Short Story Roundup

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Three Knots | Leave a comment

From The Author: Lately, I’ve not been inspired to write a lot of longish stories and have been sticking to single photographs. So here is a bit of a roundup of the last week or so in photographs. These have, except for one, already appeared on my Flickr feed, so they might seem familiar.

The Moth, or “Capture” and “Escape”

Moth Working Shot

I knew Ritual was going to release a green skin for the Trick or Treat Lane event, but I didn’t have the skin yet. Now, green is not my favourite colour, and I only very rarely (like only when I want to blog one) wear green skin, so I wanted to find a concept that worked for me with a green skin. Luckily, I’d just been to the Lootbox event, where Devious Minds had this gorgeous moth outfit gacha. So, here is the dry-run shot that I took and edited before the eventual photograph with the skin itself. I’m including it here because it was fun to shoot and also because the character changed a bit in my head between concept and finished photo.

Quick credits: moth set is from the Devious Mind “Falena” gacha, at Lootbox. Hair is Magika, “Irene”. Avatar styled on LAQ Noelle Bento Mesh Head and a Maitreya body, with SLink Pointe feet.

Capture

With the addition of the new skin (Ritual, Elspeth in tone Rheia for Trick or Treat Lane ), plus some brighter eyes (Cerebrus Xing, Uni Eyes), and dark lipstick (Pink Fuel, Dazzle Me-Haunted), and a change in hair (Tram, 0314), this character became, for me, a dark fairy captured, perhaps because she committed some crime or perhaps because of who she was. This is possibly her mug shot, although it might be a self-reflection from wherever she is incarcerated.

Escape

Here is how the final photograph with the darker skin turned out. Whether she is re-captured, I do not know, but the story is somewhere in there! Even though I’d saved camera angles and lighting settings, things weren’t exactly the same, as you can see, and in order to soften the shadows I added an overlay in Affinity Photo to soften them. The Flickr version is cropped differently and I think more effectively.

I’d mentioned to the lovely Wren of Visionaire that I have been unsatisfied with a lot of the bloggy photography lately and felt like I was sliding in to some old habits (over-lighting, boring subject focus, and also over-lighting). Funny how when you talk about something, it suddenly seems to come clear to you? A lot of these pictures are partly influenced by that conversation.

Credits: Same as for the test shot, with the additions noted above. This great pose is from Le Poppycock‘s new Fairy Winds set.

Dignigoff

Dignigoff

I’m still crazy in love with HEXtraordinary‘s adorable Lord Bartleby Von Tinkleton; isn’t everybody? I’d just finished the blog story about his visit to and planned takeover of Awenia, but I really wanted to put him in every photograph ever at the time, so here he is as Gwyneth’s travelling companion to some important Nu Jyorck function or other. This dress is 1313 Mockingbird Lane‘s beautiful (and versatile!) Delirium Dress, which will officially debut at The Black Fair on the 5th of October, and the shoes are also from 1313 Mockingbird Lane. They’re the Luna Mary Janes, and you can get them at Trick or Treat Lane , where there are many other amazing things, as well!

Credits from the Flickr Post:
The Dress: 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Delirium (out soon at The Black Fair!)
The Shoes: 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Luna Mary Janes (at Trick or Treat Lane !)
The Skin: Ritual, Elspeth in Tone 1 (at the Ritual Main Store)
The Hair: Analog Dog (natch!), Zuna (Available at Lootbox)
The Bracelets: The Plastik, Phaen Cuffs (At Salem)
The Kitty: HEXtraordinary, Lord Bartleby Von Tinkleton, Esq. (At The Engine Rom)
The Headpiece: Zibska, Sammy (At Shiny Shabby)
The Backdrop: FoxCity, Grand Entrance (At Kustom9)
The Pose: An Lar, The Candi Series, 5m
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa Keme

Glamour Shot!

Glamour Shot

This is an unapologetic fashion red carpet style photograph of 1313 Mockingbird Lane‘s Delirium Dress, which will be available at The Black Fair. It’s not often I like a dress so much I want to photograph it twice, but something about the fall of the skirt and the fact that there was a cherry print for it made me wonder what would happen if you put a Goth girl into a 1950’s sitcom. So here she is, probably ready to go out for blood burgers and zombie shakes with all her friends from school! I’d also been wanting to photograph these Marcelina shoes from Bliensen + Maitai for ages, so long I don’t even remember where I got them, though the properties tab says I acquired them on the 5th of May this year, which probably means the May round of We Love Roleplay. Regardless, they’re gorgeous little witchy pumps, made for SLink kitten feet. I wish more people would design for kitten and pointe feet, but I’m weird. I searched far and wide for this cherry-themed jewellery and finally found it on the SL MP from Petit Chat. Searching for anything with the word “cherry” in the description on MP is…. yeah. We suffer for art, y’all. We really do.

Quick Credits for everything not. above: Skin: Ritual, Elspeth in T1. Body: Maitreya. Head: Catwa Keme. Ears: Swallow Elf Ears HD. Stockings: Sweet Tea. Backdrop Wearh0ouse, Drapes

I Woke Up Like This

I Woke Up Like This

I’ll be honest: I didn’t mean to take this photograph. I was testing hairstyles for the moth photograph, and I came across this one from Tram (H0414) and considered it as a possibility. Then, when I was cam zoomed in on the avatar face, it struck me that this would make a really nice portrait, so I adjusted her expression and shot it. It ended up showing Ritual‘s beautiful Elspeth applier really well, so I decided to share it. And, really, don’t we all love living in SL where we really can wake up like this?

Quick credits: Eyes: ProFect, Moon Eyes; Head: Catwa Keme; Ears: Swallow, Elf Ears HD; Brows: Simple Bloom, LaraDawn soft arch; Hair: Tram H0414; Skin: Ritual, Elspeth in T1.

The News

The News

Sometimes, a creation just inspires me on sight. That’s what happened with this evocative skin from Jeanette’s Joint, Chronicles. I knew it had to go with clothes from the Belle Epoque Undimmed Eyes set; I didn’t even consider any other outfits to photograph this. I wore this outfit for like three days, I liked it so much, and trust me when I say my Second Life is mostly full of costume changes! Once I had the avatar dressed, the character that emerged was an investigative reporter for the Nu Jyorck Ganger, a big daily newspaper. This is her byline photo. As for the rest of the story, I don’t know it yet. Maybe I never will. Some characters are ephemeral.

Here’s the text from the Flickr post:

Look at this quirky, whimsical, downright glorious skin from Jeanette’s Joint! If you’re feeling significant (and, indeed, topical!) and you want to take this baby for a spin, you can pick it up for L$249 at the Fallen Gods Twelfth Anniversary Zodiac event. And this isn’t the only super cool thing there! Not only is there great shopping, but this event also promises great parties, cool chances to find your One True Soulmate (and win a limited edition skin!), and the Zodiac Hunt.

The Amazing Skin: Jeanette’s Joint, Chronicles Skin. Comes with Catwa, Maitreya, and Omega appliers. At the Fallen Gods Twelfth Anniversary Zodiac event.
The Exactly Right Outfit: Belle Epoque, Undimmed Eyes (this was at a Lootbox event, I think, but it’s sure to be in the Belle Epoque Main Store now).
The Understated But Fetching Hair: Exile, Lily (I think I got this at Hair Fair, but my brain is catnipped at the moment; anyway, it’s in the Exile Main Store).
The Thoughtful, Yet Appealing Eyes: Heaux, Glaze Eyes (fatpack light), for Genus
The Ears Of Hopefulness And Newshounding: Lumae, Leevi Short Ears. (At the Lumae/Ritual Main Store)
The Fae-Means-Business Eyebrows: Simple Bloom, LaraDawn, High Arch. (At the SimpleBloom Main Store)
The Flirtatious Yet Forward Thinking Eyelashes: Michan, Cheryl Lashes (from the September 2019 Genus Project Powder Pack).

Gwyneth is styled on a Maitreya mesh body and a Genus Project Baby Face Bento Mesh Head.

I would say she never reveals her sources, but that would, verifiably, be what we call irony.

So, I guess that’s the news from this week.

Surgical recovery is finally done, so I go back to work on Sunday, 6 October. I will do my best to keep up the bloggity blogs.

Dragon Mani-Pedi!

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Three Knots | Leave a comment

Sometimes, you’ve gotta indulge. That’s exactly what I was thinking when one of my dearest friends in this Realm or any other, Danya, otherwise known as the irrepressible DJ Fae, pinged me to see how I was doing and if maybe I was free for lunch sometime this week.

So I said, “I think I have a better idea! There’s this amazing new salon I’ve heard about where you can have your nails done….by dragons!”

“I am so totally in,” said Danya. So I sent a Wisp and made an appointment….

…And that’s how we found ourselves here!

And that’s how we found ourselves here, at the Pink Bar, surrounded by tiny dragons whose duty it was to pamper us from head to toe.

The little purple guy in the air in this photo seemed to be the ringleader (and actually, he also seemed to be the only one who could speak English, which meant he’d have been the master of ceremonies to me even if another dragonet was really in charge).

We each had two dragonets assigned to our feet: one to wash and one to primp and polish, one dragonet to each hand, and a couple more who seemed to be there just in case any of the others needed anything.

How has dragon mani-pedi not always been a thing?

“How has dragon mani-pedi not always been a thing?” I asked.

The purple ringleader dragonet (pictured here on my head) replied, “Well, we only just arrived in this Realm, and you know: we’re entrepreneurs. We see a spot in the market, we take it!”

I laughed until I realised the green dragonet on my shoulder was pulling my hair. “Ow!”

“That’s a scalp massage, not a clip-and-char,” said the purple one. He followed this up with a diatribe in the hissy-chirpy sound-string that must have been their native tongue.

Ooh, talk about a great scalp massage!

“Ooh, talk about a great scalp massage!” Danya could barely keep up her end of the Fae Club Scene (yes, there is one) gossip, she was enjoying herself so much. “But seriously: that is my champagne, wee scaly dude, and if you stick your nose in there, you’re not getting a tip!”

“Wait. How many beds did you say are in that Chinese garden?”

Once little green what’s his name got back to massaging instead of trying to eat my hair, I had to ask: “Wait. How many beds did you say are in that Chinese garden? Like, bed-beds? Not flower beds? How many bed-beds do you need in a garden?”

It turned out that neither of us really knows how many bed-beds you need in a garden, but we figured having a garden bed-bed (not flower bed) count would be kind of fun. Next outing: Sorted!

Style Card:

Gwyneth:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Lelutka, Vera Bento Mesh Head
Skin: Lumae, Lelutka Deia applier in T1 (All current Lumae Skin Lines are on sale at the Lumae Main Store for just L$100 apiece)
Ears: Swallow, Shiny Elf Ears
Hair: Tram, I0116 hair (at Uber)
Clothes: !go! all from the Lady Mary gacha Rare 2 set, including breeches, chunky heels (by the chair), tweed jacket, and collar

Danya:
Body: Maitreya
Head: LAQ, Lulu Bento Mesh Head
Skin: LAQ, Camille Essential Skin, Tone 2.0
Ears: Soul, Uni Ears, Troll
Hair: Dura, G68, Brown
Eyeshadow: Shiny Stuffs, LAQ Stardust Eyeshadow
Lipstick: Entice, Just A Kiss Lipsticks
Clothes: !go! all from the Lady Mary gacha set, including breeches, chunky heels (tucked beneath the chair), and cardigan
Jewellery: All from Earthstones: Mystic Bracelet, Mystic Ring, Velvet Rose Choker Necklace

Environment:
Dragon Mani Pedi Salon: FoxCity, The Pink Bar (at Uber)
Dragon Nail Technicians: HEXtraordinary, Dragon Whelps (at The Epiphany until 12 February)
Pose: FoxCity, Galentine’s Day (at Uber)

You Know How I Feel

Posted on September 28, 2018 by Three Knots | Leave a comment

Birds flying high you know how I feel
Sun in the sky you know how I feel
Breeze driftin’ on by you know how I feel

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life
For me
And I’m feeling good

Fish in the sea you know how I feel
River running free you know how I feel
Blossom on the tree you know how I feel

Dragonfly out in the sun

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don’t you know
Butterflies all havin’ fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when day is done
That’s what I mean

And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine

Stars when you shine you know how I feel
Scent of the pine you know how I feel
Oh freedom is mine
And I know how I feel

—Nina Simone, ‘Feeling Good’

(Video Link below credits)

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Lelutka, Cate Bento Mesh Head
Skin: Lumae, Lelutka Deia, T1 (All current skin lines are available at the Lumae Main Store!)
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Makeup: Cazimi, Bengali Bride
Hair: Exile, Strange and Unusual
Necklace: Empyrean Forge, Heritage Necklace
Gown: Azul, Nanceee, in Amythest (Available for two more days at theThe Spoonful of Sugar Festival!)

Environment:
Location: Awenia, The Box
Backdrop: FoxCity, God Is A Woman
Pose: PosESioN, Throne Series

The gown in this post is featured at The Spoonful of Sugar Festival,a charity event benefiting Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders provides medical aid to vulnerable people and in crisis situations. There’s a lot to see over the six regions of the Festival, but you have until the 30th of September to see everything. So pace yourself, and don’t forget to bring enough L$, because there are many places along the way to give your support to Doctors Without Borders, including five shopping regions.

Spoonful Of Sugar AD 2018

Thinking of a Place

Posted on September 17, 2018 by Three Knots | Leave a comment

Sometimes, thought is everything.

Light = Dark

I’m moving through the dark
Of a long black night
Just moving with the moon
And the light it shines
And I’m thinking of a place
And it feels so very real
Just moving through the dark

Once I had a dream

I’m moving through the dark
Of a long black night
And I’m looking at the moon
And the light it shines
But I’m thinking of a place
And it feels so very real
Oh, it was so full of love!

See it through my eyes

Lead me through the light
Pull me from the water
Hold my hand and something turns to me
Turns me into you
Just see it through my eyes
Love me like no other
Hold my hand and something turns to me
Turns me into you
Turn in me
Into you

Lyrics excerpted from The War on Drugs, “Thinking of a Place”. (YouTube link follows credits)

The dress and necklace in this post are both items featured at The Spoonful of Sugar Festival,a charity event benefiting Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders provides medical aid to vulnerable people and in crisis situations. There’s a lot to see over the six regions of the Festival, but you have until the 30th of September to see everything. So pace yourself, and don’t forget to bring enough L$, because there are many places along the way to give your support to Doctors Without Borders, including five shopping regions.

Spoonful of Sugar Featured Items:
Necklace: DCKM, Sugar Spoon Necklace
Dress: Mishmash Fusion, Starry Night Beach Dress

Full Credits:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Lelutka, Cate Bento Mesh Head
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Friday (Available NOW at The Chapter Four!)
Eyeshadow and Lip colour: Izzie’s, Glitter Makeup
Eyes: Song, Frost Eyes
Hair: Stealthic, Fleeting (Available NOW at Kustom9!)
Headpiece, Lode, Marigold Wreath, Dark Berries
Nails: Cazimi, August VIP Nails
Photo Box: FoxCity, Cloud 9 (Available NOW at Kustom9!)

Be Like a Bird

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Three Knots | 1 Comment

Be like a bird, who halting in her flight
On a limb too slight, feels it give way beneath her
Yet sings, sings, knowing she has wings
Yet sings, sings, knowing she has wings

Be like a bird

Halting in her flight

Who, halting in her flight

A limb too slight

On a limb too slight,

It gives way beneath her

Feels it give way beneath her,

Yet sings, sings, knowing she has wings

Yet sings, sings, knowing she has wings

Let there be rejoicing! The wonderful Lumiya Rae has a new skin, and it’ll be available shortly! This is the Elentari fantasy skin, here shown on a Genus Project head with the Juniper face. There are different faces for different mesh heads, of course. Lumae are aiming for a release at noon SLT tomorrow at the Lumae Main Store!

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Genus Project
Skin: Lumae, Fantasy Elentari, Juniper (Available TOMORROW at the Lumae Main Store!)
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Hair: All by Tableau Vivant. In order from photo 1-6, they are:
1 Tempest
2 Laying
3, 6 Front Blow
4, 5 Demon Huntress
Eyes: Seydr, Versicolor Eyes
Dress, leg wraps, and shoes: JR Wolf Creations (Available on 15 September at the Spoonful of Sugar Festival!)
Choker: Bauhaus Movement, Eternal Choker

Environment:
Photo box: FoxCity, Love Succs, Pastel
Poses: UZME Poses, FlyJump #1

Getting Ready for Spoonful of Sugar!

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Three Knots | 1 Comment

It’s almost time

It’s almost time! Time to get ready for two weeks of fashion shows, parties, and cool events, not to mention shopping! I’m all excited about the Spoonful of Sugar Festival, and I’ve roped Bran into coming with me to take some photographs. So this is the first of about twenty amazing dresses I have to fit and accessorise before the fact. It’s the excitement of putting a perfect look together that makes me anticipate an event like this so much. I admit, I’m often interested in these things for the shopping alone, but there’s so much more to an event like SoS.

All angles

Seeing something from all angles is important. I always want the shoes to work with the dress, the nails to work with the dress, the dress to work with me, my hair to be the perfect complement. Nathaniel is fond of saying that I might spend too much time on this stuff—but, you know. We’ve all seen his idea of fashion.

But how does it move?

But how does it move? That’s another consideration. This dress really knows how to move. I want to take it dancing.

Of course, I’m nothing without a good dressing room!

Of course, I’m nothing without a good dressing room! This is one of two dressing rooms in the Castle, technically for guests, but I love the privacy of it, so when we don’t have guests, I am spending a lot of time in it these days. The room is very bright and airy, and the furniture complements it beautifully. Now, anybody who knows me knows that I have a lot of vanities, most of which are stashed in a pocket dimension, because it’s more efficient to keep stuff there than just pile it in a random room, right?

Ready!

All right: I think this outfit is ready. Even the simplest things sometimes take me a while: my friends and subjects know that when I say, “Just let me get dressed,” they might be looking at a long wait. My adopted stepdaughter, Wren, is fond of just responding to that with, “And then, three days later….” She’s a hoot.

The Spoonful of Sugar Festival starts on the 15th of September. That’s only five days away! So much to do; so much to prepare!

Style Card:
Items available at Spoonful of Sugar:
Dress: Mishmash Fusion, Rocketpop Dress, Glow Dots Purple
Necklace: Songbird, Heartbeat Necklace
Vanity: SPF Fine Furnishings and Clothing, Vanity
Tall Mirror: SPF Fine Furnishings and Clothing, Full Length Animated Mirror

The Spoonful of Sugar Festival is a charity event benefiting Doctors Without Borders. Doctors Without Borders sends medical aid to places where need is great, like conflict zones. They support humanitarian causes and report on the problems they see. Nearly 90% of donations to Doctors Without Borders goes straight to the work itself.

Other Items:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Lelutka, Cate Bento Mesh Head
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Friday (Available NOW at AnyBody!)
Eyes: Seydr, Versicolor Eyes (Available NOW at We Love Roleplay!)
Ears: Lumae, Leevi Long Ears
Hair: Magika, Lotus (New at the Magika Main Store!) —If you haven’t checked out Magika’s new colours and textures, you really must visit. You get almost 200 hair colours in every single pack, all for L$369. If you join the Magika group, there’s an additional group colour HUD that has some great multicolours.
Shoes: Eudora, Alice Pumps and Socks
Photobox: FoxCity, Escape
Poses: PoSEsion, Estrella Set

The Forest Meets the Trees (or, Corporate Art)

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Three Knots | 1 Comment

Everybody who knows me, if asked the question, “Is Her Majesty a Forest Person, or a Tree Person?” would answer that I am a forest person. I appreciate that details make up the things we see around us, and I appreciate details, but I am far more interested in the complete picture than individual pieces of it.

So when I got the invitation from Arahaelon for a lost weekend in Helgen Francis, I pictured long walks in the parks, the view of the Gyldenport bridge, evenings in the city. The address he gave me was for what sounded like a very posh hotel, just on the outskirts of the city, and he told me not to worry about anything; he’d have it all set up for me.

Don’t worry about clothes, shoes, your hair, anything. I’ll meet you at 8:00 in the hotel lobby. -A

Well, that sounded promising. I pictured those romance novels where Hero always knows exactly what size Heroine is, right down to the unmentionables, and every dress fits perfectly. Still, I brought along an overnight bag, just in case he got it wrong.

Hotel Snobette was indeed a very posh hotel! The porter who greeted me at the door gave a bow, seemed to know exactly who I was, and told me we could bypass check-in. Then he took me up to a large suite on the second floor, took my bag, unpacked it for me, and refused the tip I offered, stating he was paid enough for his services and enjoyed his job.

The room opened into a hallway, to the left of which was the bedroom and bath suite. The front was a foyer. I investigated the bedroom first, and found that Arahaelon had indeed gotten all the details right as I shimmied into the dress. Ooh, a Senzafine! Deliciously strapless, matched perfectly with the shoes he’d chosen, and with a lovely line. I got dressed, spent an hour with the hairdresser who arrived a few minutes later, and then made my way into the foyer to pass the time until 8:00.

I opened the French doors

The first thing I did was open the French doors to the balcony. Oh, what a beautiful breeze! The hairstylist, someone from Emo*Tions, had done my hair in what she said was a popular Helgen Francis style this summer, Vindblåst. Their version of it is called Chrystal.

Oh, that breeze!

Oh, that breeze! I half-closed my eyes for the joy of it. I’d taken the precaution of having my skin painted properly before I arrived in Helgen Francis, because the ladies at 7 Deadly s{K}ins always know just what to do.

I stepped out on the balcony

I stepped out on the balcony to get a different look at the room and the inner courtyard of the hotel a few doors below. When I turned around, something caught my eye.

I couldn’t stop staring

It caught my eye, and held it. I couldn’t stop staring. While at first I’d taken in the whole of the room, I now realised the art on the walls was, well… dreadful. There was no other word for it. On second thought, I could come up with several: hideous; horrendous; monstrous; abominable; nasty. More came to mind, but why belabour the point?

I caught the hairdresser as she was leaving and asked her to take a photo of me with other examples of this fine *cough* artwork.

Save me!

I texted this photo to Arahaelon with the simple message, Save me! Now, Arahaelon isn’t omnipresent in my life, but he is reliable when he is there, so I wasn’t surprised when he showed up half an hour early.

He kissed me on the cheek and complimented my appearance first of course; that’s only proper. But then he looked at the walls. “You weren’t kidding,” he said. “At least I got here before you took out that sickle you carry and slashed it to bits.”

Me? I would never!

“Me?” I asked, affecting innocence. “I would never, ever, ever do such a thing!”

“Sure you wouldn’t.” Arahaelon tapped a message. “Valet will be downstairs with the car in about thirty seconds. Let’s go before you cause actual damage.”

I just laughed.

Of course, hours later when I returned, I found the artwork had been changed to line drawings of trees.

Much better.

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Lona Bento Mesh Head
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Texas (Available NOW at eBento!)
Nails: Cazimi, BotM, Dan’s Metallics & Glitters (You can pick this up at the Cazimi Main Store!)
Ears: Swallow, Magic Pixie Ears
Eyes: AviGlam, Doll’s Eyes
Gown: Senzafine, Maris Gown (Available NOW at The Trunk Show!)
Shoes: Reign, Jolie Heels
Hair: Emo*Tions, Chrystal (Available FOR JUST TWO MORE DAYS at Cosmopolitan!)
Necklace: Swallow, Magic Necklace (Available NOW at Kustom9!)

Environment: FoxCity Photo Booth, The Neighborhood
Furniture, LAQ Decor, Sofa Set
Corporate Art: I feel I shouldn’t name the artist here, because Gwyneth panned so badly. If you’re curious, feel free to IM me in world, and I’ll send you to the artist’s web page, although you may be surprised at how much it will cost you to have one of these pictures in real life!

Three Twisted Knots

Not all those who wander are lost.

Tag Archives: FoxCity