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]

Eclectica Relic

[Relic Jewellery in black]

I've been having so much fun, and here's part of the result :) "Relic" was dreamed up one evening, and has taken a while to reach fruition. It's finally done, and serendipitously ready for the Jewelry and Accessories Expo, on at the moment.

[Relic Pendant in black]

Like everything I create now, it's mesh.....copy/mod happy....uses materials (which I adore working with, despite it tripling my upload costs, haha I kid).....and like many sets (not all) has scripted texturechangeable bits. This time it's the stones, which have nine lovely variations.

[Relic Jewellery in dark gold]

My secret favourites are the glass mille de fleur (shown below) and the gorgeous blue paua shell down further (we can thank New Zealand for that).

There are four metal variations, and each has a basic jewellery set, which includes a neckpiece and earrings, plus a long pendant sold as a separate option to extend the theme if you wish. Both neckpieces work well together, so you can layer them for extra effect.

[Relic Pendant in dark gold]

I have aimed for a very aged look. The metals are pitted and a bit grimy, the hues are a little softened with time. I want the pieces to look like they have a history. Maybe they were buried for a few generations?

[Relic Jewellery in pale gold]

Those little pearls are a separate face. Please select them with one click, and tint them as you wish. I've left them plain so you can go be creative :)

[Relic Pendant in pale gold]

Oh...there's that paua I love, above and below. It looks a little different in each as the stone has some transparency. So the backing metal affects the hue. You can change that if you wish; giving the stone 0% transparency will increase it's hue saturation, or giving it more transparency will allow the base metal to show through more, and give a subtler effect.

[Relic Jewellery in silver]

The metals are black, dark gold, pale gold and silver. I really need to learn to make short films to show off the objects as light moves across them, as materials may be subtle, but they have changed the way surfaces respond to what's around them..

[Relic Pendant in silver]

These are all available exclusively at the Expo for it's duration, and then will come home to Eclectica's Sinaburoe Mainstore for a more permanent home.
Enjoy :)

Bowed Court Shoes

[Apricot]

So many people are wearing Slink feet, and once you have them in place, fitting shoes is so simple. Eclectica Bowed Court Shoes fit "Slink medium barefeet", and will 'add' over the top so easily.

These shoes are moddable, copiable, and unscripted. They are original unrigged mesh, using materials enhanced textures.


[Blue and Cream]

If you wish, you can wear them with system feet (a shoebase and alpha are included). This is quite doable, but bear in mind you'll still have cankles showing. So I won't force you to buy Slink feet....just prod you very strongly to go and try a demo. Very, very strongly :P


[Blue]

These have an elegant classic 50's 60's look. Some are a rich paisley, like the blue ones above and others a soft brocade. Like the dove grey, below, which are my favourites.


[Dove Grey]

A demo can be picked up at the Eclectica mainstore, in Sinaburoe, here. Don't forget to turn on your advanced lighting model to appreciate the textures.


[Red and Gold]

The colours are tweakable, if you need to make a slight adjustment for your outfit. In edit mode, use "select face" to choose either the upper, heel, or piping and add a tint if you need.


[Rich Green]

Enjoy!

Eclectica "Artifact"

"Artifact" is a range of mesh jewellery available at the Eclectica display at the just-opened Jewellery & Accessories Expo. You can find them here for the next few weeks, then in the mainstore.



Each set includes a collar, cuffs for both arms and earrings. They are copiable with modifiable mesh. Scripted to have texturechangeable polished stones, plus manually tintable. Resizable via both script and edit menu. A single removable script per piece.



These use materials enhanced textures, to make the shine fit the texture, and move as real shininess does over a surface. And the texture is given extra depth with the use of normal mapping as well. Please turn on your "advanced lighting model" in your graphics preferences to see the difference.









Six versions are available, shown below with gem options-


A black gothy version, with a subtle sheen. [Find it here.]


Dark metalwork with dull gold detailing. [Find it here.]


Richly shining figured gold. [Find it here.]


Natural mother-of-pearl (nacre) for your inner mermaid, maybe. [Find it here.]


Gleaming pearl, with a very soft glow. [Find it here.]


Soft silver. [Find it here.]

All original mesh, unique to Eclectica....find them for the time being at the J&A Expo Update: they are now all available at the Sinaburoe Mainstore, now that the expo is finished. :)