Theft (confession), dentists and bookshelves

I don't recommend having jaw pain sending you through the roof in a town where there appears to be no emergency dentist at weekends.

No, not fishing for sympathy. Not quite climbing up walls today (ah, pharmaceutical goodness how I love thee). But this happened after a trip to the dentist for one of those 'no no it won't hurt' things.

Hah. 

Moving on to theft, I was reading battered interior decoration magazines in the waiting room, and saw something like this...

... so I made it.

(The little row of lights and the bonsai are separate. The books come with the bookshelf.)

Go on, splurge on all three for a massive 3L. Being mod/copy you can use the books elsewhere, of course.

In the Vent du Sud mainstore.

(5 prims for the bookshelf, 3 for the 3 x 1-prim books. 7 for the lights, 4 for the bonsai and candle and why yes the candles work look at the smoke).

I often think in prims, see ('hmmm could do that in six, or four if I use a sculpt' ... followed by three hours on the marketplace to find a sculpt, which is not delivered, contact vendor, wait, vendor resends, marketplace version shows up, both as I go to bed. Gotta love SL).

Ah, back to theft. Sorry.

I tore out the page of the magazine because I knew I was too nervous of drills and things to remember what it  looked like, wicked, wicked woman that I am.



(Go on, spend 3L (and remember it all goes to Doctors without Borders until 20 April)

See, having seen some amazingly dramatic drama about fashion designers being inspired by / copying clothes, I thought I'd own up straight away. So there you are. I confess.

Should I contact the company and tell them I am selling these two items for 1L? And if I'm extraordinarily fortunate, I may make about 50 cents from it? A couple of dollars if it's the Next Big Item?

Well, I'm not.

The company is La Maison Coloniale.  Which I have put in a notecard inside both items. Well I think so, definitely in the white one.

Oh dear. Ignore me and admire the books.


And to round up this rather drug-addled post, there is also a bookless version that is colour change with zillions of colours. 5 prims.

Right there beside the white one with the books. .Go on, buy both.

But there is more.

On the other page I tore out (OK, OK, I confess again, there were two quiet rips) there is this really nice wall shelving shelving unit thingummy too.

Watch this space.

More new things to come at Vent du Sud very shortly, but I left off for a bit to make the bookshelf.

Go buy it!

Marketplace masochism, tree house, 52 weeks of colour, umber

First, umber. Late. Really not impressed with my photos here, but I AM impressed with Miel's clothes. Lia dress.

Hm. I suppose I'm just more interested in spring pastels (Maitreya scarf, tinted pink). Excuse me while I check on the Marketplace to see if Lia comes in springlike colours (no it doesn't but I wish it did, and my finger twitched on the rest of the store...).

But as the photos are taken in the Vent du Sud Tree Haven (which is sort of rich teak with umberish windows, scroll on, brave readers), let me just proudly announce I have been tussling with the Marketplace to get my builds on there...

...and behold, after much tearing of hair, the lighthouses, the tree haven and the farmhouse are finally up. More to come when I feel like more masochism.

Click on the doors, the blinds, the ladders, the French windows... and just 50L, right here, next the beach cabins but it's, um, a big tree so hard to miss and I can't find the exact tp and am not online as I should be working.. and all for 48 prims.

(OK so my writing style is not quite as polished as it might be this morning).

Still have to add the beach cabins and the patio store but the Marketplace income will be added to the rest for until 20 April for Doctors Without Borders (please take a second to read about what they are doing in Japan?)

So go buy a tree house, hmm?

Sky blue / rant about charity in SL and more new stuff (52 weeks of colour)

Sky blue... first the SHOES, which are Françoise flats from Shiny Things and although a couple of years old, wonderful.

Second, sky blue like the summer cabins, which are out at Vent du Sud (as is this 1L , 3-prim easel with brush and palette on the deck of the bigger one). The smaller one (pictured below), is 50L (Vent du Sud build price), a tiny 19 prims, and comes in both sky blue with yellow roof and and yellow with sky blue roof.

Direct link to the cabins here (but close to the main tp). 

And read on for the rant!

And the bigger cabin is yellow with sky blue but still 19 prims.

Ummm... I like sky blue...!

I also love all the people who have come to Vent du Sud and bought stuff, knowing (or not) that my sales are going to Doctors Without Borders for a month. Thank you and keep coming!

 And before I rant (oh boy, she's ranting again), another tiny new thing in the Vent du Sud mainstore, right up front. Standing photo frames, 1L, add your own images.

As for the rant, I saw a couple of disturbing things about donations for Japan yesterday.

As in comments about vendors 'only doing it for publicity and for themselves'. Personally, I think the important thing is that people are aware that people need help, and anything that brings in donations is not all bad. Sure it might be added publicity for the vendor too, but - so what? Sure people could give personally rather than through SL, but if it's about a few Lindens that people could well spend inworld anyway, why not try to do some good with them?

As for how much, certain creators are giving of their SL income, I don't think anyone can stand in judgement about who can offer what percentage. Not your damned business!

I also saw a comment reminding people that Japan is not the only disaster area.  This is why I support Doctors Without Borders. It does NOT accept donations specifically for any disaster but tries to deploy resources where most needed, and its overheads are low, low, low. But yes, I see the point in that reminder - except that Japan is a major disaster so its resources - rapid and concrete - are needed. 


And last, yes I do hope people show their donation receipts, and can understand some cynicism about whether people will (and yes, I will), but until the chosen period for a charity item is over then you take your chance. Sad, but true. But should it make you refuse to buy charity items 'in case' it's a scam? I think that is also up to the individual. Also sadly...

... it is being used as fodder for personal bitchiness which seems to have very little to do with Japan, or any charity,  at all. 

Rant over. And I shall get around to Umber... late. My photos of the outfit were terrible (so what's new?) so will have to do them again.

Japan - and Vent du Sud

A small piece of RL information: part of my work is with people involved in disaster victim identification and crisis relief in general. I admire them more than I can possibly express in words.

My charity contributions go to Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) because I really admire what they do. Please see this article about their work in Japan, and please read on for what I want Vent du Sud to do to help.

Now, I sell stuff for 1L at Vent du Sud to help with tier, but am unlikely ever to cover it. SL, as I have said before, is my hobby.

My budget, in fact, takes into account a very few sales, plus stipend and the rent (at cost) I get from those who share it with me. So I hope that doing this will be more fruitful than, in my case, setting up vendors for the Pacific Relief effort.

Any sales and tips at Vent du Sud for a month from today will be donated, plus anything I can add.

Tip boxes in various places by the Vent du Sud stores, builds, etc.

I will scan the receipt when I send the donation. 

So please drop by. There are new things in the store too and more coming regularly!

And in advance, thank you.

Quick and dirty

OK not so dirty

 Yep, still more stuff appearing at the Vent du Sud mainstore.

Bed, 11 prims, lots of texture options for the bedding poses too (click the headboard), photos by Yours Truly.

Need I say it? 1L. Only.

And not quite as new but cute, no?

Farmhouse frames. Each one, you can change the background colour (4 available). Price? Well you should know it by now, but 1L, in the Vent du Sud mainstore also.

See? Quick and dirty. Doesn't happen often

Enjoy!

Of chairs, checkerboards and cheek

So here I am in the cold grey light of dawn in RL, sitting on one small SL chair that to me is a quantum leap in 'how to make stuff better', and thanks to a hugely talented scripter with a heart of gold.

Yes, it's just a little farmhouse style chair with 4 textures, 3 poses and 3 prims, but  the script makes it easy to choose the options for either rather than clicking on one part of the item for each. Eventually, I'll be using it in other things. Oh, and of course, like all our decor, it's 1L at Vent du Sud

More about the new stuff in other posts but in this one, I wanted to thank the scripter for being so incredibly generous (I'm hoping to repay her by some translations) and a couple of clients for testing the chair as I fiddled with buttons - and being so patient over it (and who went off armed with free stuff but still went and bought things).

SL people can be so lovely.

And a few, less so. Why yes, a small rant is about to happen.

See this? I'll spare you the extra-large version, but I have now found out from a couple of friends that the checkerboard effect over the sea is something to do with viewers so I shall be testing out various alternatives and tweaking my water settings yet again. Or bite the bullet and change viewers for photos (arghhh).

I also asked about it on a group chat where I have been mostly answering questions for over 3 years but now and then ask a few of my own. It is, I should add, a voluntary thing. I think it's great.

So, I had an IM from a guy making a few suggestions about my graphics settings.  I'd actually been through all that, and basically - beyond suggesting different graphics formats, which didn't work - he had no idea either and suggested, as I'd already said, that I would just have to experiment more.

I offered him a lighthouse for ten minutes of his trouble and time, which I tend to do because although this is a group of volunteers, I think it's still nice to offer thanks and perhaps something in kind, if you can.

His reply? "I prefer payment".

My jaw dropped. I said I was surprised since the group was all about volunteers, but asked how much. Never got a reply.

I just hope he is not using the group as a way to make money. How... disappointing.

Then I went back to building, but that stuck in my mind all day.

But yeah, the chairs. I am SO HAPPY about these chairs and so grateful for the help with them. They are in soft, springlike colours and again, yours for 1L. Mod/copy.

Discover them, plus lots of other new stuff, at the Vent du Sud mainstore.

And now, apparently, I have to look for some latex (and I suspect I know who put that comment on yesterday's post, but could be wrong).

How to be an idiot, building bridges and don't be frilly

I tend to be rather mean frugal about buying clothes lately, to the extent that my rude adorable friends all faint when I actually buy something (that is not a texture or a sculpt).

So yesterday, I was at Vent du Sud trying on a NEW DRESS*  when I see 'X paid you 1L for Object'.

Object?

Now, I am careful about naming things, normally. So, as she was on the sim, I asked her (embarassed much?) what it was.

This. The bridge.Except it was GONE.

She was so kind, and actually apologised but really had no need to as idiot me had not only set it on sale, named 'Object' in some moment of extreme stupidity but the original.  

And it was, as usual, mod/copy and I had recently emptied my trash (too many Objects) so she couldn't transfer it back.

No more bridge (but I rebuilt it, read on, brave people).

OK it is not a masterpiece, simply a 3-prim drawbridge that clicks open and closes itself when I'm swimming or boating around the sim, but she liked it.

 (Why do my sea pictures have this infuriating checkerboard effect? First person to explain gets a free lighthouse)

So, we chatted a little (really, she was charming), with me kicking myself for making newbie blunders and her buying up the store and leaving tips. So yep, did wonders for the morale and a reminder that there are some great people around on SL.



And then, feeling all mellow despite needing to reconnect the lighthouse to the sim
(pause for quick plug, reminder, what have you, but it is 50L, 25 prims and here)

I turned back to *the dress.

(Once I'd rebuilt the 3-prim bridge, now on sale as the Vent du Sud drawbridge, for 1L, mod / copy and not the original), 

Agade came over. Looked.

Agade  knows me well enough to say what she thinks.

Yes, she said, nicely made. Unusual. But Ari...

I needed a New Look for Boring Old Me, I told her.

It has frills, she said. It's just not... you.

She was right.

So maybe I should go try latex, platform hooker shoes and huge cleavage or something?

Or just go back to staring at clothes and then wander on back to my platform in my jeans, and haul prims. While trying to remember to name them and not set originals for sale.

(Credit where it's due, though. It is a lovely dress, by Kazuo, called 'Waves').

And the kitchen sink

This sink is the fault of a work colleague who takes everything but the kitchen sink for a two-day job. Amazing what can inspire SL building at Vent du Sud, eh?

So here is 'And the kitchen sink', which in fact comes with the bench and sink and the accessories separately (is there no end to my brilliance), and is yours for 5L. No, not a massive price hike but you get mod/copy soap, jug, basket and towel with it, so five things in one. Plus, nearby, other matching bits and bobs for 1L.

And there is more. The tap drips (with thanks to Menthal Oh who turned my messy torrent into perfectly shaped drops, dripping slowly), or can be turned off (click the bench). You do not want to know how many snapshots I took of those *** drips, and none worked.

 And even that is not all. Vent du Sud packs a lot into 5L. The bowl, and the tiles, change texture on touch (come on, you know you want to click). Instructions inside too.

And why yes, a few more new things are appearing at the Vent du Sud mainstore if you look closely at the next to last pic. All at 1L, remember? 

And lots more to come so check back often.

Ecru at home: 52 weeks of colour

Yep, I have a Linden home. A little A-frame one.  Somewhere to dream (or more honestly, somewhere to go during sim restarts or to try out clothes or colour schemes).

A tiny hideaway from Vent du Sud, known to nobody. Chez moi in 117 prims, all my own designs except for the picture here. Furnishings plus room divider, blinds, roof terrace.

And at the moment it's mainly ecru.

I made the prims go a long way...

All of the items, you'll find at Vent du Sud. And if you have an A-frame and like the idea of the structural bits (or want a custom version and colours), let me - Ariadne Korda - know.

Price? Ummm considering my decor is 1L then not very much, because I'd have fun doing it.

And I'll never tell anyone where your hideaway is.

Credits: Dress from TRAM, hair Exile, shoes and necklace Miel. Decor Vent du Sud (except picture which was an old freebie).

Not so battered, spring has sprung, etc etc

It is so good to get back to building, and a gazillion things are in progress at Vent du Sud.


First taste is out near the subscribo, and is a delightfully battered coffee table called, in a burst of inspiration, "battered coffee table".  Mod/copy, 4 prims and (naturally) 1L. Frames available any time soon, as I slowly move things in (last chance to grab lots of things).

And see these? 1L of course. Mod/copy. 2 prims only.

Where?

Here. New mini version of the 19-prim, 50L beach cabin, in BLUE (more colours coming), but with a few other new 1L goodies on the deck, such as this...

Which is in fact a great way of growing herbs or plants in RL and using up old plantpots.

 Need I say it? 1L.




Lots more to come.... as you can see here (no I am not a tidy builder, I know it).

So keep checking in at Vent du Sud... new things out regularly now as I give them a final tweak!

Hugging trees, French Hunt, electric lime and where is my HEAD?

OK, so ages ago ago, before life turned into a long series of airports and work backlogs, I signed up to take part in a French hunt.


Since I got back, I have done a lot of too much staring into space and mooching around the (albeit lovely if I say it myself) quiet spots of Vent du Sud.

Yesterday,  I received a notecard with hunt details, with - under Vent du Sud - "skip this store" and was utterly mortified. So I have put it right and popped little watering can of tulips into the hunt container (a tiny Eiffel tower). Find the hunt notecard here, because there are some great things.

And lo, there is a tulip that is not far from electric lime, if you squint a bit.

And the olive oil and limes? Going to hit my SUBSCRIBO as a gift for a short time only, so if you didn't join it, do it now. 

For clothing, I have to admit I can't ever imagine myself wearing lime now I am old and boring, and I am thus waaaaay too mean (and broke) to go buy an outfit, but a challenge is a challenge.

It did, however, mean I let my mind drift back to the days when I wandered around in long skirts, long hair and knitted hats. Hugged a tree or two, as you did (olive trees are a little tricky but hey).

So having hugged trees, it is perhaps time to stop drifting and start hauling prims again. Probably not dressed like this but lo, the black GEO set at the usual 1L per item has funky colour change cushions, including lime.

Do drop in, grab the hunt gift and take advantage of the other great stores at Vent du Sud. And if I'm standing around looking dopey, just remind me I should be a little more productive?

Frugal credits: Posh hair (free) with tinted hat, linen skirt from the Closet (tinted) and oooooold frayed top from PBI, now closed.