games, faeries and a tiny night on the town

Sometime ago, I asked a good friend of mine, Kenn Nilsson, if he could create a script for me to do some games at Tiny TAMA.  The game was incredibly fun and the tinies had a blast.  Kenn created the script to allow for creativity and variety.  The first time we played the game, we used an image of our ninja and hid it.  Now most things are physical pieces that you hide in a few different places.  The person finds it and claims their prize.  This game allowed the one gamepiece to rez in different locations, that I had designated beforehand, for varying times (3-5 seconds).  This meant everyone was searching everywhere for the next place it would pop up and try to be fast enough to click on it before it disappeared and went to its next location.  Each round gave a prize.

The second time we had a tiny sarcophagus with a fox mummy.  The tinies walked up, one by one, and touched the sarcophagus.  If the mummy was there, they had to click quickly because it, too, could possibly disappear before they did so.  Again, the game was a hit.

So Tiny TAMA and AeonVox have teamed up and have brought out the first game now available to the public.  The Skull ‘n’ Bones Treasure Hunt Game has three sculpted game pieces.  The skull ‘n’ bones is for hiding in smaller spaces (under bushes, behind things).  There is a chest filled with gold that can also be hidden.  Both of these items can be used to be stationary and be found by the guest or can be configured (through notecard) to appear and disappear for different intervals.  It can appear/disappear in the same spot or in different locations; much like the Ninja game we did.  The second chest is for a game like the mummy game described above.  The gold inside it appears and disappears.  Your guests click the chest to open it and see if they are quick enough to win.

The prize distribution has a number of alternatives to choose from.  Give one prize or a prize endlessly till you stop the game.  Give from a list of prizes, randomly, or give several prizes all at once.  You choose.  And look for more themed games coming soon!

Next, we have the first Spring Rose Fairy of the season.  Winter is ebbing and the flower faeries are making an appearance.  This little fairy has a beautiful, hand-painted gown with sweet ballet slippers.  She wears a trio of  sculpted roses on her head and has a sweet pair of rose petal wings.  The wings fluttter slowly when standing, a bit faster when walking, and beat at a sweet speed when flying.  In addition, when the fairy moves or flies, she leaves a trail of falling fairy dust.  Also, as a bonus, a flying/hovering animation is included with instructions on how you can add it to your Tinymatic AO or AO Lite.  This animation (by Japanese artist, asakouboo Yoshikawa) is SO cute!  On sale for 350L at Tiny TAMA.

Beautiful color-changing tiny evening gown.

And then there is Bella Notte.  An off-shoulder tiny gown scripted to change to just about any color.  It is also scripted to change size to accomodate different avatars.  A sculpted, stylized rose graces the shoulder and head.  A tiny scattering of custom particle stars falls from the head piece.

Coming up in Raglan, on the first of February and going through Valentine’s Day, we’re having another walk-through-the-shires to see the great merchant wares with The Path to Love.  Watch for more details.

Fox and I hope that everyone’s start of their year is great and continues for the rest of the year.  We have lots of great product coming, including more SGC.  Till next time…

~elfa and namaste

‘an a rickshaw to pull ‘er by plus a new tiny tama location

Someone made a suggestion that we should make a rickshaw and night before last, I decided to try to put one together. Then I had to decide how it would be utilized. Could it be worn or should it be a vehicle. It would need a passenger, so as Fox and I discussed it, we both came to the logical conclusion that it would need to be a vehicle. I had gotten Jeffrey Heaton’s book, Scripting Recipes for Second Life (plus his other on LSL Scripting) in my attempt to learn more about how scripting works in SL. I often find that I can come up with some cool products only to come to full stop because I don’t have a script to accomplish what I need. Heaton provided some great examples and, even better, some physical examples at his sim in SL. Such was the case with his car scripts. However, mine wasn’t a car; mine was a rickshaw. The driver would actually be running and pulling the rickshaw. To the rescue, my friend, Pandora Wrigglesworth, gave me the capacity to put in the animations I needed and the llSleep in the right place to assist in making it “just right” for a tiny.

Vehicles must be 30 prims or under (the avatar being the 31st)…so…29 if you want two avatars on it. This is the rule with things that are physical which a vehicle becomes upon your sitting in it. I had to jiggle speed to slow down for an avatar running, who would be slower than a car. Physical things have some interesting things that can happen. At one point, when trying to set the sit target for the driver, I found myself catapulted with the rickshaw right off my work platform. Once it was working, sometimes it is difficult to get the vehicle to go over to high a step, a steep hill and fell over backwards as I learned how the vehicle worked.

Finally it did! I had found a really cute running animation which is a little more crazy hop like run that is hilarious to watch in action. Next, come races! I’m going to check about the possibility of it being utilized for some of the Tiny Olympics coming up. That would be fun! Will let everyone know.

In addition, Fox and I have put a new location for Tiny TAMA in the Raglan Shire Tree City Forest. We’re right on the way down to Extrovirtual.

~elfa and namaste

kimono in motion: a work in progress

I love Japanese art and many of the artists today do these wonderful floating fabrics which is what inspired me to do this kimono….the collar, butterfly obi, and sleeves are sculpted.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do, in SL, is to blend between avatar clothing and prim clothing as there is a saturation difference that is not always the same.  Also, the ratio for patterns can be maddening.  I am still working out the fabrics on the kimono, itself, and some of the panel work may change, but I am happy with the pattern on the prim clothing.  I had wanted to do a prim skirt as I hate the SL skirt, but may go with the skirt for this. The hair I am wearing is the new Rechereché from It’s a Mab, Mab Universe, a delightful, elegant updo.  

~elfa and namaste

one more done, two to go

I have a little more work to do on the collar….deciding if I will do a two-tone collar as well.  No matter how you work things out in a modeling program, there is no accounting for the ways that things will work till you get them inworld and then it’s touch this up, change that till you get it right.  It’s sweet when things come together easily.  All in all, the ability to model things gets them closer the first time around.

~elfa and namaste

asia minor delay: the show will go on: bamboozled

 

I had to opt for the April Posé show due to a variety of reasons, but now the outfits are getting closer.  This assymetrical variation on the cheongsam is called Bamboozled and will be available in a few colors including this vernal green offering, topped with a sculpted collar.  Form hugging, the SL skirt is thrown off in favor of pants and a close-paneled skirt.

~elfa and namaste 

getting ready for the show: serenity cheongsam

                                  

Boy howdy, I’ve been so busy!  I have a show on Monday at Posé Academy and I’ll be showing my Asian line.  This is the first of the dresses.  It features a sculpted Mandarin collar.  The dress is assymetrical with a soft curve, frog-closure front.  I really hate the SL skirt model and avoid it if I can.  With the sleek line this dress requires, I opted to try a pant with a close-panel skirt.  Due to the bilateral color scheme on the dress, the pant is red in front, black in the back and the skirt panels follow suit.  There is a wonderful keyhole opening on the back. The pattern is handmade and colored in Photoshop.  I’m really pleased with how it came out.  I will preview the other dresses here as I get them done.  There will, as always, be more than one color version and I am also looking to do a short version.  There will be sculpted hair sticks and hopefully some other goodies. 

~elfa and namaste 

gion project in second life: attention to detail

There has been a lot of blog press coverage of this new sim, Gion, in Second Life and deservedly so.  The place is beautiful, inspired by the Gion district in Japan.  There is an abundance of detail displayed in the prim architecture as well as the extremely well-done textures.  Towering in the distance is this very large pagoda, imposing and elegant, and wonderfully silhouetted against the sea behind it.  The wood, in its various uses, has great character, from the cranes on the guard rails to the pocked wood of the rafters.

The sim is welcoming guests with gifts that vary from simple, little fans, to full dress kimonos for male and female. On top of that there is a scavenger hunt with some very nice prizes to be found. You can find information at the Gion Project page. Be warned, there are false keys to counter the true one, so have fun.

~elfa and namaste 

   

acolyte, a new robe, and the privilege to help

 

 I have the privilege and honor to design and build clothing for Tibetan monks coming into Second Life to visit and hopefully teach.  I started by building the robes.  I was charmed and touched to learn that I needed to make them off the shoulder as that represents their compassion and their readiness to reach out and help the world.

I chose to sculpt the shoulder parts and noticed that, often, some of the cloth is draped over one arm, so I sculpted that, too.  I used flexi prims to create the other parts of the robes.  However, because the draped portion is on the arm, once the wearer sits, it will stick out, having no flexability.  I approached scripter, Tiny Hickman of TinySoft™ who graciously scripted what I asked for.  The script detects the avatar in a sit position, makes the prim completely invisible, and makes it visible again on standing.  I created a raised arm animation, in DAZ|Studio, which is activated upon wearing the prim (thanks to another script by DrenBoy Opus of Opus Labs).  As the clothing will be based on the actual clothing worn by the monks in real life and the colors and patterning are particular to their order, these robes will be a gift from The Shaolin Temple in Mystical Mastery and will never be sold in that form.    

In looking at the monks’ clothing more closely, there is still much to do to get it just right within the limitations of prims, regular and sculpted.  The final robes and garments beneath them will depict as closely as possible the monastic clothing. Trying to have enough difference between the monastic and ones that could be used in my own products, this variation in velvet will compliment another new dress called Acolyte.  Color variations will be available.  Look for final presentation of this ensemble, here in the blog, soon.

~elfa and namaste 

Joyeux Gown, a vision in periwinkle

This ensemble offers a variety of ways to wear it. It has two sets of sleeves, one of which features a large, soft, sculpted pleating and the other a smaller sculpt with flowing sheer panels. Gilded lace adorns the edges of the sleeves and gown hem. Glitch pants, with a gilded pattern, can be worn under or alone with a matching open-midriff jacket. The gown has a beautiful handmade lace over-pattern on the sheer fabric above the silk periwinkle underskirt.

A marvelous enhancement is the addition of starry particles, visible best at night, that turn on and off by touching the skirt.

Available at all my stores, including Linji.

~elfa and namaste

Impressionista and the colors of the rainbow

 

Impressionista is wonderful bell gown with a lovely watercolor like patterning on the fabric which ends in three tiers dripping with handmade gold lace.  

The top has a sheer panel creating a beautiful v-shape on the bodice and can be worn alone or with the elegant fur stole.  A separate av-skirt and glitch pants complete this memorable ensemble. 

Available in a bevy of colors at all my stores, including Linji.

~elfa and namaste