Makara Yorimasa

Chant has asked me to prep and finish my builds for packing and selling, so I thought this would be a good time to make a list of them. In chronological order, then...

• New England-style small gazebo
• Small commercial building
• Spanish-style ranch house (from the Scotty's Castle build)
• New England L-shaped cottage
• Farnsworth-style house (two versions, with and without internal block)
• Barcelona Pavillion
• (a one-off building project which will remain nameless for the moment but which I'd like to be able to sell)
• Small square gazebo (it's probably not even worth selling this, it's so simple)
• Adirondack-style Lodge

I've also made a few accessories which I guess I could sell - small pieces of furniture, furnishings, etc. I'm not really sure how to go about this...

And then, of course, there is the question of my inventory. There's loads of stuff in that which should either be used or given away.

Lastly, I am starting to get a bit more confident about making stuff for myself. I think the crunch came when I found I had paid 450 linden for what is basically a 6 prim wooden cube from Corn just because it matched some other furniture. I got it home and it looked... wrong somehow. Sometimes, I get so into shopping I lose my (tentative) grip on reality.

Cheered myself up by getting some angel wings from Illusions, and an awesome skin, of which more later.

Simon has been away for a few days so I've been working on a building project. I've made a moderately faithful reproduction of German architect Mies van der Rohe's iconic "Barcelona Pavillion", which he completed in 1929. I extended the smaller block at the end of the building to make a sleeping chamber which has a nice view of the back of the building; otherwise, the layout is unchanged from the original.

The finished building, which I've named the "Aoyama", after a district of Tokyo, can either be used as an exhibition space, a shop or a residence, and any member of the Chant Newall Development Group can have a copy for free, although I will be putting it up for sale eventually, under the Yorimasa Network FOC.

I am really satisfied with the way it has turned out. The textures by LFox look great; my main problem was finding a suitable statue (I used the one that came with my Japanese builder's set by Miko for these pictures). I also had a little trouble finding a suitable double-sliding door script, but RJ Kikuchiyo and Aprikat helped me out :-) Thanks, guys! The tree and fallen leaves are by Heart, who are always my first choice for horticultural supplies.

Things I learned how to do on this build: make drapes (the ones I am sitting in front of in the second picture); make lights; fit sliding doors.

I have to say, I am very pleased with this build. I think it has an elegant, modern Eurasian look, and would look equally fantastic in an urban, coastal or rural setting. *beams with pride*

At a meeting of the CNDG last week, I was caught short (ahem!) and when Chant asked people for ideas about a new sim, I completely forgot about an idea I had back in April, which I actually did quite a lot of work on. I am going to put it forward this at the next meeting of the CNDG as a serious proposal to see if they like the look of it, and so that we all know what I'm talking about, I'll put the details in this blog and pass on the link. Here we go then.

The sim has a working title of "Arboreal James Bond" which will give you an idea of the direction I'm heading in. I was inspired by this fantastic modern treehouse, which will need to be built from scratch by someone comfortable with sweeping curves, and also by some of the buildings which are already available on SL, e.g. Parker McTeague's stuff (see http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&MerchantID=19182), and my current fave, Dharma Prefabs and Interiors (http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&MerchantID=38692), Fade Languish's builds and furniture at Cult Living, and those available at Maximum Minimum (http://maximumminimum.blogspot.com/) would also be appropriate.

These luxury homes will be a mixture of these treehouses, prefab extremely modern houses perched on struts on the sides of mountains, and beach houses; if possible, a few smaller modernistic homes should also be made available for the less wealthy resident. In order to maintain the look of the sim, I think I will have to request that all owners and occupants speak to me first before erecting anything of their own.

The sim will boast two communal areas, to encourage visitors and community life: the Beach Club and the Volcano Cave.

The Beach Club

... will be located in the bay on a wide sandy beach. A partially-open geodesic dome, there will be a music/club/dance area on the sand outside and a chill-out zone inside with piped music. I like to play chess with Simon, so a decent working chessboard would be nice :) Outside on the beach, there should be sunbeds, towels, swimming and surfing animations, a beach shower, and any suitable games we can lay our hands on.We should also allow a couple of vendors to sell beachwear and similar here. It's always nice to go shopping. There should also be a beach restaurant where we can take our mates out for a meal - for free, of course.

The Volcano Cave

In the centre of the island is a volcano, covered with trees on the outside, except for the crater, which smokes, rumbles, and sends up a lava flare occasionally. The cave at the centre of the volcano can be accessed via some tunnels in the cliff wall behind the communal beach. You reach the cave by following the torch-lit tunnels, passing walls of glowing orange, smoking, free-flowing lava, and crossing a ricketty rope bridge over a lava river.

Eventually you find yourself in a huge dark space, with dark congealed lava flow shapes mounting up the walls. In the centre of the cave is a pool of smoking hot, bubbling lava, like a traditional fountain-cum-pool water feature: it illuminates the cave and acts as a focal point. Spread around the cave are quiet areas for lying and relaxing, massage (non-sexual!). A natural hot spring pool with seating poses steams away in one corner. Strange plants - jagged and spikey - push up from the sandy floor. Mad mosses grow up the walls. Lizards scurry around.

More details when I have time to post them. I already have a proper layout of the whole island. Watch this space...

RL intervened in June and July. What a shitty couple of months. My fellow prawns have been having a few problems too. For a while, I thought Safe Harbor had been cursed by some sort of powerful mage.

Three things I must rectify immediately now I have returned:

1. Catching up with Linx, who has been wonderfully patient with me
2. Catching up with Aprikat!
3. Finishing my various projects

I started work on number 3 this morning: I finished the treehouse. It has a vaguely neko theme, with a few cat toys and snuggles, and a cat loo, but it can be used by anyone. It's just an ambient place to hang out. However this still leaves the following projects to finish: Little Nara, the Blossom Tree Island, the floating palaces (might get rid of them altogether), the beach on the spa island, and the gazebo in my back yard.

I also have to sort my inventory, which has nearly 10,000 items in it. Aieee!