~Tea Lane~ Releases for October 6

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Hi y’all!

Wow, I know, we’ve been total slackers lately. What can I say, the RL thing is absolutely eating our time. But I think we’ve made up for it with this release. It’s so much fun, it’s… ahh, to heck with it, let me just show you!

First off, we have made hair like crazy! I don’t know how we both ended up working on hair, but we did, and we have some really fun things to show for it! First off, Teagan has created a totally kick ass male style with her UniHawk. This ‘hawk has short little horns made from hair paired with a messy fringe. This is a sexy style that would work for you girls, as well.

Then she’s brought us Kina, a pretty, girlie updo with soft fringe framing the eyes. The back is a simple bun surrounded by twisted hair and accented with a color-changing gem, giving a traditional style an updated kick. This style would work for anything from formals to jeans and a sweater while you’re enjoying the fall leaves with your sweetie. Be sure to throw on a scarf to keep your neck warm!

Since Teagan is the creative one of our duo, she looked at Kina and thought, “Hey! If I swap out the gem for a stem…” Sure enough, she turned that cute little bun into a pumpkin crafted of hair! Since it’s that time of year, she’s put together 8 special colors of Pumpkina and put them out at the shop for $2L. It’s still a sweet style for anything you want to do!

And then we get to Laynie’s contributions. Maybe I should begin by saying that I’m taking some new medications, and I’m adjusting to them. That might give you some insight on my new stuff… First came the hair. I started thinking to myself… “What if… a beauty pageant bouffant hairstyle fell in love with an ornately-decorated wedding cake? Ooh, and then, what if they had a torrid, steamy love affair with the Goodyear Blimp?”

Ok, I admit, that didn’t occur to me until after I’d finished it. But it definitely applies! Pageant of the Damned is the biggest hair I’ve made to date. This style is a lavish three-layer updo, spilling over with curls and decorated with swags and bows constructed of hair. It is reminiscent of the elaborate hairstyles of Marie Antoinette, if she’d had more of a sense of humor. It is hair that demands attention- are you brave enough to try it?

And finally, Caged. While digging around at Instructables.com, I found a fascinating dress. Someone had decided to make a couture gown with a birdcage skirt made from brass. The instructable walked you through the entire process of sketching the gown, purchasing the brass, bending the various bits and welding them together. It was fascinating, and most of all, it set my mind to rolling.

Caged is the result. I doesn’t really resemble the original inspiration very much, IMHO. I think it’s moved on to become its own creation, a melding of line and curve, harsh hard forms creating gentle waves and soft curves. I’ve been told by a few people that it’s got a real Tim Burton feel to it. I could only hope… 😀

Remember, these and more will be available on the back wall of Tea Lane. We’ve got lots of goodies at the shop- hair, skins, clothing, shoes, accessories, all made by Teagan Blackthorne and Laynie Link. Stop by today and see what grabs your interest!

Until next time,
❤ Laynie & Teagan
~Tea Lane~ Main Shop
http://tealane.wordpress.com/

New Releases at ~Tea Lane~

Hi hi, everyone!

This is a very small update to let you know what’s going on at ~Tea Lane~ because we’ve been busy behind the scenes, working on some bigger stuff. But to tide you over, we’ve got some fun fun accessories for you.

First off, Teagan has put out an absolutely adorable necklace. This choker is perfect to pair with jeans and a tee, or your favorite casual outfit. The color-change script lets you match it to anything you own! For $2L you can’t go wrong!

Next up, I’ve released a cutepie pair of nerd glasses, complete with giant round frames and tiny little heart detailing on the sides. The glasses are so strong that they’re too thick for the frames, and the edges are greenish just like coke bottles! They’re too much fun, and only $20 lindens.

Finally, we come to my favorite part of this release. I’ve been around the talking pregnancy bellies entirely too much lately, and i was joking with Teagan that I should make a talking tampon to tell the world just how thrilled I am to not be pregnant.

Well, much giggling and experimentation later, I am proud to present the ~Tea Lane~ Talking Tampon, perfect for all your needs. Just wear it and it begins to tell the world all about your time of the month. It’s even modifiable, so if you want to add in your own phrases, you can! For only $10L you too can go horseback riding, swimming, and mountain climbing while wearing your Talking Tampon!

Remember, ~Tea Lane~ has things for many tastes and every budget. We’ve also got gift cards that make the perfect gift for those you love!

Also, check out Laynie’s artfire page for her RL wire wrapped jewelry!
http://www.artfire.com/users/Laynie

Until next time,

❤ Laynie & Teagan
Granymyr (245, 189, 41)
http://tealane.wordpress.com/

New Releases- Crys, Carolyn & Caroline

Wow, it has been entirely too long since we had a new release at ~Tea Lane~, so it’s a good thing i’ve got goodies for you all! It’s a small release, but a fun one!

We’ve got two new hair releases, both updos. Crys is a bit funky and fun, while Carolyn is an elegant style.

Carolyn is so elegant, in fact, that my friends all said, “You MUST put together a tiara for it!” Then, once the tiara was made, everyone said, “OMg, I LOVE THIS!!! Where is the necklace? What about earrings?”

Yea, you can imagine how that goes, I’m sure.

The result is the Carolina jewelry set. It comes in 7 rich metal tones and has multiple attachment points, so hopefully you can wear it with your other accessories (hello, lashes anyone?)

But what about the dollarbies? I know, I can’t do a release without doing a limited one for cheap. So, I made a cute cute pink set of Carolina with fewer attachment points. I get the feeling I may need to do a funky colors release, because I’m loving the pink too much.

Let us know in comments if you’d like to see more funky colors/patterns in Carolina. (Or just leave a comment in general, we love getting comments!)

Pinchyface loves you all…

I was working on a new release tonight. I know, I know, it’s been forever. But I’m working on it! Really, it’s almost ready to put out, and…

Wait, what was I saying?

Oh yea! While I was working in the terribly cluttered workshop I share with Teagan (it’s all my clutter, don’t listen to her if she tries to claim any of it), I looked up and saw that fickle darling, Pinchyface! I haven’t seen her in absolute ages, and I think she’s cheating on me to tell the truth.

I don’t care, though. She came back tonight, and I had to document it with a snapshot, one that showed just how amazing she is.

She takes my breath away…

Cut down on lag- the new and improved version!

EEEK! This post took FOREVER to put together! (Ok, who am I kidding… RL took a giant hunk outta my tushie again. It happens!) But finally, here it is- Laynie’s NEW and IMPROVED guide to cutting down on lag.

There are a million things you can do, and a million theories on what works and what doesn’t. You can read one great one here. All that aside, I’m going to tell you how I do it, so that my not-so-fancy laptop can get through Hair Fair with very few issues from lag.

First off, go for a nice, easy-to-render outfit. (See my older post on lag here). Leave the primmy, flexi alpha’d hair in your inventory (flexi curls like Zero Style, Calico Creations, Analog Dog… the ones with the pretty painted curls that move so well!), or if you’re like me this year, go bald. Bald is beautiful!

Then, detach those HUD items- yes, you won’t die without your Mystitool. Anything that’s scripted needs to stay in the inventory, because it won’t work worth a poop anyplace that has a ton of people.

Honestly, though, this is all a small portion of controlling lag for me. The real magic happens in the settings…

First, if you look at your preferences, you’ll probably see a basic graphics setting that SL chooses for you. You’re going to want to click on the “Custom” settings box I’ve circled for you. (Click the picture to view it bigger.)

Once you check that box, a whole new world opens up for you. You can make all sorts of changes to make SL look pretty here, but we’re going for just the opposite. We want to turn off everything that makes SL pretty- the sky and the water and complex sculpts and all of it. I recommend turning it all down- set your graphics distance to 64, turn all your settings in yellow down to the lowest they can go.

However, you want to keep Avatar Imposters checked (the blue box). This means that instead of keeping the actual movements of the avatars around you going, it puts a picture up to represent those farther away from you. Works like a dream to speed things up!

If you want to get even fancier, you can go into your advanced SL settings. I’m posting a screencap of the menus you go through to get to them. Follow them, and uncheck what you like. At a minimum, uncheck water and sky. However, do not uncheck volume, or suddenly all prims will poof out of existence! Totally not what we want. 😀

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Then, you can go into the render features. I turn off flexible objects and foot shadows. That way, flexi skirts and hair still show up, they just don’t move. 😀

The good news is that once this is done, you’ll notice things go much faster on your machine. Now, if you can just keep your point of view away from other avatars, you’ll be able to get around fairly decently. It’s not perfect, but it definitely is better than nothing. 😀

I hope this helps. If you have any tips to add, please, share them with me in the comments. I’m always looking for ways to make my experiences in SL even better.

And finally, thanks for reading, and have a happy HAIR FAIR!

My day …

How did my day go today? I think this snapshot at EarthStones says it all…

I have to say though, for all of you who came out to the shop for the gift card giveaway, THANK YOU! You guys made my day so much brighter!  I haven’t mentioned it before now, but I may as well. I’m a grown woman, a wife, a mother… and I have mono. Also known as the kissing disease or glandular fever, this stuff should be known as “oh my God, I’m going to die.”

I’m so darn exhausted I could sleep all day and then sleep some more.  And today, I decided to heck with it, I was getting OUT! I was going to go to the BOOKSTORE and enjoy being out. It didn’t last long, and I actually fell asleep in the car almost as soon as I got there. This stuff saps all your energy!

So when everyone who came by was so friendly, and so supportive, it really made a difficult day brighter. I can’t thank you enough. ❤

I was building this morning after being awake all night…

I was awake all night. Good conversations on SL tend to do that to a girl. And as I was building, the frame caught my eye… my av was breathtaking. Is there a more beautiful shot on flickr? Can there be anything more beautiful?

I am gorgeous. I am high fashion. Weep, those of you who see my beauty, for you are not me.

Mrs. Obama, why is your bottom dancing?

I was noodling around with my friend Din, and we were trying to figure out what was going on with Michelle Obama’s outfit. Neither of us liked what was going on- she blamed the belt, I blamed photoshop. We started talking… “What if I removed the belt?” “Could you make the sweater higher?” Since I always save copies of my work, I ended up with several layers. I kept flipping back and forth between them, absolutely transfixed…

You can click this for a bigger image. I’m telling you guys, we laughed hard about that, including roleplaying dialogue between Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey. Some days I think we have way too much time on our hands. You guys should go look at the shopping pron post that triggered all this hilarity. It’s interesting!

~Tea Lane~ at the RFL Clothing Fair!

Holy wow, but I didn’t think we were going to make it on time for this one. Teagan and I are lucky enough to be participating in the RFL Clothing Fair! (You can find our shop on Sim 2.) We’ve got a bunch of brand new items iyou can only find there. Teagan’s listed hers, and now I have to share mine…

First off is Charis. I love this. I’ve been working on this one for 4 months, off and on. I know, I suck, I should have finished it months ago, but it’s done now! And it’s WONDERFUL, even if I do say so myself! It comes in two versions (for one price), the modest version and the more daring version with one breast exposed! Take your pick between 16 colors, and match it up with the tutu I’ve put out with it! I sort of lost my mind with this one, so there are 8 dark jewelly tones and 8 bright sherbetty tones. That’s why I made a black tutu and a white tutu… so <strike>I</strike> you could coordinate, of course! It’s all for you!

Then there’s Gertie. See, the theme for the clothing fair is pirates, and I can’t even begin to tell you guys how much I love pirate wear. This started out with a sketch, and turned into something that I am absolutely in love with.

Gunpowder Gertie was known as the Pirate Queen of the Kootenays. After reading <a href=”http://www.canadiancountrywoman.com/travel/gunpowder-gertie.php”>her story</a>, is there any surprise I wanted to make this gorgeous outfit for her?

Ok, maybe she wore pants. Probably, actually. But this is SL, and in SL, she’d have been a glamorous pirate! She’d have commanded her vessel in the finest of clothing… and maybe in her off time, she’d have worn this! 😉

We’ve also got the usual assortment of dollarbies hanging around, so please stop by, pick up some cute stuff, and do some shopping to help someone else. It’s one of the best things you can do with your Second Life!

Pinchyface is back!!!

OMG, y’all, I am so excited! I was working on a glamour shot for a new product or two this morning and then…

I looked closely. She looked familiar. Could it be? I haven’t seen Pinchyface in so long, and I’ve really missed her! She left without a word, just disappearing in the night. I kept hoping I’d see her face again…

And now she’s back! Oh, Pinchy, you don’t have to explain. I’m just so happy you’ve come back! All I ask is that you not leave me again… I was lost without you!