse on the unicorn.

The Friesian is on the left.

What happens if you get the walking skirt and try to ride side saddle in it?

Thankfully there's a demo for the walking skirt. It sort of works, but has an unnatural looking wrinkle in the lap.

Will the draft riding skirt fit the Cheval d'Or add-ons? Not really. Here it is on the Marwari and the fit was similar on the Friesian. The back drape didn't clip at all but it was much bigger than the horse.

The skirts fit well on the horses they are designed for. The gold is shiny, and the outfit is lovely. I'm going to wear it often on my Friesian/Unicorn.

Credits:

Mesh riding habit is now at We Love Roleplay
Classic avatar riding habit is on Marketplace
Cheval d'Or Friesian is also on Marketplace

Update:  I have since acquired Cheval D'Or's Arabian add-on. The Lady Worsley riding habit works beautifully on it.

SL15B and the Magic Boots!

This is just a quick post to show something cool that I discovered by accident. I was exploring SL15B, Second Life's 15th Anniversary Celebration, with members of my Art Study Group. A few of us were dressing up in the crystal theme. There's a free crystal avatar, male and female at the welcome center, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL15B%20Pizzazz/82/125/25.

Here's Tiffany Mosienko, whose outfit just matched this crystal cave based on the Naica Cave in Chihuahua, Mexico. You can see it here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL15B%20Incredible/210/55/23

Tiffany and I visited another crystal cave, Shambhala Sanctuary, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL15B%20Incredible/210/55/23

Take a look at my boots. They are from MoonAmore, from the Ocean Lover gacha, in lilac. I thought they went well with the crystal dress that comes with the free avatar available at SL15B.

This is the cool part. I walked into a crystal building by Wizzy Gynoid and the textures on the walls began changing. It was a nice effect, then I noticed that my boots were changing along with it. Here's the SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL15B%20Stunning/239/222/24

When you leave the parcel, the boots go back to normal, though once I had to reattach them. Anyway, I thought you might want to try it yourself, so I'm posting this quickly while SL15B is still open. It ends on June 24th.

The crystal outfit also has a male version. This is Savage Taurus wearing it.

If that's not enough, you can always get a cricket avatar, like me and Elle Thorkveld did. It's by Vershean Guillaume, and is here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SL15B%20Incredible/148/70/23.

Credits for my outfit:

Hair and boots from MoonAmore's Ocean Lover gacha
Crystal dress from SL15B.
Sheer tights applier from Izzie's

My Favorite Things

Each time I change my sim around, there are certain things I use again and again. I wanted to show them off in this blog. People who know me well are often confounded because I change my house so often. I just love architecture and enjoy living in different style houses. The Paris House from Rebourne is my favorite. Pre-mesh, it's still the most beautifully textured house I've seen in SL.

It's mod, but I've left most of it alone, and I'm known for retexturing houses. I did unlink and copy, and made a veranda in back, complete with hanging wisteria.

I photographed the patio on ultra with shadows and made a texture out of it, so I can have shadows all the time, at any graphics setting.

The house is not huge, but has all the rooms I need to display my favorite things. In the living room, there's a vivarium with bees that fly around inside. It's very old, but I love it. The outside of the globe is clear and the inside is textured which gives it a magical look. The bees stay in with a script. It's the work of Mickey Heaney.

Notice the sunlight coming in through the windows in the Paris House. Nearby are some of the awards I've won while in SL. There's the Tournee d'Avatar with cavorite stone from the Caledon Olympics. It was a test of creativity and my competitors were very creative. I narrowly took the gold. Next is a lovely plaque made by Patty Poppy for an art show I was in. The large trophy was first place in the Steelhead Animal Races. I won it on my AKK Friesian, Virgil. To the far left is a dryad bonsai from Hextraordinary. They are sitting on a gothic table from DRD's Bloodcroft Manor gacha.

Also in the living room is a paintset that I made next to a pile of teacups from Kalopsia. I love the teacups and usually have them somewhere in my house.

Finally, I enjoy having musicians around to play for me. These are from House of Alisha. The piano plays music by Torley Linden, and is from Penn Euler. The scroll head harp is from DRD.

This is already pretty long, and I've only done one room! I'm going to take a break.

I'm not being paid to sell you these things. These are favorites from 2008-2018. My apologies if some of it is no longer available.

To be continued....

Snokra Snake!

I saw someone wearing this snake avatar at a recent shopping event. To a long time fan of reptiles, that avi was more interesting than anything on sale, and I had to have one. To my delight, it's modifiable. The tail has a number of animations, as does the mouth/tongue. The shape can be changed, and the hands are bento.

My snake would of course be Victorian and sun herself on the veranda.

Perhaps she would be a snake in the grass.

Would Victorian conventions constrict her?

It's doubtful. After all, she's still a snake!

Credits:

Avatar: Snokra Snake

Hood piercing: {ii} Slithering spiral

Spikes: [SW] Merlyn Mane

Dress: Bare Rose - Flat IsaBat

Skin mod: Aten'Ka Winter

Arm warmers: [WS] Snokra warmers set

Homage to Caitlin Tobias

As a blogger, I hope that people will be excited about something I blog, whether it's an accessory, a place to visit, or just some fun new thing. Most of the time, I never know, so I thought this blog would be about taking another blogger's blog and showing them what I did with the information. I first became aware of Caitlin Tobias when I joined the SL Blogger Support group. At the time, she was the manager, and what a great group it was! Her latest posts have been about interesting places in SL, so I visited them.

The first is Mother Road, a recreation of a section of Route 66. This famous highway linked the US, stretching from Chicago to Santa Monica. It was opened in 1926, and was a big deal. People could drive long distances in their huge comfortable cars on a nice highway for the first time. It was celebrated in music, on tv, and was an inspiration to Jack Kerouac and other writers. Caitlin blogged it here: https://caitlintobias.com/2017/11/02/mother-road/

It is indeed a lovely sim, beautifully desolate. In real life, I've taken Route 66 from Arizona to Chicago, and can say the sim does evoke the feeling of that famous highway. In real life, we stopped at a diner at one point and the waitress told us that most of the people who come there are from Europe. Americans are taking the newer freeways. Here's sunset, on the road:

Another sim Caitlin blogged was Holiday Trace. This is a charming snow covered country sim, and the perfect place to try out my new stag which is a modification of the Water Horse Draft horse. The sim is detailed, with a train station, cottages, and a barn with Christmas trees. There are also lots of animals around. Here I am in the woods, on my stag, enjoying the shadows and light snowfall.

Later I found my stag trying to make friends with the local reindeer by offering them a candy cane:

Caitlin blogged it here: https://caitlintobias.com/2017/11/23/holiday-trace/

My final visit is to Greenland. It's another sim with lots of detail and interesting nuances, including this Christmas tree in a Fiat:

Greenland has lots of places to sit and enjoy the sim. My final photo is up in the mountains looking down on the town:

Caitlin's post is here: https://caitlintobias.com/2017/11/18/white/

I'm always amazed by the creativity in SL. Now I'd like to offer many thanks to Caitlin for blogging these places. I would never have known about them otherwise.

Happy Holidays to all!

Credits:

Mother Road

Dress and hatbox were freebies from 1920s New York City
Hair is Jisu from Monso
Shoes are Oksana from Ingenue
Pose and guitar are in the bench on the sim

Holiday Trace

The stag is from Jinx and is a mod of the Water Horse Riding Clydesdale
White stag coat mod is from The Painted pony
Dress is Holiday 2015 from alpha.tribe
Hat is Sweet Pixie Cap, a gacha prize from Junbug
Hair is Daenerys from Monso

Greenland

Outfit is autumn coat with skirt, a gacha prize from Go!
Hair/beret is also a gacha prize from Go!
Cozy tights are from Izzie's
Chucks by Logan Porterfield (LoPo)