I can see you understand me…

“Once you put your hand in the flame,
You can never be the same,
There’s a certain satisfaction,
In a little bit of pain.
I can see you understand me
Tell that you’re the same”

[Madonna]

Sometimes it needs a kind person and some amazing conversations to be inspired for a certain picture. This happened today when I was thinking about doing a post about some awesome releases of the Fetish Fair that is currently running for a few more days. It is always difficult to do fetish or BDSM related pictures if you don’t want to be dirty or pornographic but ther is even editorial fashion shoots in the real world that are none of that. For my post I did not want the editorial ones only, I wanted some kind of emotion to it as well and that is, why I did not just use a blank background with simplistic furniture only. D/s is something very sensitive. It is part of the whole BDSM content but it is only one of a million different shades. But many people do have D/s relation ships without even being aware of. D/s itself can have a million different shades as well. Sometime girls like the fact that they are taken care of in life and that they only need to please (please ISN’T always only sexual!) a man, to be his precious he would take care of. Some girls do like older men, because they feel more safe with them and they like if they say how it goes (NOT only in a sexual way). That brings me to my next point… D/s doesn’t always have to be a sexual thing. Making a coffee for the man you belong to, because he asked for it… we could argue now if he did order you to get him one or if he just asked to have one… when you bring him that without starting a discussion or telling him off to get it on his own… you obey… you obey to a wish made by the person you love. So D/s is way more common as that we think about. Same if your partner tells you, he would like you to dress in a certain way… you can say, it is because you just love him and do it, because you know you please him with having him the gift of you wearing the particular outfit. But on the same hand you can sa it was an order you did obey to out of various reasons and motivations. D/s doesn’t mean anything else than, someone that gives orders (wishes, requests, begging… call it what ever you want) and someone that is willing to full fill them, either for a certain result or just because out of love, dedication or devotion. Where I live, we are lucky that we can be free in our choices that we make about our relation ships – I know this is not the case all over the world. And so all can decide how they want to have their relationships without being pointed with a finger at someone. Did you ever think about why in Second Life BDSM or D/s is so big? Because not everyone has the possibility to live their fantasies! Even if I made horrible experiences in Second Life with that kind of roleplay and gave up years ago in SL, because of wannabes and people who think they know it all only because they read the Story of O or saw 50 Shades of Grey on TV, it seems there is attraction in that kind of lifestyle for many and why not just let them do what ever they want as long as they to not violate any law or feelings of others who are not want to be involved? I have to admit I met a few people, that are living this lifestyle in the real world too and I had incredible amazing conversations about so many different things with them – I would not want to miss them. Most of those people are incredible skilled artists in one or both lifes and the lifestyle must have something that touches those sensitive and very special people.

Since my post tunred out totally different as intended and the shoes didn’t get the deserved spotlight on the pictures, I just thought I do a clean close up!

Recently I had the pleasure to talk more to someone, that I did know for a while and when we met, none of us did talk about BDSM or D/s or something like that. We just were assigned to do a print-work job together. It was a fashion job so far away from all of that. But when I arrived there, the way of how that person was talking already got me to my toes. I can not say why, but the way he used the English language wasn’t what I usually experienced. I mean, I did know his Flickr as I always look though peoples Flickr when I am assigned to work with them, but you find all kind of artists on that platform so I normally do not jump to conclusions if I do not know those people. The way he spoke, the use of words I never heard before for just normal conversations, did build some feelings or emotions that I could not sort the first time we met. It was a great shooting and the pictures turned out fantastic. It wasn’t the only time I had the pleasure to work with that person and I do not even remember anymore when or why I started to call him Sir, just in a normal conversation. I remember quite well, how bad I was blushing in real life, when I realized what I just said, but it just felt normal and right. He did not seem irritated by that and since it felt right, it was just normal for me to call him Sir whenever we worked together. A couple times we even just made pictures together, without any particular job behind it and they are some of the best pictures I ever had together with someone. Not too long go we got to talk more in IMs here and there and I had the pleasure to know him more each time we talked. It feels amazing if you can talk with someone in a natural way without ulterior motives, just because you are friends and respect someone. There are no words to describe our conversations, but I feel very honored to be allowed to have them. They unleash creativity, they reduce anxieties about some things, they even are an enrichment for my English skills, as I learn new words and different ways to say things. After all it feels incredible amazing to have someone, that does understand you, the way how you behave, or who you are. I have to admit, I guess I can be happy that he is so far away as I have no idea, if I could stand those eyes and voice, if I would be near him, but since I am happy in my own relationship (Yes – my partner knows about our conversations // NO – that isn’t anywhere near cheating) and far away, I just immensely enjoy those conversations and projects and hope there will be many more. Thank you Sir, for inspiring me for todays post and pictures!

Clothing

Outfit: :::insanya::: – “Helga Top & Shorts” (Maitreya)

Cuffs: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Bondage Deluxe Set” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Fetish Fair // August 2019

Stockings: .:Avanti:. – “Vini Stockings” (Maitreya Applier)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Tamara Ankle Boots” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Nails: .:Avanti:. – “Byzzy Nails” (Maitreya, Bento)

Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Morphine Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Piercing: Blaxium – “Dangerous Bento Piercing – Simone” (LeLutka, Bento)

Septum: Blaxium – “Aracnida Septum Piercing Unrigged – Silver” (Gacha, Common)

Hair & Makeup

Makeup: Livia – “Desire Eyeshadow” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London” (LeLutka Applier)

Hair: no.match – “No.Aspects” – NEW @ Hairfair // August 2019

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: RedFish – “Roses Tattoo” (Maitreya Applier) – NEW @ Fetish Fair // August 2019

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Akasuna”

Lashes: Livia  – “Whisper Lashes” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses, Props & Tools

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

3rd Eye Perceptions – “Hanging Chain Curtain”

~*S.E.*~ – “Wall Pallet Bed (PG)”

[Since1975] – “All in1-BDSM Cage/Pole(Maledom)”

[Since1975] – “All in1-BDSM Cage/Hanger(Maledom)”

[Arch] Deco – “Box of Chains v1.0”

Mushilu – “0005bg Whip and Whispers complete”

ED. – “Anu Whip Black”

22769 – “Toys and Lube”

22769 – “Handcuffs”

22769 – “Leather Whip”

Face Animatin Tool: LeLutka – “Axis HUD Face 1.1”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Free your Mind and find Yourself!

TUNES

Before her surrender she had no life
Now she’s a slave, not a wife
Her only sorrow is for women who live with lies
She’s taken off her disguise

[Manowar]

I do love the song above and it is basically a song that has a lot of meaning to me and Red and it was just perfect for this pictures and post. In general it is not always easy if you have to hide parts of your life even to close friends just because the ‘society’ doesn’t really appreciate or understand them. I am not only talking about BDSM or D/s, but as well as things like a male loves a male, or a female loves a female, or if you have a job that other won’t understand whatever it would be. As well as if kids do not have any label clothing because they do not have a rich family, but do not want anyone to know about that when they go to school or meet other kids. There is many things that people have to hide in all kind of ways to make it through their life. The older I get the less I do want to hide things. They are a part of me and they do make me to what I am now. Even for being a musician, I often had to say I am teaching music or I do work somewhere else and just do music in my free time or on weekends. Over 20 years ago when I started my music career, music wasn’t something that was considered as a job and I often heard “And when you will learn something proper to pay your bills?”. Sure it wasn’t the life of a millionaire, especially in the beginning I had to do a lot of side jobs to make sure my bills got pair and it wasn’t only fun all the time. The longer I followed my personal decision, the better it became and in the end I was able to prove them all wrong and made my life out of music completely and it feels awesome.

Why other people or the so called ‘society’ do think they are allowed to tell one person, what to do and what not to do as long as they do not violate the law? Since when law should be able to dictate who you love, or even worse what gender you love? Just because certain religions and a lot of old fashioned people think that would be right? At school we teach all of our kids, the gifted ones and the non gifted ones that they can do what ever they can imagine in their life and be happy with that… and with that we lie to them already, as so many factors will force them to just do something that is accepted by our ‘society’ somehow. I am not anymore a rebel that only fights against exactly that ‘society’ and tries to break free like people in the 70s already tried – I am too old for that and I am way more critical about certain things these days, even if sometimes my punk breaks free and needs its room as well from time to time 😉

Even in SL when I started modeling, people tried to tell me what I should do and what I should not do and that made me even more angry than in real life. Again, I am always talking about things that do not hurt other people or violate the TOS and the law, I am talking about things like “You can not wear shaved hair and piercings while you are in a gown” or “You can not jump between style categories, hair colors or  wear wings, elf ears and hooves to a casual spring dress!” or “If you blog for this store you should not blog for that store as they do not really like each other!” – WTF!!! This is SL! I can do what ever I please especially on my blog, my pictures or my wardrobe! No one pays me a monthly salary and can dictate my Second Life for that! I can make decisions and like in real life I have to be able to stand behind them even if I can not be everyones darling then, which NEVER works in both lifes anyways on a long term if you do not want to lose yourself. You have value, your life and opinions do have value… in our modern times there is no room for hate about religions, races, nations, other opinions and new inventions or fictions. Our past should have taught us, that we need free spirits to evolve and that hate never brought out any productive. Sometimes we need to know a person before we can judge about them and even if we do we should never try to limit or tell them what they should not do – we should encourage them to tell us about their ideas and ideologies and even if we decide that they are feeling right for us they feel right for them and need to be heard. I do not know, if that makes any sense and I am well aware of that a nation needs rules, traditions and laws to work, but all of that doesn’t give anyone the right to destroy others lifes, or make it miserable, as long as they are not guilty of a heavy crime. I am sick and tired of hearing what would be the best of me, when I can feel that this comments are just made out of jealousy, vindictiveness and power games. I did survive – RL and SL –  with going my way. I did not hurt too many people in my life and those I did hurt, if I realized it I at least had the decency to apologize and see if I could make up for what I did wrong – but you only can do that if you have friends that have the strength and grace to tell you and not just go away and talk bad behind your back. I am grateful, for all of those that stuck to me through both lifes even if I had my moments and arguments with them. They helped me to become what I am now – even if I am still no millionaire, I found luck and satisfaction in my life and as well my place in my life. There are still days, where other people try to shake and rattle my pillars and the principle, sometimes it even still hurts, but they do have a way more difficult task to do as they had to in my past. I am not saying I know everything, or I am done learning in my life… that probably never stops and I am always open minded to what ever crosses my paths, but it isn’t anymore that easy to turn my life upside down and make me question everything I experienced and learned in my life.

Just imagine, what would feel more nice if you meet a new person in your life… to look a them, judge them about their first view and words or just smile, be friendly and see what they to have to say on a second view? They might have solutions for things you did not yet found some… they might have to hide things on your first meeting as they are scared you will judge them and turn around leaving them without even really knowing them, or have given them a chance to show you who they really are? And… just turn it the other way round… how you would feel if you are judged by your cover and not even given a chance to show who you really are?

I would like to close todays post with a quote from an En Vogue song, as I really believe in that every day more, the older I get:

“Before you can read me you gotta learn how to see me, I said
Free your mind and the rest will follow
Be colour blind, don’t be so shallow.”

Clothing

Cape: ERSCH – “Devilish Joy Dress Black” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Harness: OHeMO – “Olivia Body Harness” (Maitreya)

Shoes: Mosquito’s Way – “Britney” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Horns: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Horns Dracarys” – NEW @ Fetish Fair // August 2019

Forearm Sleeves: [CX] – “Lance Bracers Femme – Black” (Maitreya)

Collar: #187# – “Leashed Collar”

Piercings: *PKC* – “BDSM Bento Face Set”

Rings: : CULT :  – “Rou Rings Sset” (Maitreya, Bento)

Nails: FORMANAILS – “Stiletto 1” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: +Spellbound+ – “Control” (part of the BoundBox, no longer avbailable)

Makeup: Zibska – “Noir Pack 06” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: LIVIA – “Juniper Lipstick” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Forehead Tattoo: CURELESS[+] – “Onibi Markings” (Omega Applier)

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Marks: .:Avanti:. – “Rope Marks Applier” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses, Props & Tools

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

Sari-Sari – “Puppet Skybox”

Mushilu – “0005bg Whip and Whispers complete”

BackBone  -“Toy Rack”

{RW} – “Hanging Chain Deco – Pewter”

Fapple – “BDSM Tool Box”

[ zerkalo ] – “Handcuff Chair – Leather”

22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Leather Whip”

Tool for Face Expressions: LeLutka – “Axis HUD Face 1.1”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Symphony

VERSUS Magazine Spring/Summer 2019: https://issuu.com/versus.sl.magazine/docs/versus_magazine_spring_summer_2019

I’ve been hearing symphonies
Before all I heard was silence
A rhapsody for you and me
And every melody is timeless
Life was stringing me along
Then you came and you cut me loose
Was solo singing on my own
Now I can’t find the key without you

I just wanna be part of your symphony
Will you hold me tight and not let go?
Symphony

[Clean Bandit]

Accessories

Earrings: Aurealis Jewellery – “Arena Earrings”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: lock&tuft – “Stranded (woman fit1)”

Hairbase: MINA Hair – “Myla” (LeLutka Applier)

Makeup & Lipstick: ALMA – “Symphony” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Face Mod: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props

Poses & Violin: Le Poppycock – “*Necromantic* The Oldest Song”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Imagine…

TUNES

You, you may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

[John Lennon]

Clothing

Top: neve – “Milla” (Maitreya)

Pants: Blueberry – “Pride Shorts” (Maitreya, SL16B Gift)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Emelie Sandals” (Maitreya) – NEW @ UBER // August 2019

Accessories

Legwraps: Storybook – “Savage – Brown” (Maitreya)

Necklace 1: Eudora3D – “Eithne Necklace Gold Materials”

Necklace 2: MG – “Leather Alexa Choker – Design 3”

Rings: Meva – “Bento Maitreya Rings Gold” (Maitreya, Bento)

Glasses: EarthStones – “The Yesterday”

Headpiece: DRD – “Vagabond – Flower Crown”

Bangles (l): DRD – “Chunky Bangles – Flower”

Bracelet (r): [ kunst ] – “Conrad Bracelet”

Piercing:  [ kunst ] – “Piercing #10” (Gacha, Common)

Septumn: [ kunst ] – “Anuket Septum Ring”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Weird” – NEW @ COSMOPOLITAN // August 12th, 2019

Makeup: Zibska – “Noir Pack 06” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Ears: CODEX – “Marley Ears”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: ((Mister Razzor)) – “Dante” (Omega Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

DRD – “The Stranded Pack Rat”

DRD – “Vagabond – Guitar” (Groupgift

DRD – “Post Apoc Camp Sitting Crates 1”

DRD – “GG – Catcher – One” (Groupgift

22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Beertray Sidetable Green” (table made transparent to use ashtray and cigarettes)

Location

…:::Bartertown:::…

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Demons in my Mind…

TUNES

Tell you all the things that are tearing me apart
Tell you every little thing thats been bleeding out my heart
Nothing that I say can make you change your mind so doesnt matter
What I do it doesnt matter where I start
Yeah ive been feeling down
No ones been around
My mind is foggy
I can’t tell you what is left or right
No matter what i say you always find a fucking way to twirl it
Demons in my mind they never listen

[plxntkid]

The nice part of having holidays is you have more time to fool around with things you always wanted to learn before. For me that is watching a lot of new tutorials for Photoshop and trying if I can use what I learned in my own ways on my pictures. Even if it takes a lot longer to try new skills and techniques, it is a lot of fun, too.

Today I wanted to do something editorial and I wanted to involve the incredible amazing designs of Zibska. When I put on the “Ruina” collar and makeup, I instantly knew, that I do not want too much things in the background that would distract from the design itself. The collar has 2 orbits with  with fishies and hooks which I am not wearing for my todays picture as it added too much cuteness for my idea*giggles* While I was standing in my black spot and fooling around with lights I realized how cool the “Ruina” collar does reflect the lights and I just rezzed one, pulled it super huge trying t see what it would look like… like you can see on the pictures, I loved the idea :p I even stretched it a little more, rezzed another one, shoved them around and finally played with the color HUD. That again proves, that Zib Scaggs is truly an artist, you even can use her creations totally out of purpose and still they add an artful touch to your picture 😉 For a matching expression to that powerful picture, I again used my Axis HUD from LeLutka. I already wrote about that (HERE), but I just cannot tell it often enough, that it does open a complete new world for me for pictures with some kind of mood or emotions 😉

Clothing

Pants: Decoy – “Apple Shorts” (Maitreya)

Shoes: **UTOPIA@Design** – “Kora” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Morphine Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Claws: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Obsess Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Shoulderpiece: Zibska – “Ruina” – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019 – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019

Collar: [CX] – “Hells Harbinger (Black Out+Silver)” (Maitreya)

Lower Armparts: [CX] – “Lance Bracers Femme – Black” (Maitreya)

Mask: L’Emporio – “Cat Skull – 03 Lather Covered”

Arm Straps: L’Emporio – “Harness Arm” (Maitreya)

Pasties: .ARISE. – “Spiked Pasties / Black_Silver” (Maitreya)

Chains: -SECRETS- – “Danita Nipple Chain – Silver” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: KoKoLoResS – “Oakes”

Makeup: Zibska – “Ruina” (LeLutka Applier) – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019

Lipstick: alaskametro<3 – “London” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Lost River” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Background Structures: Zibska – “Ruina” – NEW @ Driftwood August 2019 (rezzed and resized)

Model  & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

The artful Alchemy of Wicca Merlin – VERSUS Magazine Spring/Summer 2019

I had the great honor of being the cover and the cover story of the actual VERSUS Magazine. I do work with VERSUS as a model, stylist and photographer since the very first issue, the more I felt honored and happy about being asked if I would like to be on the cover!

I remember very well, how speechless and overwhelmed I was when Shena told me, that she planned me, my photography/blogging and our store for her next cover story – I nearly was fainting!

I was sent some wonderful questions for the interview by Sita Writer, in my opinion one of the most talented writers I met in SL (actually I do have  2 favorites only *grins*). Anyways, I was super happy when I saw, that Sita did not only pull the usual mainstream questions and it really was fun to answer them. If you want to see the full article you can find it HERE or you can pull an inworld Magazine at the entrance hall of our Mainstore!

And as if that would not have been enough already… Shena surprised me again and left me speechless! When I turned in my pictures for the Mother Nature theme I was assigned this issue, Shena went totally crazy about one picture and wanted to take that as the cover for the magazine… MY picture as cover for a magazine!?! that never happened before, I never was allowed to do a picture for a magazine cover!?!

I really have to say thank you for a wonderful article, as well as such a great honor, to Shena, Sita and the VERSUS Magazine staff for that incredible opportunity and experience! VERSUS always felt like home and family to me and that, even made that bond tighter than ever before.

Why I am posting this today, away from that I am so proud and honored, is that I got asked so often in IMs about the style I was wearing for the cover and so I will put my style credits below this post.

THANK YOU VERSUS FAMILY!!!

VERSUS Magazine Spring/Summer 2019 https://issuu.com/versus.sl.magazine/docs/versus_magazine_spring_summer_2019

Clothing

Dress: Legal Insanity – “Camila Dress” (Maitreya)

Cloack: Astralia – “Danaus Spring cloak” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Accessories

Headpiece: Astralia – “Danaus Spring Crown (orange)” (Gacha, Common)

Flower (mouth): Astralia – “Danaus Spring Flower (orange)” (Gacha, Common)

Bracelets: Gemini – “Sis Bracelets” (Maitreya)

Rings: *elise* – “Diana” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [e] – “Juniper”

Makeup 1: Zibska – “Ventura Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Makeup 2: Zibska – “Tamia Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Flore” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Lashes: alaskametro<3 – “Slay” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Pose: Foxcity – “Long Grass” (VIP Gift 6-17, Bento)

Wand: Astralia – “Danaus Spring Scepter” (gGacha, Special Prize)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

 

From little Seeds great Flowers grow…

“She limped, unaided around the house, like a bird with its wing broken. Tame, because it couldn’t fly away. All her time was taken up with managing herself, working out new ways to do things. Being a different person in the world.”
[ Joan London, The Golden Age ]

I guess I never had  more opposite posts back to back  than the last and today’s… maybe thats because my life at the moment is a little bit upside down and huge changes are about to come. I do have mixed feelings about it, as I did not really plan those, but sometimes you just get forced to make changes and you have to adapt the situation and make the best out of it for yourself.

But then, like I wrote yesterday… I always wanted the freedom to do what ever I want on my personal blog and so I hope you all don’t mind a black/silver against white/gold contrast 😉

It was always something I thought a lot about. When I started modeling, we were taught, that we should find our personal style. Back then it was like either you are a casual person, a formal one, am avant garde one or one of those kind of styles that we all know. I never felt ‘home’ in one style genre only and so I started to call my personal style weird or crazy to at least have category if I was asked about. I do not know where all that comes from, but it is not only happening in Second Life. In real life I am a musician, but as well a teacher and I do give private lessons for instruments and songwriting and I do work for a record studio playing the bass sometimes, too. I never had the desire to have a nine-to-five job, more than that I even was scared about the thought to have to do the same every day in a certain time frame. Certainly it would be easier and you could plan your free-time better, but I guess I would miss something just having one job.

It isn’t the first time that a chapter of the book of my life closes (sometimes I had to close them my self, too) and so I know if one closes another one will open. Just the time until that happens is sometimes a bit scary, as you never know what it will be. Usually those kind of “in-between” times only happen if you didn’t close the chapter yourself. Mostly they do happen, if you didn’t plan any changes and all of a sudden for no reason others decide to screw you over with lies and gossips that aren’t even true. First I tried to fight against that, but if you have 4 people gained up against you they can pretty much tell everything and being their own witnesses for their lies. First it dragged me down a lot and I was trying to find a way how I still could prove the truth, but the longer it did happen, the more I came to the point that it would be senseless. So I had to change my tactics and just make my peace with it and find new ways for myself. It would have been an unnecessary waste of power and time to keep on fighting in the end.

So I am looking forward to what will come. Things have come up to my mind already and now just need to grow and being developed more. That already feels much better than the time of uncertainty, where you have no clue what you are going to. Maybe that’s why I found parts of my creativity back, too and have fun taking pictures again even if they are a little bit weird *winks*

For now I will be on holidays and try to get some rest from all the past half a year crap. I know things will move on, as they always have and every time it happened, there was something new for  me that I really enjoyed. Even if that sounds old and lame sometimes and in the middle of frustrating and depressing times you neither want to hear or see it – Life has so much to give and there always will be ways to find new perspectives. Recently I found a quote, first I read it was from Sigmund Freud, but when I looked it up, there wasn’t any prove for that and no one really knows where it came from, but it does fit so perfectly for now and I like it a lot. I even thought, if I should put it on a sign and place it at my desktop somewhere, so I can look at it if I get bad feelings about the whole situation again. Maybe it makes a great closing sentence for today’s post *grins*

“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self esteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.”

Clothing

Dress: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Bridal Gown” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Gloves: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Gloves” (Maitreya, Gacha, Rare)

Accessories

Collar: .Charm. – “Skai Collar” (Store closed)

Piercing: [CX] – “Bitten 2017”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Arrest”

Eyeshadow 1: Nanika – “Gold Eyeshadow” (LeLutka Applier)

Eyeshadow 2: Zibska – “Lennie” (LeLutka Applier)

Face Art: Nanika – “Serena Gold” (Omega Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Legs: CURELESS[+] – “Pygmalion’s Bride / M / Galatea Legs / MARBLE” (Maitreya, Gacha, Common)

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Thauron Ears”

Eyes: .ARISE. – “Blind Eyes / Gold”

Skin: *YS&YS* – “Immortal Skin Applier” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Tattoo: Nanika – “Gold Sequins Mesh Body Applier” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Set:

E.V.E Studio – “WHISPER Petals {Gold}”  (Gacha, Rare)

E.V.E Studio – “Apple Flower M01”

E.V.E Studio – “Apple Flower M02”

E.V.E Studio – “Golden Apple”

E.V.E Studio – “Flowers of the Golden Apple”

E.V.E Studio – “Petals Path A {Gold}”

E.V.E Studio – “Petals Path B {Gold}”

E.V.E Studio – “Dancing Petals Dystopia in Bronze/Gold”

Air – “Road sign type A stand_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type C_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type D_gold_CM”

Air – “Road sign type E_gold_CM”

Air – “Lost Bravery stand(gold)_CM”

Air – “Lost Brain stand(gold)_CM”

DISORDERLY. – “Enchanted Extras / Beast’s Library Papers”

Raindale – “Elnaril floor candle holder (light gold)”

{anc} – “mannequin. MermaidPrincess(Adult)” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

The Dark Nun – My Journey of Blogging

It is still sunny and hot outside but I already desire the dark months again… maybe exactly because of that. I hate hot weather and I never was a huge friend of the sun.

Recently I watched the movie “The Nun” again. I do love mystic, horror movies a lot and the 2 Conjuring movies with the spin-offs of Anabelle and The Nun are just a must if you love that kind of genre 😉

So I guess The Nun was my inspiration for this when I saw the “Lost Saints ” gacha from ANTINATURAL[+] the first time. Like usual it took me a while before I found all my components and parts for my pictures, but I got used to that. I have a huge respect for those who get something at the release day and instantly have a cool idea what they could do with it for their pictures. I am not talking about the usual blogger pictures that are just showcasing the outfits (nothing wrong with them), but about those who make pictures that kinda tell stories or being made in an artistic way.

I remember times when I just blogged for blogging purposes like reviews, showcasing items, putting a simple stylecard and doing promotion for designers. Like I said before there is nothing wrong with that, but after 10 years of blogging I had to find something different for me as blogging started to feel like a duty only and the fun started to vanish. I started originally with one picture and a style card and never had more than one or two sentences to it. Back then it was cool as I could kinda pump out up to 7 posts per day. Back then we didn’t have any kind of windlight, shadows or meshes, so it was way more easy to shoot pictures and post process them lightly. Usually the only thing I did was to put me in front of a colored background, have more than one view of myself or closeups in the picture and in the end I added a shadow to give it at least some depth (EXAMPLE). Back then I felt really cool with doing that, as it did it’s purpose to showcase designers work as best as I could. Those damn shadows and the desire to have myself more than once on my pictures or have some closeups were the reason why I started to learn Photoshop back then *giggles*

Over the time I tried various things to develop my picture skills and to find new ways how I could showcase designers work properly. I tried simple backgrounds, busy ones and I tried the green-screening and having completely different backgrounds that did not came from Second Life. The last one I did not try for too long as it did not look right for me and I really wanted to keep my pictures taken in SL. I never had the desire to merge SL snapshots into RL pictures or backgrounds and so I gave up on that trend relatively quick. While I started with square pictures (512×512) I figured out fast, that other rations can look way more interesting and attractive. After experimenting quite a while with sizes and formats, I found out that I do love 4:3 (3:4 as well) ratio the most.

Back in 2009, blogging wasn’t as popular as it is today and as a model we were told we should do pictures of have a blog to showcase our styling skills away from the runway shows and vendor shots where the designers kinda put their own visions on us. It was a way to interpret clothing different than the designer initially did, but still it was a way to promote the designs and show that they could have different ways of styles and could attract different groups of people. I had the most fun to fool around with gowns, away from being just beautiful and pretty *grins*

First I was told if I keep on doing such things, like wearing gowns with shaved hair and piercings,  pull simple casual outfits to something wicked and dark with accessories and the location/set I was using, mix and match different outfits together or even use accessories away from their original purpose, I would damage my reputation and no one ever would give me things to blog anymore. I was new into the business back then and a little scared that those who already worked in the fashion industry would be right. So I calmed down again and went on with mainstream pictures again. Then something really funny happened. Designers, fellow models and some other people IMed me asking me why I would go back to those “boring” styles again. That was a wakeup call for me. Even if my ideas were unconventional and different, there were some people who enjoyed that as much as I do. I screwed the thought and the anxiety about my weird ideas and went back to what I really enjoyed. But I always made sure to not distort designers work with too weird poses and later on, when we got windlight, shadows and lights, to not change the color of an outfit or have things too dark so you could not anymore see them. I wanted to have more than one picture, so that I could tell a little story with them. To the same time it would give me the possibility to again focus on details in different pictures. I made the decision to put more pictures on my blog post and have one reference picture (mostly the one I loved the most) displayed on Flickr.  That all kept my pictures weird for my styles but in general relatively simple, as they looked flat without any emotion and depth. For quite a while that was ok for me and I enjoyed, that I could live my craziness of styles and got new sponsors now and then (EXAMPLE).

Again I came across a point where I had the desire to change something as I wanted to have more emotions and feelings in my pictures. When we got windlight, shadows and lights, I found out that you can create cool, dramatic shots with a strong light and shadow combination and a powerful windlight. But there was the other side of the coin… with deep shadows some details started to vanish and first I had the feeling I  should not do that as it does hide designers work too much. The more I tried, the less I could resist to all those new features and I that seriously put me on the horns of a dilemma. I wanted to do more artistic pictures that have more content than just the clothing that I was wearing, but how I could do that if I loose details to the dark. When bento came to Second Life it was even worse, as pose creators started to make more crazy poses and with my 4:3 ratio pictures I didn’t want to use standing poses only anymore where I had more background than avatar on the picture. I had so many awesome sponsors (if I now look back, it were too many) and I wanted to satisfy them all. I wasn’t able to have a combination of blog pictures and personal pictures done, as I had so many deadlines and outfits that I had to blog. There was a point where everything became too much and blogging or making pictures became a burden and nearly all the fun had vanished. I had to make a decision – either I go on like usual and loose all my interest in blogging, Second Life and everything I loved, or I have to change something drastically and revamp my blog.

It wasn’t an easy decision as I had the feeling I do have to let my sponsors go, when I cannot satisfy them anymore. I left a few and as well explained to them why I had to. A handful of my sponsors really surprised me, when they told me they would still like to keep me and see where my journey would go to – I never ever expected that!

I took a few weeks off and started to reconsider my blog and pictures. During that time I watched a lot of Photoshop tutorials and learned a lot of new techniques about photo editing. When I came back I was full of energy and started to play with lights, projectors and shadows and experimented with all the new things I learned in Photoshop. It was a complete new freedom and feeling and I found all the fun back, that I missed so much. I am a very self-critical person and so even if the fun was back I felt there was missing something, as many times the pictures looked ok but not “cool”. That was when Silly told me about VISONAIRE. First I thought, why I should take a course if I can have all the tutorials and information on the Internet as well? But the more I thought about the more I did remember, how much I loved attending classes and workshops in my life. So I signed up and I have to tell you, I do not regret any second! (If you want to know more about my VISIONAIRE experience you can look HERE) It was a completely different experience and it did teach me a lot about things that I never thought of and just did because I felt it looks nice. What was again a huge surprise, with my new way of pictures (I did not dare to apply as a blogger at too many places anymore) I got requested as a blogger or even got flickr mails where designers or blogger managers invited me to join their blogger team. That certainly was the most awesome thing that could happen – I do what I enjoy and others do enjoy my new way of blogging too!

I am sure, there will be times, when the desire of changes will come up again, but for now I really do enjoy blogging and taking pictures again 🙂

Clothing

Outfit: ANTINATURAL[+] – “Lost Saints / Unsainted Nun / Mini” (Gacha, Rare)

Veil: ANTINATURAL[+] – “Lost Saints / Unsainted Nun / Veil” (Gacha, Rare)

Shoes: ANTINATURAL[+] – “Lost Saints / Leather Boots” (Gacha, Rare)

Accessories

Wrist Armor: ANTINATURAL[+] – “Lost Saints / Gold Gauntlets” (Gacha, Rare)

Tounge Piercings: LeLutka – “BDYART-TBRBL” (Bento)

Headpiece: ANTINATURAL[+] – “Lost Saints / Sacred Silence / Gold” (Gacha, Common)

Horns: ANTINATURAL[+] – “Lost Saints / Gilded Horns / Gold” (Gacha, Common)

Rings: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Tunderstrike Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Nails: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Obsess Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Entwined – “Jana”

Eyemakeup: CURELESS[+] – “Undereye Lines & Eyeliner” (Omega Applier)

Forehead: CURELESS[+] – “Onibi Markings” (Omega Applier)

Wounds: .{PSYCHO:Byts}. – “Badass Fighter” (Omega Applier)

Lips: LeLutka – “Beast Applier” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Korina 3.3” (Bento)

Teeth: LeLutka – “Beast Teeth 1.1” (Bento)

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1” (Bento)

Skin: *YS&YS* – “Immortal Skin” (LeLutka & Maitreya Applier)

Eyes: ANATOMY – “Reflect Eyes – Albino”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Gormory Ears”

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon – “Evil Nurse”, “Puppeteer”, “Hil Nurse” & “Morgue”

Background: SEMPITERNAL – “[The Forbidden Room]”

Table & Dishes: DRD – “Black Widow Tea Table”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

There is so much Life underneath the Water that we don’t know about…

“And everywhere, just as there were animals on land, were the animals of the sea.
The tiniest fish made the largest schools- herring, anchovies, and baby mackerel sparkling and cavorting in the light like a million diamonds. They twirled into whirlpools and flowed over the sandy floor like one large, unlikely animal.
Slightly larger fish came in a rainbow, red and yellow and blue and orange and purple and green and particolored like clowns: dragonets and blennies and gobies and combers.
Hake, shad, char, whiting, cod, flounder, and mullet made the solid middle class.
The biggest loners, groupers and oarfish and dogfish and the major sharks and tuna that all grew to a large, ripe old age did so because they had figured out how to avoid human boats, nets, lines, and bait. The black-eyed predators were well aware they were top of the food chain only down deep, and somewhere beyond the surface there were things even more hungry and frightening than they.
Rounding out the population were the famous un-fish of the ocean: the octopus, flexing and swirling the ends of her tentacles; delicate jellyfish like fairies; lobsters and sea stars; urchins and nudibranchs… the funny, caterpillar-like creatures that flowed over the ocean floor wearing all kinds of colors and appendages.
All of these creatures woke, slept, played, swam about, and lived their whole lives under the sea, unconcerned with what went on above them.
But there were other animals in this land, strange ones, who spoke both sky and sea. Seals and dolphins and turtles and the rare fin whale would come down to hunt or talk for a bit and then vanish to that strange membrane that separated the ocean from everything else. Of course they were loved- but perhaps not quite entirely trusted.”
[Liz Braswell, Part of Your World]

As I promised before, with all the amazing designs at the Mermaid Cove event, done by Flair for Events, I could not resist and do a second post. This time it isn’t quite a Mermaid, more an underwater creature, as I did not want to post my favorite mermaid tale again, plus I wanted to showcase those amazing leg wraps, which I found at the Mermaid Cove as well 🙂

To do an underwater picture, but actually not being under water was quite a challenge I have to admit. I first tried to set up everything underwater, but with the windlight and lightning I wanted to have it did not really work out that well plus, I realized that underwater in SL… doesn’t look like it should anyways. So what I did was, I created a small set with rocks and some grass, which I tinted in blue, purple and white color and some underwater creatures beside my self. To get a little bit of an ambiance I used some designs from E.V.E Studio with inbuilt lights and some glitter. All the bubbles and plants I had to add in Photoshop afterwards, as I could not find any non-flexi plants, that did look right for what I had in mind.

It was something new and I even learned some new Photoshop tricks about fx styles, so it was a win-win situation to try something new and non familiar. I hope you enjoyed my underwater creature as much as I did and for now I do not have any plans for more mermaid or underwater styles 😉

I am happy with the result, even if it was a little bit of a rock road until it came together as I imagined it 😉

Clothing

Top: SynCo – “Mermaid Bralette” (Maitreya) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Pants: -:zk:.- – “Bella Panty” (Maitreya)

Accessories

Head- & Shoulderpieces: Zibska – “Helmine”

Nails: Ama. – “Mermaid Claws” (Maitreya, Bento) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Handjewelry: .Drastic. – “Tentacle Jewelry” (Maitreya, Bento)

Legwraps: *Merlific* – “Sea Stars Pearl” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Toerings: Elle Boutique – “Talluah” (Maitreya, High Feet)

Feetchains: Salt & Pepper (S&P) – “Keisha” (Maitreya, High Feet)

Tentacles: – Fika – – ” Sirens Song – Hip” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Collar: .Quirky. – “Scales Collar” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Bracelets: E.V.E Studio – “Scorpion Spikes Bracelet” (Maitreya)

Hair & Makeup

Makeup: Zibska – “Araceli” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – Simone 3.3″

Faceart: .Arise. – “Face Scales 3” (Omega Applier) – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Meraxes”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Bodyscales: ~ Cynefin ~ – “Body Scales~Shades” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Fashiowl – “Undersea – Pose Set” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Set:

Rocks: Fashiowl – “Undersea – Pose Prop” – NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Grass: Little Branch – “WildGrass*1Li{Lavender}” & “Grass1l{Winter}” (partwise tinted)

Fish: 22769 ~ [bauwerk] – “Floating Fish Iron”

Jellyfishes: *HEXtraordinary* – “Jellyfish” (Gacha)

Ambience: E.V.E Studio – “Sunny Spells [M1] W/Tile”, “Dancing Bubbles {White}” & “Sunny Spells M02 – KOI Glitter”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Sirens – The Dark Side of the Mermaid Family

Ok, if someone would have told me, that I would do a mermaid post… I would have broken down laughing. I always faced mermaids as the sweet and cute pink, purple or pastel colored girly sweethearts… until I came across a TV show called Sirens last year. I read about the dark side in some mermaid stories but I never saw them so dark before that show. I love the events from Flair for Events and when this year the sign up for the Mermaid Cove came out, I could not resist to apply as a designer, thinking we could do something that works for those dark sirens.

We did –  we made the “Amatheia” claws. A combination of bracelet and claws, connected by chains and decorated with some shells. When we set up our booth, I saw the super awesome cool release from The White Crow right beside us. It must have been fate, that we were assigned right beside each other, both enjoying the darker side of the theme :p

-[TWC]- made those amazing tentacles, which come out of your nose and mouth together with a cool matching makeup/lips combo. I so loved the “Sea Witch” I had to make a dark and scary siren using  that one 🙂

There were so many other cool items, so the look came together really fast. Arise made those neat face scales in 3 different styles and the super cool “Sea Ghoul Eyes” with a matching makeup were made by BLAXIUM. I realized, that I discovered BLAXIUM for me lately as they to kick ass cool designs and piercings, that are not mainstream focused only.

First I tried to set up an underwater scene but, since SL water doesn’t really do much from below the water surface, I decided to go for a little dark cave, only lighted by a few moon beams, that come through the ceiling of it. When I had placed my siren on the awesome rocks (I really love their materials!) with the cool poses, that WetCat released at the Mermaid Cove event, I missed something in the back. Just open sea looked kinda boring and I decided to put a ship, that hit a rock because of the siren singing in front of the cave aka into my back.

To get a feeling of a rough sea, I had to cheat in Photoshop as I could not find waves and foam in SL that did what I wanted it to do. With most of the stuff I found, I ended up with weird pixelated white “something” in my back.

First I thought I do have to wear any kind of clothing to cover my chest, but the combination of the “Sandra” hair from MINA and the “Body Scales” from Cynefin did hide everything needed.

I had so much fun doing those pictures… I can’t promise that I won’t come up with another dark mermaid look and pictures in the future 😉

Accessories

Horns: [Eternus] – “Kirin Horns” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Collar: .Quirky. – “Scales Collar” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Hand Tentacles: .Drastic. – “Tentacle Jewelry” (Maitreya)

Handaccessoriess with Claws: Wicca’s Originals – “Amatheia Claws” (Maitreya, Bento) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Face Tentacles: -[TWC]- – “Sea Witch / Dark Green” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Bellypiercing: PUNCH – “Navel Piercing / Diamond Pearl” (Maitreya) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Hair & Makeup

Hair: MINA Hair – “Sandra”

Facetattoo 1: -[TWC]- – “Sea Witch Ink -Full-” (Omega Applier) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Facetattoo 2: ARISE – “Face Scales Style 2” (Omega Applier) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Eyes & Eyeshadow: BLAXIUM – “Sea Ghoul Eyes” NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.3”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Skin: Lumae – “Eirtae – Storm” (LeLutka/Maitreya Applier)

Body Scales: ~Cynefin ~ – “Body Scales (Shades)” (Maitreya Applier)

 Tail: ~ Cynefin ~ – “Lorelei Bento Mermaid Tail (Shades)” (Maitreya, Bento)

Poses & Props

Poses: ::WetCat:: “‘Part Of Your World’ Mermaid Prop” (Bento, arms lightly edited with anypose) NEW @ Mermaid Cove

Rocks: [FOURTH WALL] – “Mossy Rocks Pack”

Ship: MUSHILU – “JonJamesV – Caravel”

Skull taken of the La Catrina pose set from Poseidon

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin