New Threads and a Special Halloween Comic

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in the really real world for me, so i'm a little past due for new fashion releases. It's funny how I really have no stress as far as Nocturnal Threads goes, but I manage to put pressure on myself anyway. I like to update the store weekly whenever possible and usually manage to do so but some times RL happens. Anyway, I'm happy to announce the following new releases.

Before I post the images, I want to wish everyone a happy Halloween and Samhain blessings. Have fun! Do something spooky! To celebrate I did a bonus comic this week at GingerDead and Friends, so please do check it out. Comic will still update tomorrow as scheduled. Twofers week, hooo!

Anyway, here's what's new at Nocturnal Threads:

GingerDead invades Patrick Grey :O

During the last week or so while I have been promoting the GingerDead and Friends webcomic, and discussing the eventual GingerDead build I would like to do, a name came up several times: Patrick Grey. I'm sorry to say I had not come across this webcomic before and was unaware of the neat downtown build in Second Life. After checking out the well-established comic (i loved it), I headed 'downtown'.

The build is designed to look just like the comic. Stark white buildings outlined with black lines surround you, leaving you with the strange sensation of standing inside of a pop-up book. The coffee shop offers a neat hand drawn cup of joe with a white whisp of steam. You can purchase a couple of tees there for a measly 5L (way to make me look bad, dude! :P), read the current week's comic (i have considered this but am undecided) and best of all you can purchase the first collection of 90 comics in an SL book for 500L. I recommend heading over to the Sawrey sim to check it out.

So, it appears I'm not the first webcomic to infiltrate SL. I had a similar approach to the GingerDead build in mind, and was relieved to see that mine will differ greatly than Patrick Grey's Downtown. I would have hated to scrap the vision. I'm actually rather excited to know the artist is an SL resident and hope to meet more webcomickers (yep i'm pretty sure that is a word) in the metaverse soon.

Of course, I couldn't visit without taking some pictures to share with my readers. If you know me at all you can guess that I had to bust out the GingerDead and Lenoir avies and invade the Patrick Grey comic! HOOOO! I got such a kick out of having my characters virtually traipse through another webcomic. It was totally surreal. GingerDead was a lil creeped out by the whole thing, but Lenoir loved it. Hopefully, GingerDead and Lenoir will meet Patrick face to face next time and take some pics together. Anywho, check out Patrick Grey's Downtown in Sawrrey and the awesome webcomic found here.

GingerDead's nerves are more rattled than usual
thanks to a double espresso shot at Patrick Grey's Coffee Shop


Lenoir looks on as GingerDead frets that Patrick may not find this amusing.

Gingerdead and Creator kaia Ennui

Particle Art by Kala Pixie

Let me start by saying the pictures I'm posting do not do this experience justice. This is a must- see sort of thing and I offer the photos as a hint and a nudge for you to check it out.

Kala Pixie, is a particle artist. I was fortunate enough to be invited by a friend to see her work this weekend. Approximately 10 of us arrived at the sim and piled onto the launching chairs. When everyone was rezzed and ready, Kala shot us into the stars and after a brief explanation that zooming out was recommended, the show began. Vivid colors began to leaping over our heads and the first ooohs and aaahs were uttered by the crowd. As the show continued more complex patterns emerged, pulsing and dancing in the night sky. For just over 30 minutes, Kala took our breathe away with the most skilled and artful particle exhibit I have ever seen.

Kala wants each viewer to experience the show without lag and therefore exhibits in a unique way. In order to see her work you must contact her and book a show. You can book for a romantic private viewing for two or gather a group of up to about 10 people. There is a nominal fee that i assure you is worth every penny. Tips are also appreciated. I personally love that the show is limited to a small group at a time. There was no lag and having a shared experience like this with close friends made it that much more special.

I hope to see Kala's work recognized beyond my little old blog. She is eager to share her work and discuss her vision and is only an IM away. :)

Lenoir's Spooky Find

I set lil Lenoir loose on the grid again tonight to see what she might dig up. :P

Entering a search for Haunted Houses turned up a number of choices but one creative title caught my eye: "A Lonely Night in October". I arrived in front of a cornfield maze with some of the coolest scarecrows I have seen in-world. I had to know where to get them and when I clicked to find the creator I saw a familiar name: Nebulosus Severine. Neb is a friend of mine and a fabulous designer (Numinous Designs) as well as an RL visual artist who exhibits regularly in SL. To my delight, I realized this was one of her pet projects and being she is so talented I knew I had stumbled on a great find.

An attempt to fly over the maze left me shaking my fist at Neb for turning off "fly" on the land. If you want to get to the house, you will have to get through the maze first. It isn't one of those insanely annoying mazes and I was soon through it and on to the Haunted House. The house is a work in progress, but to be honest some of the barren rooms with a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling and a ghost floating about just added to the ambiance. One of my favorite details in the house are the windows. Neb used that box trick that makes it appear there is a scene unfolding outside. It's really awesome. The spider web's were also well done, thin and airy and not cartoonish like you often see in SL.

Clicking the bookshelf downstairs opens a doorway which leads to the more frightening area of the house. A crimson stained mattress lies on the floor, chains hang from the ceiling and the fountain spews blood. Having this room hidden beyond the rich antique wallpaper and plush sofa was a nice touch.

If you are a lover of the Samhain/Halloween season, a visit to Kress to see Neb's "A Lonely Night in October" is a must. Hang out and listen to the stream which played some great goth tunes as well some obscure audio sound bites while i was there. If Lenoir had a thumb she would be pointing it up right now. :P

Speaking of Lenoir, today's comic (gingerdead.com) featured one of my favorite drawings of her thus far. I like it so much I released a new tee and wristband set. See below. But first, check out the pics from Lenoir's adventures.

SL Halloween w/GingerDead and Lenoir

Last year I had a lot of fun exploring the various Halloween themed resident builds and I thought this year it would be fun to don the GingerDead avies and take some pics of what I found. I have to say that so far this October is kicking last year's ass. Maybe, it's the use of lighting we have now. Perhaps, people were motivated by last year's work to do better. Whatever the reason, this year Second Life offers some fantastic places to get into the Samhain groove.

The first place I headed to was Sleepy Hollow, home of the Grim babies. What an incredible job they did here. The theme revolves around the abandoned orphanage and has lots of Grim baby shopping opportunities, but even if you aren't in the market for one it is worth going to see the way they are presented. For example, there are a number set up in what looks like church pews in a spooky schoolhouse setting. Each baby is totally unique and usually pretty humorous. The work that goes in to these things is really something to be seen. Think twisted cabbage patch dolls in prim form. :)

The shopping at Sleepy Hollow doesn't stop there. This is by far the best Halloween marketplace I have ever come across. It was so impressive I weasled my way into a spot there to offer some NT costumes and avatars from my webcomic. I just wanted to be part of it in some way and Grim Misfit was kind enough to set aside a little spot for me. Whether you want costumes, decorations or party supplies you are sure to be pleased with the fabulous choices by some of the most incredible designers. In addition to individual items, I was amazed to find kits that include things like apple bobbing, jack-o-lantern carving and spooky story telling. You can easily transform your club or home with one stop at Sleepy Hollow.



Not interested in shopping? Sleepy Hollow is still more than worth a visit due to the fabulous Haunted House. Most attempts at haunted houses in SL are rather lame, but this one actually works. There is a definite theme and story going on and the custom sounds and textures really keep the feel consistent and make for a great spooky adventure. In addition, I understand they are running Trivia games there some evenings as well. This sim goes poof as of November 1st, so don't wait.

Next stop: Octoberville! I loved Octoberville last year. It had a nice haunted house and some small shops and charming Autumn woods complete with bales of hay surrounding a lovely little fire. This year the woods remain the same but the rest of it is bigger and better. Master Kaos explains the area is ten times larger and wishes for residents to simply come and enjoy his creation.

There is something about Octoberville that really triggers memories of Halloween in the suburbs of New York state where I grew up. The streets are lined in trees of fiery autumn golds and oranges. There are corn fields, pumpkins, caramel apples and a hay ride. I have not made it to the haunted house yet because I was too enchanted by the train ride. I have never been on anything like it in SL. It's a nice long ride through the sim and castle with some "bumps" along the way. I highly recommend it. If all that weren't enough there is a scavenger hunt. When you teleport in you receive a free tee and a notecard with all the info you will need. Joining the group gives you a fun 'trick or treater' tag that I couldn't resist. I will most certainly be back to check out the haunted house and ride the train again.

Kudos to all the residents involved in these two fabulous Halloween builds. Everyone should set some time aside to see Sleepy Hollow and Octoberville. As I sweat through October in the balmy Southern USA, it is nice to know I can connect with the energies of this holiday and season in the metaverse any time I please. :D

i'm chock full o' newsy goodness

I admit it. I'm the worst blahger ever. Since I update the Nocturnal Threads site with the latest fashion and NT news I feel like it's silly to repeat it all here. I prefer formatting my images into little galleries etc and find this format less fun and too predictable. So, keep that in mind. While tumbleweeds are occasionally blowing through my personal slice of blahgosphere, NocturnalThreads.com is always active.

OK enough of that here is the big news!

On October 9th, the GingerDead and Friends web comic was officially launched. This week I will be updating it daily through Friday. After that it will be updated every Wednesday until I get a lot faster. It is awesome to finally have a way to present the strip in a professional online comic format. I went through a lot of options before finding something that worked. It's been a bit of a nightmare to be honest. The secret formula, in case you're wondering is WordPress + ComicPress. I just saved you aspiring webcomic artists much hassle. HOOO!

To celebrate the launch of the comic and to instill a stronger SL presence for GingerDead and his pals I created a new fashion line called the GingerDead collection. This includes more tees of course, some to be released later in conjunction with the particular strip, a racer jacket, dresses, etc. See the collection so far here. In addition, the wonderful Syphex Odets weilded prims to create for me custom avatars of the characters. So far GingerDead and Lenoir are available. Thanks to Huddles they have their own AOs and Poofers. All the textures are hand drawn and the avies really look just like comic. You can find all the GingerDead stuff along with a free doll, free tee and GingerDead cookie (bite it if you dare) at my main store in Pimushe up on the second floor.

If you want to stay informed in world of latest NT releases and comic news join the Second Life group called NT/GingerDead. You will get a cool gingerDEADicated tag. :P I will probably limit announcements to once or twice a week to not get spammy. I hope to do some fun stuff that is for group members only, so be sure to join if you are interested.