Binemust – click any image for full size
On Monday, August 15th, 2016, Biné Rodenberger officially opened her new full region, Binemust, the spiritual successor to her popular Binemist, which – with its ever-evolving look – had long been a favourite destination among SL photographers and bloggers over the years (I actually first blogged about it in September 2014, with my last visit occurring in March of 2016, visiting a number of times in between these two dates, and even producing a video in December 2014 to capture its look at the time).
Biné was kind enough to invite Caitlyn and I to see Binemust ahead of the opening, and those who always enjoyed her old region are liable to love the new one. Binemust is a region which has entirely its own identity, yet also shares much in common which Binmists of the past, offering somewhere entirely new yet delightfully familiar to explore and enjoy.
A visit begins under water amidst a small set of ruins, a familiar chequered sea floor under foot. A sandy track winds its way over this, a pat of flamingos – another motif from past designs – grouped a short distance along it. In the waters overhead, a shark and marlin swim menacingly – but don’t mean anyone any harm – while in the distance a sign beckons with the announcement And So the Adventure Begins.
Just past this sign and under the boughs of trees is a camp site with tents, caravans, bric-a-bric and places to sit, examine and / or poke around in, making for an immediate destination for the curious. But this is not the only location under the waves to be explored; close to the landing point, and in the opposite direction to the camp site, is a railway line, and just beyond this, a gently curving stair leading up the side of an island towards the surface.
Follow the railway track, and it will reveal that more lies the water, as it leads you seemingly to the edge of the region. Off to one side sits Biné’s art garden, still presided over by Buddha and Mr. Batty Eyeball, her elephants standing near by. In the other direction to this is a curate’s egg of things to explore: part of a ship’s hull, a sunken fair, the broken tower of a lighthouse.
Climbing the wooden steps either before or after your submerge perambulations will bring you to the shore of a craggy up thrust of rock topped by a church. Lowlands stretch southwards from this, offering a mix of woodland, meadows, house boats and a cottage atop slits, whilst across the water, and reached via a balloon-suspended bridge, rests an even craggier island, surrounded by a sandy beach. Here visitors can circumnavigate the sands, enjoy time in the shade of a beach house, lazing in the lee of tall cliffs or climb the spiral stairway to the lighthouse up on the grassy plateau above.
Throughout the region Biné’s familiar touches can be found: here celebration of 3D artists such as Bryn Oh, Cica Ghost and Rose Borchovski, together with familiar Nordic elements, such as the wrecked Viking longship. Several of the set pieces in the region – the beach house, the spiral stairway, will have those familiar with Binemists past smiling on seeing them. When visiting, don’t forget that even when you’ve explored under water and across the islands, there are still the teleport portals at the landing point, one of which will carry you to a little place on a sky rock, the other to what Biné calls, an “interior decor experiment” – but I’ll let you find out which is which!
Binemust took Biné some three months to the day to design and bring together, and the result is once again an environment rich in motifs and Scandinavian leanings, whilst also offering surprises for all around every corner, making it a destination not to be missed.
SLurl Details
- Binemust (Rated: Adult)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 