Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Renaissance Hunt V: Coda

I didn't exactly miss one.  The epic Mountain Rose mini-hunt terminated with a quiz about Tudor times, and I duly filled in the notecard (a bit stumped on one or two of the questions, I'm afraid) and sent it off.
And in due course I received this crown, orb and sceptre.  Which boosts my already alarming ego no end.

Incidentally, I might note (for the benefit of the merchants) that the Hunt does actually work, as it were, for them.  I mentioned buying a mad scientist outfit and workbench at Cog & Fleur; other purchases included a giant stone pointing hand from Buccaneer's Restorations, a couple of sleazy-looking paperbacks from the gacha machines at The Vintage Touch, a mesh dress from Belle Epoque, a charming dog-headed gargoyle from [noctis], and - perhaps my biggest single purchase - a Gyrocogter Rezzing Platform from Drow Science.  This thing is now emplaced on the hangar deck of the tower, and anyone who feels like it can jump into a temp-rez Gyrocogter and fly about the place.  I flew one all the way from Burroughs to Caledon, last night.  And I flew one up to the Iron Cloud in Middlesea, too, only I wasn't watching out carefully enough and an air kraken got me on the way.  It actually grabbed me and tossed me off the deck of the Iron Cloud, and I fell to the ground and had to walk home.  That's what you get for venturing into Middlesea without a trusty weapon handy.  I'm rambling now, aren't I?

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Renaissance Hunt V: The Grand Finale

Bullying off for the final chukka, as we canter down the last furlong with the nineteenth hole in sight, and I should stop this right now before my metaphors get any more mixed.  Anyway.  Where was I?

 Ah, right, I was at stop 61, Casa de Bebe, picking up this rather nice Rustic Wardrobe with the mesh design and the opening and closing doors.  And a good enough place to be, surely.

 Next up is this Renaissance Gown from number 62, Peckbeth Clothiers.  Doing pretty well for gowns on this Hunt.  There's something for the gents too, but the packaging doesn't show what it is.  Never mind, I'm sure it's nice.

 Also nice is this neat little Elizabethan Table from number 63, Little Scamp.

 Number 64 is Buccaneer's Restorations, which I am never quite sure how to spell.  Does it have one N, or two, or several?  Anyway.  They give us this enamelled miniature of Elizabeth I, in four formats, only one of which is shown here.  Others have, for example, chains so you can hang it round your neck, or big butch chains for hanging it round your manly neck, that sort of thing.  It's pretty nifty, anyway.

 Box of Renaissance Fabrics textures from number 65, Virtual Textures.  Picture of a box, let's move on.
 More gowning.  This is the Sami Corseted Dress in Teal, or possibly the Sami in Teal Corseted Dress, the packaging is a bit inconsistent.  It's accompanied by this Ironfist outfit for the gents.

Fireplace with Bookcases from number  67, Steaming Ahead.  We would expect nothing but good stuff from Steaming Ahead, and we are not disappointed.

 Chain of Office in Gold and Enamel from number 68, Spyralle.  Again, the gents get a solider-looking chain.  As usual, I'm impressed by the way Spyralle has worked its trademark intricately coloured fractals into the theme of the Hunt.  Nice one!

Another box of textures, this time Medieval Tile ones from stop  69, Texture Junction.

 Here's a Round Bench, with three sit-upon-able cushions with sit animation menus, from number 70, Sweet Sorrows.  Efficient mesh design, nice looks, good animations, what's not to like?

 Eliquorn Gown (and a matching tunic for the gentlemen, you can make it out on the box) from number 71, Rainy Fey Creations.  ObDisclaimer about creator being a personal friend.  This is pretty neat, though, a combination of mesh and system layer stuff.  Also, the skirt that fits me is sized at XXS, and it's been a long time since I wore an XXS in RL, so I can love it for that alone.

 The Queen's Armchair and the Forgotten Tapestry from number 72, Timeless Decor.  There is a notecard, too, explaining the history of that Tapestry and how it came to be Forgotten.  However, I have (aptly) forgotten what it said.  Forgetting things runs in the family, you know, my father was in the Foreign Legion for a while.

Here we see the Renaissance Royalty Gown from number 73, Inara's Fantasy Couture.  Gowns a-go-go, this Hunt.  And I am not complaining.

That takes us all the way around, because stop 74 is the end of the Hunt at the Renaissance Faire again, so all that's left for me to do is to thank, once more, Perryn Peterson and his indefatigable helpers for organizing the Hunt, the merchants for their generosity and their cunning, and my fellow hunters for their staunch support!  See you on the next one, guys.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Renaissance Hunt V: yet more unpacking.

Here goes with another selection of stuff - at this rate, I will get everything done before the Hunt ends, which will be helpful!  Or, at least, it will be what I was aiming for.  Anyway, on we go.

We recommence at number 41, which is Sparrow by Design, and which gives us this... voluminous... Bosch Gown for the ladies, and a Doublet (for which I don't have a picture, I'm afraid) for the men.  It comes with a mesh bodice in a range of sizes, but no accompanying alpha layer.  Tali speculated that it's aimed at people with mesh bodies and their own alpha HUDs.  Well, it's not like I can't make my own alphas anyway.

Slightly more conventional mesh from 42, Miss Darcy, and actually this London Towne Gown is pretty nice - modest without being frumpy, that sort of thing.  The Homme equivalent for the gents is on the pack shot behind me.  Looks suitably Renaissance, I think.

 Tudor Gown from 43, Adelle Arts.  Again, neat mesh design, and a male equivalent, on the pack beside me.  Looks like the gentlemen get to be Thomas Cromwell or Archbishop Cranmer or some other such Tudor worthy.  The outfit includes that hair, by the way.  I went all brunette, it felt weird.

 Still brunette, sheltering from the elements under this mesh Renaissance Garden Tent from number 44, Orchid Petal Designs.

 Still brunette, in the female version of the Day at the Faire outfit from number 45, Suki's Silken Fashions.  I must say, mesh design has come on a bit since the old days, when I was poking out in odd places as often as not.

 I lost the hair, and went back to an old-school look, with the Lady Francise outfit from Feyline Fashions, number 46.  You can see the gents' equivalent, Ser Francis, on the box behind me.  Old-school still works, you know.  Good system layers and flexis and stuff can be just as good as mesh - and sometimes you need a combination of techniques anyway, for things to work properly.

 Number 47, Drow Science, provides this rather splendid mesh Roman Chariot on a plinth, with a little baby one of the same added in, in case you want to put one on your desk or something.  Decorative, and spiffingly so.

 Here we have the Isabella furniture set (two chairs, a table, and a vase of flowers) from number 48, Belle Epoque, who were new to me, and who rather impressed me.  Each of those things is 1 LI, which is pretty darn efficient mesh design.  Belle Epoque also do mesh clothing, and they do it, in my estimation, pretty well.

 In fact, I'm wearing a Belle Epoque dress in this shot and the next one, although what I'm actually snapshotting is supposed to be that Renaissance Pillow With Fans from Emma's @ Blue Moose, stop 49.  The pillow thing has that lounging animation, which would work much better if I'd put it down on a chaise-longue or something.
 And it gives you a fan you can hold.  Actually, it gives you a choice of fans, the one I've got there, or a butch one for the gentlemen.

 Back to the old-school outfits, and a sort of serving wench look from number 50, Rozamyndi's.  You can see the one for the gents on the pack shot.  He looks a bit servant-y too, I think.  Though not a wench, obviously enough.

 Just as well I had the serving wench look, since number 51, McMinnar's Oddments, gives us this Medieval Kitchen complete with a roasting ox on a spit.  It turns and everything.

 Bit baffled as to how to get a shot of the gift from 52, Razmataz, as it's an animation.  In the event, this Royal Animated Pose is a static looped thing, you can more or less make out what it looks like from the pack shot.  It's suitably dignified, anyway.

 "Amanya" furniture set from number 53, An Lema.  Nice mesh furniture, and the Looking Glass - emitting particles there - asks you what your heart's desire is when you click on it.   I think I might have shocked it.  No, no details of what I said to it, this is still Not That Sort Of Blog.

 Les Arts de Saint-Bruno at number 54 give us a bunch of portraits of Elizabeth I's court ladies.  I've pulled out three of them, but there are quite a lot more.  Neat mesh objects, good-looking.  Well, as mesh objects they're good looking.  Some of the court ladies, frankly, are a bit on the frumpy side.

 Number 55, TexWorks, gives us a texture pack.  You can see what's in it from the pack shot.  TexWorks is always quality, anyway.

Number 56 went missing.  Urid Dal's Hat Shop, they've been in several Hunts before, and they're always fun, so I hope all is well with them there!  Anyway, we move on to Bibliotheque de Coeur at number 57, and they give us one of their little poetry-reciting books.  In this case, it's Good Queen Bess herself that you get to click on.  Personally, I'd be wary of clicking on Elizabeth I.  Didn't do the Earl of Leicester much good, you know.

Here I am sitting on a Flying Carpet, from number 58, Gator's Gallery.  And a nice flying carpet it is too.

 Mesh kit for a Pointy Banner, from Dragons Are Too Seldom Inc, at stop 59.  DATSI does good stuff.
Finally, for this entry, another boring picture of a texture pack.  It contains Linen Queen of Roses textures from number 60, LilArt Creations, and is much more worthwhile than that boring picture of a box would suggest.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Renaissance Hunt V: Continuing On

OK.  After the last stop - the epic Mountain Rose mini-hunt - we return to normal with the next tranche of shops.  Is tranche the right word?  Whatever, I'm using it.

 Starting off with number 23, Black Magnolia Imports, who do texture packs.  I'm always glad to see texture packs.  Indeed, this Hunters' Delight texture packs, aptly enough, delights me.  I'm not sure if a picture of a box delights you, dear readers, but never mind.

Here's a Gold Renaissance Hiding Ring (the jewel is the lid of a compartment, it hinges up and down) and a Pearl and Emerald Necklace from 24, Thistle Moon Designs.

Another ring, this time RLV scripted, from number 25, bacidalucia.  But V3 doesn't support RLV by default, and Tali wasn't around anyway, and besides this is Not That Sort Of Blog, so the interesting features remain un-investigated.

 Collar of the Queen and matching Ring from !Never Ever! at stop 26.  The gents get a Collar of the King, which seems to have a bolt-on supplement that I haven't investigated.  I bet it's nice, though.  !Never Ever! do good work.

So, of course, does Rag Dollz at number 27.  Here am I wearing Mirabelle in Blue, and standing next to the box for Maxwell, for the gents.  Dunno why Maxwell needs that shield.  I'm not that scary, am I?

Dark Mask from Chimeric Arts at number 28.  Gents get a Gold Half Mask instead.  As usual, if you want to suggest this is an improvement, kindly keep that thought to yourself.  Mask's nice, though.

Stop 29 is Epic Toy Factory, and it supplies this charming scene, various bits of which are scripted to do stuff, not all of which I have yet tested.  Bet it's fun, though.  Go on, explore, adventure, you know you want to.

SANNA Science & Art, animated textures specialists, supply this sparkly picture of Elizabeth R, suitable for incorporation into jewelry, some samples of which are provided.  They do us proud, do SANNA.  And it's sparkly.  Though you can't see it sparkle in a still shot.

Wearable  chair from stop 31, Impertinences.  Handy if you want to sit down somewhere you don't have rezzing rights, I suppose.  Looks good, anyhow.

So does... umm... Well, it's called LATE TO COURT!, it's by sculptor Haveit Neox, it comes from House of ACCentaury at number 32, and by jingo it's quite something.  Decorative.  Definitely decorative.

 Stop 33, Port Royal, gives us a canterbury.  A canterbury is always handy.  Boring people call them magazine stands, but the proper name is a canterbury, so that's what I'm calling it.  It's a nice canterbury, too.

This is the Teach Lantern from 34, Fairy Angel Creations.  I'm not sure what it's teaching, but it hangs and lights up and looks good, and you can't expect more from a lantern than that.

 Here's a (highly) decorative Elizabethan Screen, from number 35, Pierre Ceriano.

Another picture of a box full of textures, this time Royal Brocade Hydrangea ones from 36, Timeless Textures.

Here's the impossible-to-alphabetize % furniture store, at 37, with this mesh Jacobean Trunk.

Arkenstone, at number 38, provides the by now traditional Resizeable Rug.  Rugs, as I have commented before, are good.  I likes me some rugs.

Number 39, Chaos Panic & Disorder, offer us a mini-hunt - no fewer than ten versions of that Balaurul Necklace to be found, there!  Typical generosity from that particular store... I'm wearing the Ruby version for Women, there.  Collect the set.  Well worth the effort.

Finally, for this tranche, All the Better to See You With, from number 40, Hudson's Co.  This includes a pack of blue eyes (which would have been very handy back in the days when I was regularly human), and that hanging tapestry and the stool thing (with multiple animated sits).  An interesting assortment, and high quality stuff.

That takes me slightly past the half way point.  If I can keep on like this, I will be finished before the Hunt is.  Which would rather be the point, of course.