Roawenwood: Design & Craft

This past week there was a few releases that I highlighted.  In general I have new things floating around all of the time anyhow so I just pick and choose which ones I’m going to be telling ya’ll about well… I’ve been something on a clothes kick even though I haven’t entirely stopped doing other things either.  I just can’t sit still for very long.  Something is always rolling around waiting to be plucked and put out there for you.  What I REALLY want to do again is what I have done in the past.  Work on and save things releasing them a little at a time so I don’t have a “omg what do I do now” kind of thing going. *laughs*

Gitana Rigged Mesh Corset

I have two new outfit types…. and one I think is confusing folks a little even though I do label the box, I think I’m going to have to add an extra label or two.  It’s a rigged mesh corset.  The great thing about mesh is that it moves with the body.  This corset is so neat.  It attaches to the hand because the corset itself is already rigged to the SL avatar, so it doesn’t matter which attachment point it is on really… you could change it to anything and it will still sit on the correct spot.

Secondly, the viewer.  If you’re not using a viewer that can see mesh like the LL viewer or something like Firestorm then all you are going to see is a bunch of funky textured balls and no corset.  I know for a fact that viewer issues is one of the big reasons why mesh hasn’t been a huge BOOM on the grid yet.  People don’t want to switch, they like their Phoenix, they like their _insert viewer name here_.  To be entirely honest I don’t even really use a mesh enabled viewer all the time.  I’ve worked with mesh some with a couple outfits and things but when it comes down to it I retreat back to Phoenix for ‘everyday’ use.  The corset looks very cool, and I have one in the Lucky Chair even because I thought it’d be a nice lil present.

The corset is named Gitana and it comes in some very harvesty autumn like colors along with a couple others.  Purple, Red and White, Red and Black, White and black, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Plaid,  and the one in the lucky chair is Harvest Plaid.  Each corset comes with alpha layer to hide the parts that aren’t supposed to show which reminds me – not EVERYONE will be able to wear this outfit happily.

Yeira Silks in Red

One thing about rigged mesh clothing is that it can come one size fits ‘most’, and that’s what we have here.  I only have the corset in one size unfortunately so what that means is there is a DEMO for you to try it out beforehand to see if it will fit your avatar the way you like.

The second outfit that I did up is a very stringy lil thing.  Not a whole lot to it, which of course shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who has known me too long.  I like to show off the body often enough, a new set of silks called Yeira.  The silks come with skirts, shoulder drape for the back, top & bottom, bracelets, armbands, and anklets.  It covers everything but has lines drawn across the body to show off the hips, belly and breast quite nicely I think.  Coming in four different colors… Red, Black, Silver, and Purple.  The RED is in the Lucky Chairs for now even!  Very nice hmm?

Last but not least I redid a chore.  The Butter Churn has been one of those favorite little things people like to pick up.

Churning Butter Workset

In the slow but steady evolution of my chore line I added some accessories, redid the permissions, and added an extra animation.  I have been rounding out and making the chores a little more for different reasons, partially if you’re going to spend your hard earned lindens you should feel like you’re getting a little something extra in some ways.

I am going to wrap this up for now… I have to get going!  The day is just about to get started and I don’t want to run late.  Talk to you soooooon I promise!  Have a great week.

This past week there was a major update to my laundry and chore line.  This was some of the very first things I had worked on all that time ago.  Scrubbing laundry, and hanging it out to dry.  They all needed some updating, and with the passage of time some of my thoughts on chores or role-play accessories of course have shifted.  Like the knitting and sewing sets I end up making some ‘packs’.  Where you get more than one option or some extra little accessories to add to the scene.  I have made them all copy/modify/no transfer.  I mean really… one thing I do know is that people have to make their money stretch a little bit more than they used to so I am trying to take that into account, if you spend your hard earned lindens then you should be able to enjoy them hmm?  This also alleviates some issues like loss of inventory since we all have had that at least once, and making up back ups or creating a larger scene.

The major part of this release is like a Gorean or Medieval Laundromat!!  It’s such a neat fun idea isn’t it?  A communal laundry.  *laughs* Ok, maybe not -the- most fun but I know that people do like to rp in groups, and this opens up a new thing for people to explore.  Can be a laundress, the cranky washerwoman… or just have a spot in the town where people can work together, gossiping and sharing the days news.  That was the idea anyhow.

The Washerwoman’s Laundry Shed; has washboards for three people to do their laundry in the basin and also includes accessories to go with… a couple of rugs, laundry baskets, a hidin spot, wadded up clothes and some seating crates.  The crates have 5 embedded animations for lounging or taking a break.  Since all of it is copiable you can change it around or make it how you want to look.  The shed breaks away from the mold a little bit from my other sheds being done mainly in stone, I wanted something a little different, this felt nice… solid and sort of homey in a way.

Now if you are looking at the display in world you’ll see a couple things tucked inside the shed.  Made up a new ironing table, and something new… folding clothes!  You know I really despise folding clothes in real life… Desperately so and I hesitated to add that kind of torture to Second Life but I figured someone might enjoy the rp.  So there’s that… buy the full set with the shed, folding clothes, and the ironing table in world for a discount.

The rest of the main release this week is the revamping of previously released laundry sets.  I redid the Hanging Laundry chores lowering the prim count, retexturing and shading the sets and making them copy/mod like the rest… the other big thing is I have combined the single clothesline and the double clothesline into one pack so you can pick or choose which one you want to use without spending a ton of extra money.  The double line has room for two to work, while the single is well…. singular.

There are two sets of Laundry Scrubbing sets.  The first is a revamp of the long time favorite and the other is a set that includes BOTH standing and kneeling laundry chores.  I think I did it this way because well, when I was building it it looked cool together… and I thought it would be another way to give you more bang for your buck.  Along with being able to have more options.  I think it works out.  I’ve added in some laundry baskets, rugs, that sort of thing to help add a bit more to it too.

I also revamped the kneeling ironing chore… This one is always a little tricky to get right for some reason but I think I did.  You know it’s funny… I totally am sitting here scratching my head wondering what the hell I was thinking.  I mean really, that’s an awful lot of laundry gear.  LOL!  But then again I suppose it works out, everyone has their own idea of how they want this sort of thing and hopefully I’ve been able to come up with a few options.  People like options.

As I phase out old chores either redoing them or just changing their permissions things will be replaced or retired.  So I don’t burn myself out on them I’ve been doing them in stages so far.

·!¦[·    JULY PICKS CONTEST WINNER!!    ·]¦!·

Hey guys I didn’t forget!!   The winner for the month of July is:  Fae Alter  CONGRATS!!

To play along and win a chance each month for 2000L and a 2000L store credit all you have to do is come down, click the lil sign… and put Roawenwood in your picks.  Leave it in there and then just wait.  At the end of each month a name is randomly chosen and then the list is wiped clean… starting all over again.

There are a lot of hunts and things going on along with the CoLab kit that I have out for the Tea Party theme.  CoLab kits are fun because you get a great deal on something because nothing is ever priced higher than 60L during the two week round they are a part of.

I’m going to cut this right about here because you know I can get too wordy… take care and talk soon.

Last week I didn’t do much of an update.  I had released the huge tavern set the week before and well I guess we all need to take breathers on occasion.  This week I intend to make up for it a little bit.

I’ve been making chores since before I can remember really… a big part of my place, and a lot of fun for me to create.  Doesn’t seem like it would be does it?  I guess I like accessorizing and doing little things that make a scene really intricate.  Obviously I guess and I don’t like half assing it so every once in awhile an old favorite or one that I just am not particularly happy with gets an overhaul or redone.  This week I basically took 6 different chores and combined them into two… then I went ahead and redid the spinning wheel.

The spinning wheel I revamped the scripting making it so it turns on and off when you sit or stand up.   I like that trick.  Yanno… this is going to sound funny but it’s always bugged me whenever I used a script where you had to click on or off and then it’s left on…. spinning, and spinning, and spinning…. *coughs* ya, so well now that won’t happen.  I also got my grubby lil hands on a new animation.  It’s much smoother, and realistic looking.  I changed out a couple of the sculpts (wheel looks much better), and I also redid some of the texturing so it is shaded better.  More up to standard with my current releases than it was prior.

After that I tackled the other ones… the sewing and knitting stuff.  See… these were all done separate.  There was a rustic knitting stool, a sewing stool, a sewing pillow, a knitting pillow. a sewing and knitting pillow etc etc.  Part of the reason was because I released them as I obtained the appropriate animation.  Didn’t have all of them when I started…. the sewing stool is one of my first chores, and I added as I went.  Also well… I dunno, I guess I got real focused on making all of them have their own little look.  Granted they’re along the same lines so I thought about it… why not combine them?  Save on prims, give extra things to do, make it worth the money.  So the sitting ones are now appropriately in a stool… the kneeling or sitting in a set of pillows.  Each now have knitting, sewing, and needlepoint animations as well as a few sits for relaxations sake so you don’t ONLY have to do work while setting there… just if you’re of a mind to.  In each set when you choose the appropriate animation it will give you the props that you need to role play or enjoy your time spent.

I didn’t stop there of course… you know me, never quite happy without the details.  Balls of yarn, rugs, and a couple different sewing/knitting baskets have been put in with each set so you can accessorize (or not) to your hearts content.  Granted having ALL of the lil accessories out gets prim heavy BUT the stool and pillows are only 4 prims so you can go big or stay itty bitty since I keep all of them separate for you.

ALL of the updated and replaced chores are now at the very least copy/no transfer.  The spinning wheel is copy/mod/no transfer.  I was thinking about it and while I know that things have changed a little… we have to make our lindens stretch a little differently, as well as inventory loss crap on occasion.  This might help alleviate some of that.  ALSO it makes it so if there IS an inventory issue I can just replace it!  No problem!  Weeeeeeeee.

When I do updates like this sometimes I do a trade in special.  Let ya’ll find the old versions moldering around in your inventory, trading them in for the newer versions.  Which in some instances is a really sweet deal.  Details for this are available through the update list…. so if you’re a part of that you should have all the info’s you need in the notecard you got yesterday.  If you’re not…. awww, why aren’t ya?  I’m good for it, honest!  Regardless, past notecards can be obtained after joining the list by making a lil trip down there.  Course, I -do- have to remember to give it to my in world store group too.

So there you have it, a few new things to tempt, taunt, or otherwise titillate.

I have some other rather interesting new things coming up soon.

Take care and till next time.

This week there’s a nice big update.  A couple weeks ago or so a customer came to me and said they had this idea for a firebrick oven.  I’ve heard of them and had honestly thought about creating one but one for the kitchen more than anything.  Smaller.  Hadn’t considered making a larger one but when I started looking into it and from their ideas I read about how communities used to at times have these large brick ovens.  People would come and bring their dough taking turns baking within it.  I just was tickled by the idea… so I decided to go ahead and try to build an oven.

I will admit, I had a hard time at first.  Couldn’t get what I wanted out of my head and into the prims…. but I kept at it and pop, there it went, it started to come together.  The good thing, I simply adore these.  I got a little involved in making them and getting everything just right… and then when I was almost done with the bakers stuff I was all excited because… what if I decided to take the basic shed and design I’ve been using and expand on it.  Butcher and blacksmith were the next two to roll around in my workshop.  Things I’ve been meaning to rework or do anyhow but hadn’t gotten around to.  Well when the mood strikes that’s when you take advantage!

So this week I released them all!

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ BUTCHER:  The butchers set has a shed with a small smokehouse type thing along the back.  Included with the shed is an animated butchers table, fires, hanging lantern, shed, and an extra set of barrels with meat lying across the top.   The bench can be purchased separately from the shed too which can be nice if you don’t want the whole thing.

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ BAKER:  One more basic version, the oven with a bread making animation, placing the bread in and out of the oven.  It comes with a couple accessories for your scene.  Looky looky:

The REALLY nice one is the shed.  I like this one a lot.  It has the brick oven, PLUS it is accessorized AND you can go all the way through the makings of your bread or baked good.  Animations included: washing hands, mixing dough, kneeding, rolling dough, baking it and then sweeping up afterwards.  Animations needing props will automatically give you what you need to wear and you’re set!

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔  BLACKSMITH:  The last release for now is the blacksmith.  Of course I couldn’t skimp on this either so it is being released in three pieces.  The actual Blacksmith Shed that handily goes along with the rest of the sheds though it is the biggest of the three.  Accessories are included, see the picture attached.   A blacksmith of course needs his anvil, and for good measure a grinding stone.  The anvil has a relaxing animation at the base of the stump… then set to do your blacksmithing in two ways… one with a sword, then one with tongs and a horseshoe.  I figured this would be less limiting so those in different kinds of rp can still use it.  The grind stone turns when you sit and stops on its own when you get up, click it to receive a sword to work with and wear it.

Now the scary part is… I still have a few pieces working up in my shop that I am going to be adding to this, so there should be at least one larger thing and maybe a few smaller to round it out.  I think it is turning out nicely really.  The Haunted Forest hunt is coming to a close after this weekend and then Roawenwood isn’t in a hunt until Dec.  I have quite a few going on though so you won’t miss it at all.  I updated and added a twisted candy cane hanging cage over at Splinter’d in the mini mania… If you don’t want to try to win it, you can purchase it… I set it out easy to find.  Hard to miss really. lol

Have a great weekend and talk to you soon.

So much going on like usual.  Sometimes headed in one direction then it’s like… “oh shiny” something else gets my attention or grabs it, sometimes something I want to get into… sometimes not but I’m having fun in general so it’s all good.

Writing to do a few updates, later on I’m going to pick the monthly contest winner for October and announce the Nov. contest.  This month I’m upping the prize I think… just for this month.  It’s Roawenwood’s 4th anniversary so we’re going to make it a lil more than usual.  Can you believe it?  Seriously… I’ve been plunking away, creating, and meeting interesting people for the last four years!  Wow!  Sometimes just thinking about it… hard to believe.  So then I wonder, hmmm just what would people really like to see go on?  What brand new or old favorite would captivate the crowd and folks who frequent Roawenwood.  I’m not entirely sure, so I’m still thinking about it!  Anyone have some ideas drop me a NC, and mention you saw me talking about it on the blog and I’ll give you a 500L gift certificate… give me a few ideas and you never know what might happen.

I have some exciting news!  I got into the Peace on Earth Grid Hunt this year.  It could be fun I think.  Also have a couple other hunts going on but mainly in December.  I had so many in October that I’m kinda sorta taking a breather through November.  Partly to make the things for December’s hunts, and keep up with normal store stuff.  I was teetering there on a bit of a burn out recently which I’m still recovering from… don’t want to push too hard else I might sort of fade for a bit.  I don’t really like those moods so I try to pay attention to them when they hit.

What else…. let’s see.

Well I did mention we were buzzin so that leads me to talk to you about last weeks release.  I had a customer come to me asking if I had any beekeeper supplies.  I had to admit I didn’t, and also admitted it was something I had considered doing but never got around to.  So we talked for awhile and of course then I just had to see what I could come up with for it.  I tend to take some of those types of conversations as a ‘challenge’ to myself.  So I poked around some, learned a little bit about beekeeping… you know it is quite fascinating really, almost made me want to try to raise a few honeybees… if I didn’t have family who was allergic I’d probably give it a go or consider it.  *laughs*  Anyhow… I created a set and broke it up in three pieces.  You can get it as a whole at a discounted price, or just the one or two pieces that you really want.  I do realize that not everyone wants a big set.. maybe just some hives, or something.  The one part is a set of Beekeepers Accessories.  There’s a set of shelves, pots, crates, honey jars that sort of thing and then a stool with a working animation.  When you click the stool you receive a honeycomb frame and a capping scratcher.  A capping scratcher is a funky little tool used by beekeepers to poke through the wax caps that bees put over the honey when it is in the honeycomb.  Sitting on the stool you begin working, wear the frame and the scratcher… you’re all set.

Another part of the set is the Hives and Bee Skeps… the most basic of needs are met with this part.  There’s two sets of skeps in cabinets.  The doors work on the cabinets, and there are particle bees buzzing around them.  The main difference between the two cabinets is that the one has a working animation in it.  Bee smoking, click the skeps get a smoker to wear and then right click to sit… you’ll work the smoker back and forth.  There’s also a more conventional and recognizable square bee hive with a top that hinges upwards on a click… a couple of honeycomb frames leaning on the side.  Included there is another Bee Smoker but this one is an avatar attachment, it is wearable and you can move around with it and still have the bee smoking animation.

The final piece is a Honey Extractor.  This was the part that took the most time really as I worked with an animator to try to get something that was ‘workable’.  The extractor has a crank handle… jump on and you begin to turn the crank while the gears and frames within the barrel actually turn and in general work as an extractor would.  It’s really quite fun I think adding an extra element of reality or fun to your role play if you feel like having it.

So that’s the set!  Like always I’ve embedded what animations I could so there isn’t a lot of poseballs (I have to admit that the extractor does use a poseball so it all works together), and textured it with fine detailing customizing some of them for this piece specifically.  You can see it in world, and at the moment it is at the landing point though it will be moved into the chore/work area.

Going to wrap up this post because I think it is getting a bit long.  Will write again soon with contest winners and the like!

Have a great Monday!