I’m always fiddling around with the island home – as regulars to these pages know only too well! While the changes made in December left us happy with the overall look and feel to the place, I still found one or two things niggling me. Fortunately, Caitlyn is very understanding of my need to fiddle, twiddle and generally play around with mesh and prims, so when the niggles reached a point where I wanted to start doing the fiddling and twiddling, she handed me the prim glue and loads of encouragement 🙂 .
Three things in particular had been playing on my mind: the boat and plane slips, which still looked a bit excessive to my eyes. So over the past few weeks as time has allowed, I’ve been introducing changes, adding new (and novel) moorings for our two motorboats (no, I’m not saying how the moorings are novel; we have to have some secrets!) and re-working the west and southern sides of the island, as well as the “mid level” part of the garden.
In particular, the west side of the island has had the beach and the winding rock path leading down to it from the house removed. While the path looked good, the physics on it also made ascents and descents along it look a bit awkward in my eyes, avatars often seeming to walk on air. It also, when all is said and down, took up a lot of space.
The path has now been replaced by a set of stone steps leading down the cliff in a switch back, while the beach has been replaced by a stone jetty and moorings for our two DSA aeroplanes. The TUFF stone steps kit proved very handy for all this, providing the means to add the steps and made the jetties. A mesh system, it is nicely modifiable, parts easily resized and re-textured. The latter being handy for us, as it allowed the steps and jetties to be textured to match the stonework of the rest of the island’s ruins (those interested in the kit can also see it at Rya Nitely’s in-world store).
Moving the ‘planes has allowed the southern end of the island to be tided-up, with the mass of moorings there replaced by a couple of stone jetties (courtesy of the TUFF stone steps kit again). These provide both moorings for our Loonetta 31 and the boats or seaplanes belonging to visiting friends, and protects our relocated beach from the tide.
The other change we’ve made is to make the mid-level of the island a little more watery. After installing the outdoor bathing area, the falls and their source pond looked a little unnatural. Solution: “flood” the level with water from a smaller fall exiting from the upper cliffs, and provide a sense of it flowing down to the falls. Stone foundations have been added to the “bathhouse”, increasing the feel of it being part of the island’s old ruins, and board walks now provide passage over the water channels.
Overall, I think the tweaks suit the island, as does Caitlyn. Certainly, having an uncluttered southern end to the place, where we can sit on sun loungers and watch the passing vessels and occasional race through the regions, gives the place a much nicer appearance. And that now really does seem to be job done – so if you’re very lucky, this might be the last time I witter on about the island 🙂 .
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 