Hiatus!

In case you couldn't tell by my number of posts, I'm stepping away from this hobby a little.

I'm not going anywhere so don't panic yet Chicken Little. The sky is not falling!

I'll be posting and swimming around in the Digital World, just not as often. My Atomic self needs a break from SL for a while.

( I hate posting hiatus posts because as soon as I do I'm suddenly all inspired to post again- but anyway I posted it! )

Meanwhile, as Dory would say ( or sing ):

"Just keep swimming!"

The Mermaid's Fate

I really really adore things that mix legg'd and mer. I mean to say where both can socialize together because the reality is that most people don't want to don a set of fins for their avatar but lots of them actually enjoy being around mer and otherkin. It's just sometimes not often that it is made easy for it to visually seem likely and that visual factor often detracts from SL.

Dunno if I'm making sense here...

Anywho! This furniture set does that! It's built around a lovely mermaid tank. With some couches and addition furniture for legg'd. It's not every day average furniture either. It's sort of a bit more on the erotic side so if that sort of thing bothers you it's probably not the furniture you want to go try but for the rest of my finn'd friends, it's an interesting and mer/legg'd friendly option to consider.

The whispering tank version whispers things about the mermaid's fate (which over time I could see getting a little repetitive but I think I saw the option to turn it off) and the whispers are a little bit, not creepy, but I dunno... "interesting" I guess. lol! The animation in the tank is really soft and flows in a manner quite pleasing to the eye.

If you're intrigued go see a working demo here:

The Mermaid's Fate Dominant Themed Collection: Hush by Askani Aichi

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Skara%20Brae/214/11/24

Poses for Prose and Poetry

Okay so I'm a little lazy- I could make more poses myself but I have just cause!

I like other's ideas and impressions of the movements a mermaid would make. I'm always half enchanted by trying to solve the mystery behind things. It's something I do and I imagine others who like to shop for unique items in SL do as well. To try and solve the mystery of the origin of a creator's design. Or maybe it's just me :P.



Anyway, the uber talented Frigg Ragu has finally shared her amazing poses with the rest of us!! Yay!! What this means for you, my fine finn'd friends is that there are mer poses and naga poses and even some selkie poses in her packs for mer. So swim fast and buy them!


http://slurl.com/secondlife/Daffodil%20Island/219/193/23

Can I mention the limited edition TSM&M hair colours are awesome fun! Yus I can!

pose: Poses for Prose and Poetry by Frigg Ragu

hair and eyelashes: The Stringer Mausoleum and Shrine by Helena Stringer

eyes: Shine by Brandy Rasmuson

skin: Mother Goose's by milok Hermit

shirt: Lavish Style by Katy Angel

sweater: BareRose by June Dion

selkie set: Atargatis by Cheran Snook

Finn'd Farewells...

I've finally visited the undersea of Armada Breakaway again. I have not been there in some time and am saddened that the regal chains anchoring the city are all but gone. Diving bells all swept away as well. The sands of time shift and change everywhere, even undersea...

Quite a few sims with merfolk areas have gone away recently as well. Some newer and some almost landmarks in my mind- they've been in SL longer than me, and now gone.

Mertopia

Beek Haven

Liquid Imagination

Playing Koi

I'm still not switching to a flexi tail as my main aquatic body part, however I do have to say this fin set I got at Safe Waters sale going on now, was pleasantly surprising. Let me go on about the texturing- I love the colours of everything. The texture work and colours from Safe Waters are usually crisp and exacting and simply beautiful. The options for the upper body of this set- amazing variety! I love when the light hits everything just right how the pattern of the koi just flows from tail to body beautifully no matter which combination of tops you wear. I didn't expect it to look so modern and fresh and just a little bit edgy but it did. Yay happy me!

The fins come in three sizes/styles- male, female and child. Including a shape so there's no fussing to get things just "so". Of course I went and used my own shape - which is actually to say I used my regular shape which recently I've modified a bit to be a bit softer with more curves. That's another story though :P
Anyway I still have a "skirt" version of my "new" shape but what I was trying to say up above is that I didn't use the "skirt shape" of my regular shape with this tail set. It actually looked better with a fuller lower body, which was very nice.

The AO included with the fin set is also quite appropriate and accents the flexi design well. The overall design and execution are really very well done and I am very happy with this purchase.

I will note that at times depending on your lighting, the demarcation from avatar to prim tail is very pronounced. There is also the awkwardness of trying to use various mer poses or non flexi mer animations- they simply don't work with a fexi tail. A surprising number worked well with this fin set to my pleasant surprise, but quite a few didn't. There is also some of the normal issues associated with invisiprims used to hide part of the avatar legs- sometimes they would be very noticeable from water level or against certain textures. All of these things are common SL limitations though and nothing to do with the designs themselves.

Pretty Koi!

Showa Koi Merfolk Set: Safe Waters by Goldenstar Sands

skin: Mother Goose's by milok Hermit

eyes: Shine by Brandy Rasmuson

bracelets: Legend by Fatal Raine

ears: Slink by Siddean Munro

lashes: TSM&M by Helena Stringer

hair: Waka & Yuki by yukitan Farrjones

Rusalka

When I was looking at the creatures that made up the role play that I used to participate in that was loosely based around the China Miéville Bas-Lag world, I came across a quite a few "new to me" underwater legends he'd based his future citizens on.

While sorting through some of them I came across the sad and creepy Russian legend of the Rusalka. A mostly malevolent water spirit. Often it's portrayed as the restless soul of a drowned child or woman who tries to lure others to her watery fate.

I acquired this dress from Monsoon that held the same name and decided to put together my loosely interpreted version of that water spirit. It's beautiful but tattered and seems something a drowned maiden might have worn.

The hair was a surprising find from a fun and quirky shop called Wot! who's owner makes many unusual and unique hairstyles. Be warned the hair is no mod although it utilizes a resize script- if you have an odd melon for a head like me it might be trial some. Worth the effort though as this is one of the nicest tentacly hairstyles I've seen.

River Ghost Dress, Rusalka: Monsoon by Kaiya Khondji

skin: Plastik by Aikea Rieko

eyes: House of Ruin by Ruina Kessel
Hair: Wot? by Lili Revnik

Where:

Covenstead http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cedar/166/218/701

Mod with a touch of Bobby Pins...

Here pretty picture:

I've been rather disappointed by the mer community in general but more specifically lately in not seeing anyone do something creative with the generosity Azaiya had in pulling an Eloh with her fin sets.

( Tangent alert! If you don't know what an "Eloh" is - Eloh has a series of skin textures and templates that she has generously given to the community at large. Free and full permissions. These aren't crap textures or ripped textures either. These are all original works that the progression of can be seen in her available templates. They are lovely and she is amazing for such generosity. Look at her blog here:

http://eloheliot.blogspot.com/2009/08/starlight.html )

So I did a mild mod simply tinting the white textures available in her texture pack a peachy tone and the fins a bit brighter and adding some glow. I added extra fins cause lets be honest, there can never be enough fins! I made a little set for my head as well cause someone recently was wondering where to find "mermaid ears" - although I prefer my pointed Fae ears myself, I don't think ears and head fins look too amiss.

I gotta say I think Azaiya's generosity is equally amazing and that she is lovely for doing that as well. It really has the potential to add depth to a role play area if they modified the fins for their particular sim look or for someone looking for something in particular that they haven't been able to find in a shop for purchase. It is also a good way to understand the templates for creating fin sets as well as opening up an avenue for creativity and maybe more interaction and discussion.

What? Don't know who Azaiya is and where to find her stuff? I bet you've seen her work worn on a random mer without knowing it, but in case, just in case have a looksy here:

http://azaiya.wordpress.com/nixie-mermaid-wear/

Message in a Bottle

I built a library. A submerged library. Yes for mer. I am insanely proud of it even though technically I just smershed a bunch of stuff together to make it. I did write the little blurbs in all the bottles though.

It's not a fancy library and it's not going to reveal any deep and amazing mer secrets. It's just something I wanted to make. Encouraged by Daphy and Cheran I made it. It's in Ataragatis right now so anyone can visit it. I might add some few touches here and there to it but over all it's pretty much done.

It's really something I thought about trying to picture what type of library mer would have if they had libraries. I tend to believe most undersea societies would rely upon instinct and oral storytelling to pass on tradition. I thought though that there might be a sunken library cobbled together for changeling mer that weren't born with kin to pass on tradition to.

Buoy's taken from the surface of the ocean, held in place with a net stretched across the small platform glow with some sort of undersea alchemy to provide soft lighting to read by. Soft sea plants flow around the pillars of rock that hold the delicate bottles with their fragile scrolls. Seating is carved from the same rocks as the pillars, unobtrusively allowing a visitor to recline and read at their leisure.

I figured the items, the library should be in a recognizable form, something they would find familiar from their time as a human.

Messages in bottles then... There's eight small messages I've put into the bottles. Nothing life altering or changing. Just little bits of advice and wisdom gleaned from my own opinions and ocean living life in SL.

Visit it here:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Four/46/90/14

Wet or Dry

I finally went and tried out Sirena's new "Drip" hair. It's so clever!


(hair shown underwater above)

It's an animated hair that becomes wet after being in contact with either Linden water or special scripted water. (You can find a water kit free right next to the Drip hair at Sirena's.)

(hair shown after swimming above)

It's so fun! Definitely something to see if you go in and out of the water a lot, it lends a fun "realistic" feel to splashing about. The demo in the shop is quite fun as well and lets you test out the wet/dry effect.


(hair shown after drying above)

Get to Sirena here:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/West%20Sunset/160/50/22

Drip hair from Sirena by Natalia Zelmanov.

In Water - Out of Water

I saw this interesting item on XStreet https://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=1656143.

I haven't purchased it but it looks soooo interesting and fun, but a bit too complicated for the likes of me to try right now. However I figured if anyone out there already uses one of the alternate veiwers mentioned in the description that it might be something to look into.

Apparently it lets you transform from a human into a mermaid automatically upon entering the water. How cool does that sound?