Baroque.

Versailles Baroque Jewellery

I am all baroque-inspired this month, with two softly-burnished historic jewellery releases.

Above is the "Eclectica Versailles Baroque Jewellery" set, which can be found at this months L'accessoires round, here. The set includes a necklace, pair of earrings and two rings (for left and right hands). The metal is a warm old gold, with a little puplish tinting on the metal roses. This touch of purple is echoed in the ribbon, and both can be retinted if you prefer a different look (a hint of cool verdigris may be nice). The pendant gems add a bit of colour; I have tinted them a contrasting dull turquoise but they are neutrally textured and so may be manually retinted to anything you prefer.

The pieces are copiable, modifiable, and unscripted. They appear at their best with advanced lighting enabled.


Blenheim Baroque Brooch

And above is the "Blenheim Baroque Brooch" for this month's Genre round, here. This is a flexible brooch which really can be worn anywhere you might need a bit more frippery. I have included two in the pack; one for the chest and one for the hair, as shown. But you may copy them and reattach them according to your outfit. Try one on your belt, use them to spruce up a pair of plain shoes, or even use them as earrings if you like. I have made them as flexible as possible so that you can customise the colours of the stones. A removable texturechange script will allow you to retexture the stones to the nine colours shown, and in addition you may manually retint. The stones can be controlled in two groups; the central large stone, and the smaller surrounding stones. The pearls are a separate face, and although these are shippes as white, you may have a play with their colour.

Both of these items will come home to the Eclectica Mainstore after the events are over in mid-August, and they will be found on the Marketplace then as well.

Swing Shoes

I blender-ed some swing-era-inspired shoes, which are cute retro peep-toed slingbacks, with rather fetching bows on the straps. They have a coy/sexy appeal, and suit a 1940's to 50's era look, but they also have a classic contemporary business feel. There are three groups of textures; floral, standard and glossy.

Here's floral- these have vintagey flowers all over them. All are quite muted, yet tintable. They are excellent for garden-partying, or hanging out at the beach. Very casual, but pretty.

Eclectica Floral Swing Shoes-Apricot&Green

Eclectica Floral Swing Shoes-Black&Pink

Eclectica Floral Swing Shoes-Pink&Blue

Eclectica Floral Swing Shoes-Pale Pink

Eclectica Floral Swing Shoes-Bright Pink

Eclectica Floral Swing Shoes-Red

Then there're these ones. These have two per pack. One pair is textured semi-shiny leather, and the other matte soft suede. They are available in six colour options. All use materials to give the textures exta realness. On the back is a little metal detail with a swing-era design, subtley added. Great for swing era roleplay, or even a sophisticated classic business look.

The inner sole is textured neutrally, and I have added a tint to them. You may make the inners any colour you like to match your outfit.

Eclectica Swing shoes-Black

Eclectica Swing shoes-Blue

Eclectica Swing shoes-Faun

Eclectica Swing shoes-Gold

Eclectica Swing shoes-Ivory

Eclectica Swing shoes-Red


And then these. Extra glossy versions in extra colours. These also have two per pack; plain and polka dot. These have extra baked in specularity, and well hell; they're just shiny. I like that sometimes. Wear them out at night or whenever you wish. They look cool. :)

Eclectica Swing Shoes-Glossy-Blue

Eclectica Swing Shoes-Glossy-Gold

Eclectica Swing Shoes-Glossy-Grey

Eclectica Swing Shoes-Glossy-Pink

Eclectica Swing Shoes-Glossy-Purple

Eclectica Swing Shoes-Glossy-Teal


All of these will slip on over your SLink medium mesh feet. And they give you a chance to show off some pretty nail colours.

Have fun!

Mad Pea has gone all Steampunk-Gacha

[necklace with a dragonfly]

Mad Pea puts on a lot of fun activities throughout the year. I adore their hunts, which are not so much hunts but more like storytelling with gifty-bonuses. I like their use of imagination to wow us with immersive games, and how they also provide a meaningful platform for designers who wish to become involved and get a little exposure. They have just opened a gacha festival with a steampunk theme at Mad City, and it's wonderful. When you arrive, it's all dark and hissy-sounding with escaping gasses and goodness-knows-what. Excess ether or something perhaps. Careful not to stand over a steam vent. That stuff can chew through your silks like nothing else.

[necklace with a rhinoscerous beetle]

I'm showing off here some samples from Eclectica. I made steampunk timepieces specially for this, and had a blast (and totally loved the creative process as I always do when I pickily choose an event).

[necklace in silver and puce]

This is a range of necklaces-that-are-watches. They all work, really nicely, and with a click you can set them to almost any major city you like. Each one has turning cogs, just to fool you into thinking that these are actually mechanical watches or something. They churn away quite subtly, and look pretty cool I reckon.

[necklace in gold and aqua]

As you can see, there are common ones, rare ones, and ultra rare ones. The ultra rares have little dragonflies or rhinoscerous beetles on them. I adore both of these creatures and have used them a few times over the years. So happy to be able to make them out of mesh and not prims again!!!

[necklace in copper and clear]

[necklace in black and green]

Just between you and me, I realised at the last moment that these watches are totally NPIRL. There's no way the wearer can see the time. They would have to ask a friend to tell them, or look in a mirror. Actually, roleplay looking in a mirror, as there are no mirrors*. Luckily here in SL we just cam in on ourselves to see. Or look up the top of the viewer and bypass all of these niceties, but I guess that's not the point. So, buy one of these, wear it so all your friends can see the time while you remain blissfully ignorant. If it's something important I'm sure they'll tell you if they are the proper nice kind of friends.

[fob watch with rhinoscerous beetle]

So, if this is a trouble in your mind that no amount of twisty turny rp will reconcile, there are more practical fob watches in the other gacha. You can pin these to yourself anywhere that your outfit suggests. They are fitted to the pelvis attachment point, and I have shown them down by the waist, connected to a buttonhole and looped into the waist. By all means, reattach this to the chest if this suits you. It's quite easy, and I will help you if you IM me.

And yes, you can be a girl or a boy to wear these fob watches. Both are fine. I would show a boy model, but my male alt looks unintentionally creepy and I don't know how to fix him.

[fob watch with dragonfly]

Do turn on advanced lighting model in your graphics preferences. The use of materials is subtle, but it's still worth it.

[fob watch in silver and cream]

One more small thing I should mention. The script allows you to turn on digital railway time in hovertext. It's an option. If you really really need it, it's there. But if you do this, baby seals will suffer and maybe die. Needless to say, if I were at all a smart scripter I'd comment out that bit, but I'm not so it remains. Happily I trust you.

[fob watch in verdigris and clear]

These will be exclusive to Mad City while the event is on. After that, the rare and ultra-rare versions will be available at the Eclectica Mainstore, and on the Marketplace.



*or spoons.

Octopusseses!!!

This month's theme at Genre is "Mer", and I've really enjoyed working with some little octopi specially for this. They are made of smoothly polished metal, and hold rough beach pebbles in place on a neck strap. They are a little darker in mood than many mer accessories, and will certainly suit mermen as well as maids. In fact, each pack includes a neckpiece adjusted to a male shape to help you get a good fit.

[Black]

The use of normal and specular mapping helps to enhance the contrast between these materials. I adore having this extra control when designing.

[Coral]

They are unscripted, copiable and moddable. And one object, so you can easily adjust the size as one piece in all directions at once.

[Emerald]

The separate faces are: octopus, pebble, and strap and ring. You may tint these separately, or fiddle with the glow/etc if that's your thing.

[Sand]

[Turquoise]

[Verdigris]

They are available at Genre until the middle of April. After that, you can find them in the Eclectica Mainstore, and on the Marketplace.

Merry Gothmas!

I was nicely invited to come do something for Gothmas by Gaslight this year, a Cursed event, and I'd have to say, it's the most pleasant-to-be-involved-in event. Never having created much in the gothic way, being a little wary of going all black and purple with oozing blood and weeping eyeliner...I took a moment to think about it. When Bronxelf said "of course Dark Victorian is great too" I thought "oooh YES" and was in!

I went off to watch a spot of Wuthering Heights while pondering what to do, and came up with some rings with darkly formed gothic metalwork, and contrasting 'stones', which are actually more akin to painted glass, in a rose design. It's a contrast in stark and flowery that works, I hope.

[Black]

A variety come in each pack, for left and right hands. Two are detailed variations with coloured inserts, two are plainer bands. These are fitted to Slink mesh hands (Elegant1) but can be rearranged for any hands you like. They are unlinked, and can be moved individually, so please "add" rather than "wear" them as they'll wipe each other out ;)

[Dark Gold]

The glass roses texturechange, with a range of lovely pink-ish and blue-ish hues. They all work nicely together. The script allows you to change each ring independantly from the others, so that you can create contrast if you prefer. These scripts will also resize for you, and are all easily deletable.

[Pale Gold]

Materials are used in the texturing. (I'm having so much fun using this feature!)

[Silver]

But wait! There's more!
There are matching pendants, for an absent ring-wearer, perhaps?

[Black]

[Dark Gold]

[Pale Gold]

[Silver]

These can all be found at the little Eclectica cottage, Gothmas by Gaslight, Sium. After the event, they'll be found at the Eclectica Mainstore.

Victoriana at Genre

December's Genre has just opened, and it's as pretty as a Wintery Christmas Card.

[black]

I have some new shoes there this month, appropriately named "Victoriana".

They are copiable, moddable, and unscripted. They are original mesh, and unrigged. Pop them on over your Slink medium barefeet, (or try them with the alpha and shoebase provided to see how they suit your horrific old plain feet if you must, haha!).

[emerald]

Once again, I have used specular and normal mapping to enhance the texturing. This means that if you turn on advanced lighting, you will see them respond quite beautifully to the light.

[gold]

These are a Victorian indoor shoe- quite soft, very comfortable about the foot with it's sumptuous soft lining, and with a characteristic Victorian shape to the arch and heel. Well detailed piping and buttons cater to the Victorian taste for opulence, along with the richly figured fabric.

[ivory]

You certainly can tweak the hues if you need. The black has been left a wee bit light, so that you have room to make it a little cooler or warmer in hue, depending on what your other outfit pieces are doing (not all blacks are alike). Similarly with the other colours.

[pale blue]

[pink]

[red]

You will be well received in all the best society drawing rooms with these respectable and stylish shoes!

[violet]