Hello all!

This month, I created a blog for the Costa Rica Sims Estate called “Living”.  I decided to also cross-post the entry here on “Sol Existence”.  The “Living” blog series on the Costa Rica Sims website will feature creators from Second Life that bring our virtual homes to life. It is to assist residents in finding out about creators and to spark ideas in setting up beautiful homes and parcels.

For the first blog, I decided to feature the creator of the home that my partner and I used on our Las Baulas parcel.  Our home is the South Austin by L2 Studio created by Lindini2 Lane.  L2 Studio offers a few houses that work very well for both tropical beach settings as well as the greener more forested regions.  Lindini builds her homes with a lot of thought and care.  She brings together textures that just work perfectly and really have a natural real look.  Lindini keeps the prim counts low but ensures her homes have much functionality with walls for artwork, separation of rooms and great livability.

 Lindini is one of the most complimentary, genuine creators that you can interact with.  I presented her with some questions to allow us to get to know her just a little better and her first response was one of nervousness and, I’d say, apprehension. However Lindini really wanted to help me get this off the ground and trudged through my questions:

Sunshine: Your rez date is July 2007 – what brought you to SL 4+ years ago?

Lindini: Actually, I wanted to check out what was going on with universities using SL, since my university had acquired a sim, and I had been reading some things about it, so I wanted to see for myself. I quickly decided noooooooooo, this is too much fun for work or classes! A RL friend and I used to meet up and go exploring – I was amazed at what people had created — and I think it made it a little easier to have an actual friend to lean on in the beginning.

Sunshine:  What country/ continent can Lindini call home?

Lindini:  Right now I live in Texas, USA.

Sunshine:   When did you start building in SL and did you start with houses or other creations?

Lindini:  I put my first house for sale in February of 2011, so I’m coming up on my one year anniversary. It’s been a really busy year for me! The very first things I made in SL were art pieces — I uploaded photos of drawings I’d done in the past, and I set up a little art gallery at my house and gave them away.

Sunshine:   Do you also create your own textures. Your textures are what draw me to your houses as they fit your designs so well.

Lindini:  Thank you! I really love textures! For me, they are much of what makes SL come alive. So far I have not made any of my own textures for building – I think about it though. For now I’m happy to support the texture creators — I have a lot of textures from Insight Designs and from Distressed Textures, but I also have textures from many other places. It’s like a little addiction. LOL….

Sunshine:   What keeps you coming back to SL?

Lindini:  Wow, I have asked myself that a lot! Even after all this time I am still amazed at what people create in SL, so I’ve never really gotten bored. Starting a small business and the challenge of building houses has definitely opened up a whole new side of SL for me, too. Every time I build something there’s a learning experience of some kind …

Sunshine:   Other than building, what is your favorite activity to do in SL?

Lindini:  I have always spent a lot of time taking photos and posting them to Flickr. I also look at my contacts’ photos a lot. Flickr has been so much of a help, in terms of finding places to go see and for finding shops and creators. And of course, I love to shop!  And to create little home environments.

Be sure to check out Lindini’s Flickr photostream…her passion for creating home environments and displaying them comes across so well. Plus she shares other sites as she explores Second Life.

Sunshine:   Your pre-fab models are always so well decorated, where do you shop?

Lindini:  aww, thank you! I have eclectic tastes so I shop pretty much everywhere. I’m really reluctant to start naming places, because I wouldn’t want to leave anyone out, but probably if you name a place, I have something from it – lol. I’ve had a long time to collect things! I think one of the benefits of having my store at my home is that people can come and poke around and find places to shop by looking at things. When I’m traveling around I’m always doing that, clicking on things to trace down the creator’s shop.

Sunshine:  How do you keep the prim count of your prefabs so low, while creating a great design?

Lindini: You’ve hit on exactly the challenge I set for myself when I started building. I’ve always rented places with relatively low prim allowances, so I’m extremely conscious of how many prims are in a building. I guess what I try to create is a basic space – I don’t include lights or curtains or kitchens or that sort of thing, which saves on prims. It’s a balancing act, really. Sometimes I have to sacrifice little details, like on doors and windows, in order to cut down the prim count. I do a lot of experimenting. If I can make a 2-step stair out of one prim, I’ll do that rather than make it out of two prims. Or I might make one pane of glass work for two windows by stretching it through the wall. Every little bit helps…

Sunshine:   What is the most difficult part of building in SL?

Lindini:  Scale is really difficult – I try to keep my avatar in the middle of it all while I’m building so I don’t make things way too big or too small. I also think texturing can be difficult – things don’t always look like you thought they would, and also, for me, it has required a lot of experimenting. I find I almost always need to adjust the texture, either horizontally or vertically or the repeats or offset of it. It’s a real challenge.

Sunshine:  How long does it take you to design and build a prefab?

Lindini:  Once I have an idea and start to build, it usually takes at least two weeks and often longer. It has varied.

Sunshine: What is next for L2 Studio?

Lindini:  I have the beginnings of an idea for another house so I’ll probably be working on that. I don’t plan on having a big store. I really admire the people who do it, but I think I have about all I can handle right now.

The other thing I’d like to mention is that soon, I’ll be showing some of my drawings at Atelier Kreslo, which is a new project by Flutter Memel of Cluttered Flowey. You can check out her Flickr to find out more information – I think it might open this week-end, if all goes well. My drawings are free, so if you need a little deco for your walls, you can get them there.

Be sure to check out Atelier Kreslo in Second Life which opened on January 13, 2012!  Lindini’s drawings are awesome!

Sunshine:   Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself or L2 studios?

Lindini:  Well, I’d just like to thank people for being so nice and for supporting my work! :))

Thank you, Lindini!  It has been a pleasure getting to know you!!

I recommend that residents check out L2 Studio for a selection of pre-fab houses that look great in any setting.  The prim counts range from around 40 to less than 120.  Lindini keeps her prices reasonable as well.  The other plus of visiting Lindini’s store is to see how she has decorated the house that she is featuring.  She truly pulls together a great look for a home which looks fully lived in.

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned”.- Maya Angelou

~ Sunshine