In the Deep Dark Sea

The Fantasy Faire will be coming to a close April 25. If you have not visited, I urge you to splurge a little on the other side of life in SL—a life of role playing and mermaids, fairies and tinies. It’s well worth the expense to expand your horizons.

The first night I walked the Mer Market at the Faire, I came upon a most glorious creature floating and flipping around in an amazingly… well, shrimp-like mermaid outfit. Pyewicket Tiger was the creator of his own beautiful mermaid ensemble, and I *had* to have one. I chose a mystical sea unicorn, which is unisex and fits me very well (though I admit it removed the beard). I purchased a skin in his underwater cavern to match and make what you see here.

Also available at the Faire are the AOs and poses and dances. I set into motion dances by yuuki Solo to snap some of these shots. Swirling around in graceful pirouettes and swirls, fins fluttering in radiant color in the cool deep sea is mesmerizing and relaxing to watch. I purchased Sala Snook’s brilliant Mermaid AO and watched myself tread water and swim from store to store, slipping through the water like a nymph.

“for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea”
~ e. e. cummings

Skin: Glitter Skin Blue by Pyewicket Tiger for Pyewicket’s Myths at the Mer Market sim

Ensemble: Sea Unicorn by Pye Lt Blue by Pyewicket Tiger for Pyewicket’s Myths at the Mer Market sim

Eyelashes: Detour – Klee Dot Lashes by Keri Clip for Detour

Dances: +yb mer Dance2f and +yb mer Dance9 and by yuuki Solo for .:Yo bailo:. at the Mer Market sim

Animation Override: :KH: Mermaid AO by Sala Snook for :KAMI-HITOE: at the Mer Market sim

Neptune’s Daughter

coming up for air
rising to a very new
somewhere
coming up for air
on the last breath around

~ “Coming Up for Air” by Patty Larkin

Another trip to the Mer Market sim at Fantasy Faire 2010, another opportunity to look beautiful. This time I find beauty with one of Goldenstar Sands’ RFL pieces. Offered as a Kimono set for a mermaid as seen above, a strapless (or topless) mermaid as shown below or as a human kimono, this lovely ensemble can take you from sea to shore in a snap. So you can choose modesty with the gorgeous kimono or a more revealing mermaid outfit.

Again, I show Tuli Asturias’ beautiful Sayuri skin, which I have been wearing non stop because I am so entranced by its beauty. It is really the first skin for East Asian women that I have seen that is gorgeous and fits well.

I show also hair and jewelry from two other Fantasy Faire participants. This updo from MissAllDaySunday Lemon is a gorgeous elegant addition to her fantasy line of hair styles. See a whole selection of beautiful pieces on the Avatopia sim. Jewelry is from Tekelili Tantalus, an incredible builder who is featuring creations on the Mer Market sim as well. I was able to change the colors of the shells, seaweed, and even the pearls on these earrings to colors I wanted. And there are MANY colors available in for these—buy one set of jewelry and get never-ending variations available.

Last but not least, let me mention another creator who is selling at Fantasy Faire in the Mer Market sim. I discovered Bibi Questi at last year’s Faire when I was building my underwater area. She (incredibly generously) sells boxes of entire underwater landscapes that benefit RFL. Based on her own trips to the Thailand coral reefs, Bibi started making her own underwater items. “I had had an amazing dive at East of Eden, a one hour long drift dive passing hard coral reefs, coral pillars, fish schools and the giant muray [sic] John with the sun shine falling through clear blue water,” she wrote to me.

Each box she sells for RFL contains.. get this… over 100 color-matched items for transforming your sand with plant-covered coral reefs, swimming fish, fusilades of fish, individual coral reefs, sun rays, and floating jellyfish. All you need is one box and it will transform your entire underwater with much to spare.

This is my own underwater area at my sim, to which I added a few more of her items. The box is CHOCK full. I can’t tell you what a deal it is and how imaginatively she has made her pieces. The fish are so colorful, the reefs so true to life and the jellyfish so remarkable, you can quickly and easily create an underwater scape with an overall color scheme that works. (Much better than buying individual pieces and then having a big hodge podge).

This is what SL is about: sharing our worlds with each other. Bibi has generously and beautifully brought her very amazing experience to share with all of us. Many of the pieces you see here are available in the Midnight Reef Package (blue, pink and seagreen). You can also get the Sunset Coral Reef package (warm orange, red, brown and olive green) or the Vulcano Reef Package (black, gray, blue and white). Get all three to benefit RFL and switch things out as your mood changes.

On the last breath around:

Hair: /Wasabi Pills/ Antigone Hair – Jet black by MissAllSunday Lemon for Wasabi Pills found on the Avatopia sim

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Sayuri tone 1 :: 03a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli *

Outfits: Festival Fan Mer Yukata (B/P) – Both (Combo) by Goldenstar Sands for Safe Waters found on the Mer Market sim *

Festival Fan Fish (B/P) – Just Mermaid by Goldenstar Sands for Safe Waters found on the Mer Market sim *

Earrings: Nereid – Earring by Tekelili Tantalus for Tekeli-li! found on the Mer Market sim

Seascape: Bibi’s midnight reef package v6 by Bibi Questi for Bibi’s Coral Reef Shop found on the Mer Market sim*

Life Underwater

The RFL Fantasy Faire will be opening April 19 and going through April 25, sponsored by the Friends Fighting Cancer team. The focus is, of course, fantasy, including role playing, tinies, nekos, fairies, demons, vamps, and science fiction.

I was given the opportunity to cover one sim, and I begged to cover the Mer Market, because I just love the beauty of underwater builds and clothing in SL. It’s my kind of fantasy.

Opal Lei of Mer Betta, is the sponsor of the Mer Market, and a perfect sponsor for such an environment. Her work is beautifully textured and rendered, carefully built and considered, complex and beautiful. When you get a mermaid ensemble from Mer Betta, you get your money’s worth.

In this case, I am showing the RFL piece Opal is donating for this event with all proceeds going to RFL. First, there is a basic mermaid outfit with fins (that include and on and off for flexiness), the basic leg covers, etc., and it comes in two shades per ensemble (in this case a darker and lighter purple). Then she offers “upgrade” packages—the Intimates and the Mutation, which you buy in addition to the basic mermaid set. The Intimates include a bit sexier ensemble that shows a little more skin (see directly above and below). The Mutation includes fins and wrist and shoulder pieces that are beautifully sculpted and textured (top photo). I can’t write enough about how beautiful I feel when I wear one of Opal’s ensembles. This particular creation comes in yellow, green, red and blue as well and they are all equally as incredible. (Tip: look UNDERWATER at the Faire to find even more beautiful creations in her store.) She is truly an artist.

I show this glorious ensemble with another beautiful piece of work from Tuli Asturias. Her new skin line, Sayuri, was made specifically to cast an Asian aspect to an avatar. This skin does not look as good on an avatar where it is not meant to look Asian, frankly, so I altered my eyes to make them more appropriate. I have tried before to find a skin that represents a beautiful Asian woman and have always struck out. I have finally found one. The Sayuri skin is absolutely exquisite.

“I must be a mermaid…. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”
— Anaïs Nin

Hair: Delora Purple by Queue Marlowe for Analog Dog (modified)

Skin: []::Tuli::[] Sayuri tone 2 :: 06a by Tuli Asturias for Tuli *

Outfits: Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain Purple Rosetail v3.1c (w) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta, sponsor of the Mer Market *

Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain ~ CrescentIntimates (w) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta, sponsor of the Mer Market *

Mer Betta RFL2010-Owain ~ MutationAlpha (w) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta, sponsor of the Mer Market *

Here is my first movie I ever did make in SL, showing this beautiful mermaid outfit.

Blue Mist for RFL

What is so terrific about SL is that you can put together a really esoteric look and it’s ok. You can go out, no one will make a wide berth for you like you are nuts, and you can have a wearable artistic expression.

I travelled to the Tokyo sim at RFL for this beautiful dress from CelestialRay Serpente. With its combination of layered textures (roses and gradients and pearls and fish scales) and diaphanous quality, it is complete fantasy. The gown also comes with another attachment that serves as a sort of fishy mermaid tail and a fuller ballgown skirt I don’t show here. It also has a “sexy’ version of the top showing shadows over the bust.

I paired it with an exquisite skin from Launa Fauna made for the Melt installation. I entered the “installation” and the main message I got from it was that a group of creators decided to get together and come up with an artistic challenge for creating content around a loose them of ice or cold and sell those creations. I thought it was a terrific idea for these young artists to do that. The combination of the cohort of creators creates a sort of energy that they can all tap from. This is what SL is all about!

Play misty for me:

Hair: !lamb. The Glow – Ink by Lamb Bellic for !lamb

Skin: L.Fauna {Lapine . Snow-Fae} [Careless] by Launa Fauna For L.Fauna available at Melt: An Installation on Thin Ice

Dress: *+.RP.+* SeaRose Mari’ee_Murasaki by CelestialRay Serpente for Rose Princess available on the Tokyo sim at the RFL Clothing Fair

Sea of Love

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
~ from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

A very nice person came up to me at SLCC and initiated an introduction—Opal Lei. I was startled—I am so often out of it, especially when I am just finishing a presentation or trying to figure out what to do next (there was a lot of that going on at SLCC for me). My brain was not functioning. We had a nice talk but didn’t really connect until she contacted me in world.

Opal IM’d me today about something else. After I spoke to Opal and had a great conversation with her, I ran over to her store. I was amazed. Opal has some incredible and fun stuff in her Mer Betta line.

This beautiful mermaid outfit comes with flowy tail fins and chest fins (which are not shown here). Opal includes system pieces that fade into the skin, making the wearer truly look like a mermaid. I used EmeraldEver Cline’s very inexpensive (150L) mermaid AO, purchased on xstreetsl.com.

I completed the look with pieces from my friend Teklili Tentalus’ collection. Nereid has a clever script that allows you to change the colors of each of the different elements of the jewelry—shells can be one color while pearls another. Each piece of jewelry is exquisitely made, in Tek’s typical fashion. You will see more in my blog from him—I am blown away by his work.

Shot on location in Night Swimming.

“I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each..”

Hair: Exile Love Song auburn by Kavar Cleanslate for Exile

Skin: Pulse Skin-Valeries T: Sienna/Citrus by Lorac Farella for Pulse Skins

Mermaid: Mer Betta Halimede Red Halfmoon v3c (v) by Opal Lei for Mer Betta

Jewelry: “Nereid” by Tekelili Tantalus for Tekeli-li!

AO: Em’s Preloaded AO Hud of Mer Animations by EmeraldEver Cline for Em’s Mermaid Shop By The Sea