Prim Perfect

Welcome to a New Year and a whole new range of features in Prim Perfect magazine, as well as those you know and love! And, as it is February, we hada wealth of features and information about romance and romantic locations in Second Life.
On top of all that, this month saw the amazing event One Billion Rising—a global event that celebrated women even as it raised awareness of the issue of violence against women—and we here at Prim Perfect were delighted to be playing a part in organising the Second Life version of this event. You can read more about this in Honour McMillan’s article on Page 16.
For the start of the New Year, we introduced three major new features.
Firstly, our designer (and phenomenal builder) Winona Wiefel will be teaching you how to build your own home, taking you step by step through the techniques you will need to do the construction and design yourself—and we’ll be supplying the textures and material you will need to follow our instructions.
Part One shows you how to construct a basic skybox. As a companion piece, Ethan Westland writes about skyboxes; it appears that, when it comes to design, the sky quite literally is the limit!
Secondly, we are undertaking a major series on Mesh—what it is and why it is an important tool for designers (and some of the hiccups it can cause). Beq Janus starts the series with a brilliant introduction. I do urge anyone who is thinking about designing in mesh or even just wondering what all the fuss is about to read this article.
Thirdly, we are setting out to discover small and thriving businesses across the grid. Qwis Greenwood will be seeking out the small, the unusual, the quirky, and the awesome—and all comparatively unknown. She’ll be looking into the secrets of their success, and it will be a great opportunity for you to join her in discovering what may well become the Next Big Thing!
There’s more about all of these new series, along with news of the winner of our “Design a Graphical Strapline” competition on Page 10.
We haven’t forgotten romance! In fact, Beq Janus has interviewed the amazing creator of romantic places Kayle Matzerath of Garden of Dreams, while Rowan Derryth has found ten wonderfully romantic locations. Tricia Aferdita offers a compelling look at the history and practice of romance in Second Life, and Ceejay Writer explores the steamy side of romance—by visiting the Steamlands, of course!
Cain Maven ponders the value of money in his regular column, while Bill Kaye gives us an introduction to the Centre for Business Development, and Lacy Muircastle brings us up to date with Homestuff.
Rosamoo Mendelsohn brings us Hunting News for this Valentine season, while there are details from our TV shows, Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting!, available on Treet TV.
Our team of talented photographers, led by Judith Lefevre, PJ Trenton, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour McMillan, bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.
All this with News From the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose… unless, of course, you’re holding a braai in South Africa or a barbie on the beach in Aus. Or glumly contemplating the rain in England …

But don’t worry! Because just a few clicks away in Second Life, you can enter the winter wonderland of your dreams, with snow piled thick and deep, and blazing fires in welcoming homes – a time to sparkle at parties, making sure you’re as bright and dazzling as any Christmas tree ornament.

And so, for Christmas, Honour McMillan, Ceejay Writer and Qwis Greenwood have set out across the grid to explore some of the most beautiful winter regions they could find – and they’ve found some very unusual ones too!

We also have a couple of specials for you – a couple of heartwarming Christmas stories – The Tale of the Tinies’ Christmas Pudding by Qwis Greenwood – which proved to be very far from a tiny Christmas pudding after all!

And we have a special Christmas photo story from Wildstar Beaumont (and me), taken from the camera work of Elrik Merlin and Beq Janus. We have taken the Designing Worlds Christmas special episode and turned it into a rather special photo story … of a coal shortage, a dangerous (and stolen) book, and New Babbage’s legend of the Steam Santa …

Winona Wiefel is here to tell you how to make your own Christmas card (and we are supplying the tools to help you make your own). And if you’re looking to do something more than simply explore over Christmas, Rosamoo Mendelsohn has a round-up of all the available hunts, while Tricia Aferdita tells us all about a fantastic holiday event at Art India to raise money for an Indian children’s charity.

For an alternative take on the end of 2012, we have Cain Maven speculating on what we might do if the world were to end!

There’s exciting news from our TV shows, Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting!, available on Treet TV. And there’s also news of our interactive media experience, The Blackened Mirror — part TV show, part game!

Our team of talented photographers, led by Judith Lefevre, PJ Trenton, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour McMillan, bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News From the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

It’s that time of year again — when ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night can be found all over the grid. And here, at Prim Perfect, we were chasing after them assiduously to bring you news of the regions that will send the most delicious of shivers down your spine.

Our Region of the Month was the Lovecraft-inspired sim of Innsmouth — a heart-stopping recreation of that lost New England harbour town. Beq Janus went exploring there; Saffia Widdershins talked to the creators of this remarkable region; while Java Jetcity picked out ten places that you will surely want to visit.

We  also visited Eliza Wierwight of the beautiful Patron store to see her glorious new creation of a home, and Ethan Westland shared all the news about this and about Eliza.

There’s a look at mesh — a year after its introduction to the grid, how are designers working with it? What are the pains and pleasures? Cain Maven tells us about his journey to become a mesh designer, while Beq Janus chatted with several well-known creators who are taking those first few careful steps into building with mesh.

Winona Wiefel was on hand with Advice for Newcomers on making a pumpkin so your home will be decorated for the season. There was more news about the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space, as well as a feature article by Lacey Muircastle on the Homestuff initiative from the people behind Menstuff and Womenstuff.

There was exciting news from our TV shows, Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting!, available on Treet TV. And there was also news of our interactive media experience, The Blackened Mirror —  part TV show, part game!

Of course we had free Prim Perfect gifts for you. Gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version, the magazine contains details to discover how you can get your inworld copy too.

Our team of talented photographers, led by Judith Lefevre, Java Jetcity, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour McMillan brought you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News From the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

This was the new issue of Prim Perfect—rather later than planned! Unfortunately, events conspired to gobble up key members of staff—such as a certain Birthday Party that managed to grab up my time rather more than I had been expecting! But here was our Summer Issue, packed with information about the smaller members of our Second Life community, with a look at Tinies, Petites, and even a few Micros!

Our Region Of The Month was the fascinating Raglan Shire—heart of the Tiny community. Honour McMillan explored there while Java Jetcity picked out ten places that you will surely want to visit!

We also had interviews with Zayn Till, the owner of Raglan Shire, and with Wynx Whiplash, who is the creator of the wonderful Tiny avatars—Wildstar Beaumont and Tricia Aferdita found out all about them!

Rowan Derryth looked at the biggest and smallest avatars she could find, meeting the creators of the Giants and of the Micros, while Beq Janus looked at how a Linden Home can be turned into a snug retreat for Petites with the aid of designers Angie Mornington and Dellybean North.

This issue also reflects on some of the key events of the summer. We have a report by Cain Maven on the fabulous Home and Garden Expo back in May, a look at the celebrations for Second Life’s Ninth Birthday in June, and a report by Beq Janus on the climax to Relay for Life 2012—the Relay Weekend in July.

Winona Wiefel is on hand with Advice for Newcomers on making a beach blanket—so you will be able to soak up the sunshine! And there’s more news about the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space, as well as a feature article by Lacey Muircastle on the Homestuff initiative from the people behind Menstuff and Womenstuff.

There’s exciting news from our TV shows, Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting!, available on Treet TV.

Our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith Lefevre, GM Nikolaidis, Tricia Aferdita, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour McMillan bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News From the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

Prim Perfect invites you to celebrate our Fifth Birthday editionThis issue is a time for looking back—and for looking forward. Our very first Region of the Month was Venice Island, the first region in what is now Regent Estates. We return there to catch up with owners Melody Regent and her partner Motor Loon. Venice Island is gone, but there are some amazing motorbike sims that are a popular part of the Estates—not to mention New York.

Our first Reader’s Home of the Month was designed by Troy Vogel. We’ve gone back to learn what he has been doing in the intervening five years, and to explore a beautiful new home he has designed, the Nepenthe House.

This month we have another Treasure Hunt with over eighty stores. And there’s another Quest in this issue to find thirty numbered cupcakes which will lead one lucky person to win L$5,000—and an amazing gift from MLCC, too! Some of the cupcakes are hidden in the ten special places in Regent Estates described in Java Jetcity’s article, some more are at the Prim Perfect headquarters, some are hidden at the Designing Worlds studio… but no fewer than ten hearts are hidden in the pages of this magazine! For details of how to find them, see Page 10.

For our Landscape of the Month, we have harked back to our roots—but in a surprising way. Instead of Venice Island, we have visited Venexia, a roleplay region that centres around a stunningly beautiful—and very mysterious—re-creation of a dark Venice.

We have a web comic too – based on a recent episode of Designing Worlds when we visited Piermont Landings, a beautiful building located ion (gulp) New Babbage. What could possible go wrong?

This month we have a pretty Linden Home style dwelling rather than an actual Linden Home. But our designer, Nalena Fairey, has abided by the 117 prim rule—see what she has made of it!

Qwis Greenwood has been mentoring the Pathfinder programme and shares our plans for a slightly differently constituted version of the programme for 2012. Watch these pages and our blog to find out more.

Winona Wiefel is on hand with Advice for Newcomers on making a birthday cake—so you can help to celebrate our birthday too! And watch out for the gift tab on that page—we’ll be giving out materials to help you make your own cake at home. And there’s more news about the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space, as well as a feature article on the new Homestuff initiative from the people behind Menstuff and Womenstuff.

In Charity News, we have more information about Relay for Life of Second Life, and a foretaste of the Home and Garden Expo—we tell you why you really should go!

There’s exciting news from all our TV shows: Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting! available on Treet TV.

And our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith Lefevre, GM Nikolaidis, Tricia Aferdita, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour MacMillan, bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News From the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

March sees the celebration of St Patrick’s Day, and our issue has a decidedly Irish flavour – even our weather comes from Dublin this month! Read about our Region of the Month to learn more…

For this month we’re visiting the beautiful (and Ireland-inspired) Alchemy Immortalis region.  Jedburgh30 Dagger writes an overview while Java Jetcity picks out ten places in the region that you simply must visit! Honour MacMillan has met with the two amazing creators behind the region – Alchemy and Immortalis Cyannis, and has talked to them about their work as the landowners, with exciting plans for the future, and their work as designers too.

And we can see evidence of their superb skills in a beautiful cottage they created for this issue of the magazine – Ceejay Writer weaves a wonderful tale about its delights.

Do you remember our Home is Where the Heart Is Quest last month? Drake Kroitschov certainly does – he was the winner of our L$10,000 first prize for finding the thirty hidden hearts. There’s another Quest in this issue to find thirty numbered gold sheep tokens which will lead one lucky person to win L$5,000 – and an amazing gift from Alchemy Immortalis too!  Some of the tokens are hidden in the ten special places in Alchemy Immortalis described in Java Jetcity’s article, some more are at the Prim Perfect headquarters, some are hidden at the Designing Worlds studio … but no fewer than ten hearts are hidden in the pages of this magazine! For details of how to find them, look inside the magazine!

For our Landscape of the Month, Tricia Aferdita has ventured to a new grid – Kitely – and has met two of the leading artists there, Karima Hoisan and David Denton (better known in Second Life as  DB Bailey).  Kitely is fascinating not just in terms of the platform it offers but in the way residents pay for their land – something that was explored in a recent episode of Designing Worlds.

This month we have a rather surprising Linden Home, created by Ample Clarity of PrimPossible. This enterprising designer creates an amazing amount of furniture out of a single and intricately textured sculpted prim… Beq Janus has been seeing what he can do when given 117 prims to play with – and talking to Ample about his work.

Qwis Greenwood has been mentoring the Pathfinder programme which draws to an end this month. We have plans for a slightly differently constituted version of the programme for 2012 – watch these pages and our blog to find out more!

Winona Wiefel is on hand with Advice for Newcomers on making a swing – something to help you really celebrate spring! And watch out for the gift tab on that page – we’ll be giving out materials to help you make your own swing at home! And there’s more news about the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space.

In Charity News, Beq Janus has been finding out all about the launch of this year’s grid-wide Relay for Life of Second Life.

There’s exciting news from all our TV shows:  Designing Worlds, Happy Hunting! and Metaverse Arts, all available on Treet TV.

And of course we have free Prim Perfect gifts for you. Gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version, so read on to discover how you can get your inworld copy too. And, of course, amongst the gifts, you will find the golden sheep tokens that will help you win the quest!

And our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith Lefevre, GM Nikolaidis, Tricia Aferdita, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour MacMillan, bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News from the Grid and more!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

It’s time for our first issue of 2012—and it was a very exciting one!

The year 2012 will see our fifth birthday, which is a respectable age for any magazine in these difficult times, let alone one that exists to provide news and information about homes and gardens in virtual worlds!

We’ll be announcing more events as our May 1st birthday draws closer, but in this issue we gave details of our first Prim Perfect Hunt in nearly three years—the Home is Where the Heart is Hunt, organised by those brilliant people behind the Whiz Hunts.

You can read all about the Hunt in the magazine—but there’s more! There’s a Quest to find thirty numbered hearts which will led one lucky person to win L$10,000!

But, of course, we had a magazine packed with news and features that you will love to read too!

This month we visited the beautiful region of Second Norway. Jedburgh Dagger set out to explore the fjords and waterfronts of this beautiful land, while Honour Macmillan talked to the man behind it all—Ey Ren. Java Jetcity explored Ten Places in Second Norway you should explore when you visit. And Rowan Derryth talked to our designer of the month, Winter Thorn of {what next}, and exploring the special and very lovely home she created in Second Norway.

We had a special romantic story for Valentine’s Day with a steampunk twist, written by Denny Kozlov. And we had another comic created by Wildstar Beaumont and set in New Babbage (again based on a Designing Worlds show we recorded there). Discover for yourselves what happened when Elrik Merlin and Saffia Widdershins became embroiled in the Murder at the Burlesque! And Tricia Aferdita explored our Landscape of the Month – the naughty but very nice region of Lost Eden (and our first adult location in Prim Perfect!).

There’s a very thoughtful and timely piece from Tricia Aferdita on giving money to charities in Second Life—and on how charities can build a presence. Beq Janus presented a roundup of the Christmas Expo in aid of Relay for Life—and a new Heart-felt project that was raising money for Relay for Life too!

This month we gained something very special in our Linden Homes. We had not just one but an entire village of Linden-styled contemporary homes, each using only 117 prims—and we asked a whole team of designers from the excellent Cookie Jar initiative to furnish them for us. I think you’ll agree that they did a fantastic job! Honour MacMillan interviewed the designers, while Beq Janus explored the homes.

Qwis Greenwood has been mentoring the Pathfinder programme, and this month the enterprising Harlow Heslop advised the Pathfinders on how to take great product photos. Find out what she had to say—and see some Before and After shots too! We also hear from our Trailblazer Laetitia Aluveaux, who has been blazing a trail with a store on Inworldz!

Winona Wiefel was on hand with Advice for Newcomers on making a picture frame (perhaps for a photograph you’ve taken following the Pathfinder article), and there’ was more news about the series of Designer Challenges, as well as the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space.

There was exciting news about Metaverse Arts—where Gwen Carillon took over from Tricia Aferdita as host—and there was a whole new-look studio too! Learn what is happening with the Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting! shows on Treet TV.

And of course we had free Prim Perfect gifts for you. Gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version.

And our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith Lefevre, GM Nikolaidis, Wren Carling, Tricia Aferdita, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour MacMillan, brought you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

It’s Christmas time – and we had a very seasonal issue of Prim Perfect for you to enjoy!

This month we visited the family-oriented region of Pleasantville to find out how the families who live there will be celebrating Christmas – and see how the school children at Hardknock Elementary are looking forward to it too! Ethan Westland was out exploring and talking with the owner, Mindy Metaluna, while Java Jetcity explored some of the landmarks of this little town.

Tricia Aferdita talked to our designer of the month, and explored the special Christmas home she created. Sway Dench of Sway’s is famous for her lovely set pieces with animations and, of course, the fabulously cute Cookie Bears – you can see a special Christmas one on my shoulder in my editorial photo!

We had a great story about the Christmas coming-together of two national sims, London and Norway, to celebrate a very special real life tradition – Cain Maven told us all about that. And we had Christmas fiction too – Ceejay Writer had a tale about the misfortunes of Santa in Second Life, while Wildstar Beaumont created a special Christmas comic set in New Babbage (and based on the Designing Worlds show we recorded there).

On a serious note, Heavenly Villa looked at the problems that some families might experience in real life at Christmas, and had suggestions for ways of dealing with the Christmas stress. And Beq Janus found out all about the Christmas Expo for Relay for Life in our Charity News. We were there, of course – in a beautiful pavilion designed by Eliza Wierwight of Patron.

This month we had something special in our Linden Homes. We had not just one but an entire set of Mountain homes in a specially created winter landscape – and we asked a whole team of designers – those who have stalls at the Second Life Home and Garden Market Village – to furnish them for us. I think you’ll agree that they did a fantastic job! Honour MacMillan interviewed the designers, while Beq Janus explored the homes.

Qwis Greenwood has been mentoring the Pathfinder programme, and this month Cara Ametza and CarpeDiem Turbo advised the Pathfinders. Find out what they had to say!

Pitsch Parx was on hand to give advice about using colour in design, and there was more news about the series of Designer Challenges, as well as the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space.

Then there was a look at what is happening with the Designing Worlds and Happy Hunting! shows on Treet TV.

Once again this month, we had free Prim Perfect gifts for you. Of course, gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version.

And our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith Lefevre, Tricia Aferdita, Winona Wiefel, Wildstar Beaumont, and Honour MacMillan, bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

This was the issue to celebrate the time for ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night… and we had all those in spades!

This month we explored the MadPea Company, a leading and highly popular creator of games, who were putting the finishing touches to their Halloween offering—the Peatonville Mystery. You can read something about that and about the people behind the games in two articles by Beq Janus.

Beq also talked to our Designer of the Month, P4NDOR4 Quintessa of Pandemonium, who achieved the rare distinction of not only designing the Peatonville mystery sim for the MadPea Company but also being one of the people behind the wonderfully spooky Darkness Falls, our Landscape of the Month, which was explored by Tricia Aferdita.

Continuing the theme of games, Ethan Westland and Tricia Aferdita explored games that people play in Second Life, and after reading the article, I defy you not to want to try out one or two of these for yourselves. In fact, I’m wondering where I put my golf clubs…

I won’t be playing games in the locations featured in our special spooky stories, however! Riven Homewood, Ceejay Writer, and Tricia Aferdita all contributed special stories for our readers—don’t miss them!

This month, we featured Cutea Benelli as our Linden Home Designer, and she did something rather surprising (well, surprising to anyone who is not already a firm and fixed fan of the weird and wonderful world that is Grim Bros.). You can find out more by looking at the wonderful comic that Rowan Derryth and PJ Trenton created about her special Linden Home… while Rowan has also interviewed Cutea to find out more about her amazing creations.

Our Pathfinders learnt about creating a store identity this month with Mila Edelman of Old Time Prims. You can read all about the meeting and about Mila in an interview with Qwis Greenwood.

In Charity News, Eva Bellambi gave us an exposé of the fabulous Boobiethon! And Cain Maven explored Burn2 for us and brought back a fascinating report.

Then there was a look at what was happening with the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on Treet TV, and news of a very exciting new project that Prim Perfect is involved with—Happy Hunting!—a lively new show launching soon!

And there was more news about the series of Designer Challenges, as well as the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space. And our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith Lefevre, Tricia Aferdita, Wildstar Beaumont, Wren Carling, and Stephen Venkman, brought us some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

In this issue we had a region of the month… and also a clear theme!

Usually we target a region in each issue—occasionally we choose a theme… but in tis issue we did both! We visited the Blake Sea and explored some of the regions around its borders which make up part of the United Sailing Sims. In the past we’ve visited The Galaxy (now moored close by) and the New England sims—this time we looked at the Blake Sea and the area belonging primarily to MarkTwain White and Nber Medici. Ethan Westland met with them both and also enjoyed exploring the Blake Sea in general.

And Java Jetcity compiled a list of places that you must see!

Our Designer of the Month was Isla Gealach, who took time off from her latest venture—the Nest—to construct a beautiful new home for Nber and MarkTwain and to talk to Rowan Derryth about her build, her designs generally and, of course, the Nest!

Further explorations in the Blake Sea had Linus Lacombe uncovering a nest of pirates, while Wildstar Beaumont met the doyenne of Second Life boatbuilders, Jacqueline Trudeau, and Tricia Aferdita explored our Landscape of the Month—the Greenhouse.

But there’s more to the Blake Sea than simply sailing: Jedburgh30 Dagger took to the air and explored the entrancing possibilities of different craft—and some of the airports they can visit—while Ceejay Writer met the SL Coast Guard and learned about their role in keeping the Second Life seas safe.

We also explored Inworldz this month. Beq Janus returned to discover what changes had occurred since her visit over a year ago, and also interviewed one of the people behind Inworldz—Elenia Lawrence.

In preparation for our setting up a store for our Trailblazers in Inworldz, one of our Trailblazers, Laetitia (Lottie) Aluveaux, gave an account of the first Home and Garden Expo to be held in Inworldz.

Our Pathfinders learned about store locations this month—and discussed the topic with Yelena Istmal of Noctis. You can read all about the meeting and about Yelena in an interview with Qwis Greenwood.

And budding designers might also like to read Pitsch Parx’s column offering some good solid advice on ways to avoid becoming an egotistical drama queen!

This month’s Linden Home wass in the Oriental style and was created by Nomade Zhao and Selvone Franizzi of Sel & Nom Creations. They did an amazing amount with the 117 pims on offer in creating an interactive experience—with some interesting garden furniture too!

Once again, this month, we have free Prim Perfect gifts for you. Of course, gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version, but in the magazine, there are instructions for getting your Inworld copy!

In Charity News, Beq Janus supplied a roundup of the end of the 2011 Relay for Life of Second Life, while Tricia Aferdita sees what’s been happening at this year’s Artathon.

Then there’s a look at what is happening with the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv and news of some very exciting new projects that Prim Perfect is involved with which will see exciting new shows launching soon!

And there was a new column from Froukje Hoorenbeck, looking at the amazing series of Designer’s Challenges as well as news of the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space. And our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith LeFevre, Tricia Aferdita, Wildstar Beaumont, Wren Carling, and Stephen Venkman, brought you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

This was a very special issue of Prim Perfect!

The Annual Relay for Life of Second Life raises a fantastic sum of money for the American Cancer Society each year (and part of that sum is shared with other cancer societies around the world). This last year was record-breaking in many aspect: in June, the cumulative total raised over the last seven years passed the US $1 million mark, and this year alone, more than US$375,000 was raised.

But Relay for Life is not only about the money raised. It’s also about the people, and the creations, whether of builds for the various events, the designer builds at the Relay Weekend, and the wonderful campsites that the Relay teams create for that very special weekend in July. And behind those builds are the stories of the people we see at Relay, on the track, in the campsites… the people who have fought and survived, the people who have cared and nurtured… and the memorials to the people who are lost.

This year, for the first time, Prim Perfect “embedded” a reporter on the story — Beq Janus.  Beq covered the big events, such as the Fashion for Life Fair, the Home and Garden Expo, and Fantasy Faire (from where she filed an awesome twelve posts in as many days!).

But Beq was not just an observer of the unfolding events. A long-time resident of the Steampunk city of New Babbage, she was also involved as a member of a Relay team herself, and filed a hilarious account of how New Babbage celebrated the RFL “Paint Second Life Purple” event — by turning the event into a terrifying attack by mysterious forces on their beloved grimy town. When it came to the Relay weekend, she was one of the builders of the wonderful Babbage created in the winter sims. Those soaring viaducts above the town? Those were Beq’s — and she also told the story that lay behind them.

This special issue draws heavily on the reporting that Beq did and links to the blog posts that she wrote.  There’s also a peek behind the scenes at how the Relay Telethon was made, by bringing together a fantastic team from no fewer than three different broadcast networks, as well as a number of independents.

However, the glory of this issue is a fantastic range of photographs taken by a range of Prim Perfect photographers. PJ Trenton, GM Nikolaidis, Judith Lefevre, Wren Carling, and Wildstar Beaumont took a fantastic range of photographs from Relay weekend; in this special magazine edition you’ll see their photographs — and also images from Angie Mornington and Beq Janus as well. It makes, we think, for the most wonderful eyecandy that we have ever produced.

So please enjoy this special issue of Prim Perfect!

Special note: You’ll find all our regular advertisers in this issue, but none was charged for placing an advertisement; this was our thank you to them for their loyalty in supporting the magazine.

You can read the magazine itself at Calaméo, where you can also download the magazine as a pdf.

This issue represented something of a departure for the magazine.

Usually we target a region in each issue — but this month we did things a little differently and took a theme. June is, of course, traditionally the month for weddings, so we took a look at wedding plans and planners and the different sorts of designs that go into creating the perfect Second Life wedding.

Our Designers of the Month are well-known in the wedding trade: Tricia Aferdita talked with Bastchild Lotus and Paul Lapointe about their creative work — and the real life relationship that grew out of their online collaboration. Scotti Lyle met wedding planner Monica Weir and found out how she works with couples to plan the wedding of their dreams.

Linus Lacombe talked to some of the designers who create the amazing elements that make up a traditional wedding, while Eva Bellambi examined some of the possibilities for weddings set in the past—or, indeed, the future. Ceejay Writer looked at how to create your own very special wedding garden, while Annechen Lowey, in her invaluable advice to those lately arrived on the grid, offered sterling guidance on wedding etiquette—for both the couple and their guests.

And then, the wedding safely over, Rowan Derryth had a wealth of suggestions for the perfect place for the happy couple to spend their honeymoon.

The past month was a busy one for Prim Perfect. The Home and Garden Expo is a highlight of the year for anyone involved in Homes and Gardens and this year we not only had the privilege of hosting a sim—we also were able to host a very successful series of talks by designers. Indeed this was so successful that we went on to host a whole series of talks at Second Life’s Eighth Birthday celebrations — you can see more about that in our News from the Grid section. Beq Janus wrote an account of the Expo… and also brought us up to date with all the latest Relay for Life of Second Life news.

We had a display of Linden Home furnishing by top designers at our Expo stand, and we continue our programme to promote high quality, low prim design by top designers with our Linden Home programme. This month’s designer was Cherelle Capra, who produced a beautiful Oriental home. Ethan Westland talked to her about it and about her Second Life career.

We kept our Pathfinders and Trailblazers very busy this month—to say nothing of their programme leader, Qwis Greenwood! Firstly, they all exhibited at the Home and Garden Expo and—as you can read in the magazine—had a great time! Then we held our first, very successful, seminar for the Trailblazers (and many other attendees!) on the subject of social networking, and Cain Maven mentored the Pathfinders about sorting out permissions and setting vendors.

Once again, this month, we had free Prim Perfect gifts for you. Of course, gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version, but if you are reading this on the web, look at Page 165 to discover how you can get your inworld copy too.

In Charity News, Tricia Aferdita looked at the Garden for the Missing project and caught up on what has been happening there since our last visit in 2008. And Pitsch Parx considered a question that has always baffled me—with so many choices in Second Life, why do we so often settle for homes that resemble our real life dwellings?

Then there’s all the latest from the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv and news of the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Judith LeFevre, Tricia Aferdita, Wildstar Beaumont, Raven Haalan and Stephen Venkman, brought you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This May issue of Prim Perfect was a very special one for the magazine as it marked our fourth anniversary.

For our birthday issue, we decided to explore a community that is close to the heart of a surprising number of Prim Perfect staff people—the art community of Avalon, where a number of us make our home. And for this special birthday issue, several of us who live there shared our homes with you—PJ Trenton, Aisling Sinclair, Tricia Aferdita, Rowan Derryrth, Ethan Westland, and Saffia Widdershins, some of us writing about our own homes, and others written about by Jedburgh30 Dagger, Eva Bellambi, and Suzanne Bisiani.

Logically enough, our Region of the Month is Avalon, and Linus Seetan explores the background to this fascinating region while Rowan Derryth looks for what—and who—puts the Art into Avalon. Jedburgh30 Dagger interviews Tricia Aferdita in her role of Estate Manager, while Java Jetcity seeks out Ten Places to visit in Avalon.

This issue sees the start of an exciting new phase of the Pathfinders program
Each year we choose three new Pathfinders who will receive a year’s worth of mentoring to help them deliver their young business (and you can read how one of our first Pathfinders, Aarcher Zenovka, has recently opened her new and expanded store in News from the Grid). This month we will introduce you to three new Pathfinders—and Qwis Greenwood explains what the year will hold for them, as well as the business grants that that they will be getting from Prim Perfect.

In addition, this year we identified a new type of business people who applied for the Pathfinder programme. These were people who already have a business up and running but who are finding it hard to build sustainability and lift it to the next level.

We have selected three of these businesses to be our Trailblazers and, over the coming year, they will be working with us to develop a series of seminars and marketing experiments to help businesses grow. You can meet the Trailblazers inside the magazine!

Once again, this month, we have free Prim Perfect gifts for you—among them gifts from our Pathfinders so that you will be able to see the kind of work they are currently undertaking. And there are birthday gifts too! Of course, gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version, but see below to discover how you can get your inworld copy too.

This birthday issue also celebrates the launch of our new Prim Perfect headquarters, located in Costa Rica. Ethan Westland explores the amazing new building while Triicia Aferdita looks at the architect behind the build, Dijodi Dubratt.
This month’s Designer Linden Home was furnished by Maxwell Graf of Rustica, and Beq Janus explored Max’s Meadowbrook home with its Mission style furniture (you’ll see this amazing collection elsewhere in the magazine too!) and learned some of the tricks Maxwell has employed to create something so stylish that uses so few prims. And Beq has also been finding out all about Max’s new venture into clothing too.

In Charity News, Beq also brings you the latest news from Relay for Life in Second Life for 2011, while Tricia Aferdita looks at how Second Life responds to disasters with a review of the response to the Japanese earthquake and its terrible aftermath.

Then there’s all the latest from the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv and news of the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemon, Tricia Aferdita, Wildstar Beaumont, and Raven Haalan bring you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse! And Annechen Lowey (assisted by photographs from Winona Wiefel) gives sound advice on how to avoid the nightmare of losing the clothes you are wearing!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

As in previous years, we had something of an Irish flavour to this month’s magazine!

Once again, this month, we had free Prim Perfect gifts for you. As it was St Patrick’s Day very soon, we hid some special celebration gifts in our pages for readers to find—they had to look for the pages with the special lucky shamrocks! Of course, gifts are only available in Second Life through our inworld Intellibook version, but you can obtrain this from the SL Marketplace or from our new headquarters in Costa Rica.

In keeping with our theme, our Region of the Month was the beautiful lands of Greater Ireland, consisting of Greater Ireland itself, and then Greater Ireland Tipperary, Greater Ireland Clare, and—the newest addition—Greater Ireland Galway. Aisling Sinclair explored the region and met some of the locals, while Saffia Widdershins interviewed the two owners, Derric Foggarty and Jules Artful. And because we were sure that after reading that and seeing the wonderful images our photographers captured, you would want to head there too, we sent Java Jetcity ahead to find ten Places to Visit in Greater Ireland.

With such a theme this month, we had to have an Irish cottage to furnish, and Greater Ireland supplied a great one which we invited our Designer of the Month, Pandora Popstar, to furnish for us. We loved what she did with a simple, small one-room cottage. Dividing it into three rooms, she managed to make it look more spacious and create a warm, rich home environment. Tricia Aferdita explored the home and met Pandora for an interview inside. And Ceejay Writer had advice on how to create your own Irish Garden.

This month’s Designer Linden Home was furnished by Froukje Hoorenbeek of Dutchie, and Jedburgh30 Dagger met her and explored her Meadowbrook home.

Our Pathfinder Mentor this month was the amazing Gospel Voom, and he advised our Pathfinders on marketing your brand. Qwis Greenwood talked to him about his wide range of beautifully finished products. And Qwis Greenwood also launched the search for next year’s Pathfinders… which is going to be excitingly different, with grants to the Pathfinders to help them develop their products and open their first stores!

We featured the first of our special columns written by pitsch Parx – pitsch’s place. And he raised a provocative issue – the prevalence of shabby chic in Second Life!

And Annechen Lowey had some very helpful suggestions on steps you can take if you are confronted with the dire problem of inventory loss!

Iggy O, our gridnaut, explored the world of Openlife; while in Charity News, Beq Janus celebrated the launch of Relay for Life in Second Life for 2011.

Then there was all the latest from the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv, and news of the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemon, Tricia Aferdita, Wildstar Beaumont, and Raven Haalan brought you some of the most artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This was the first issue of Prim Perfect for the New Year. And with Valentine’s Day fast approaching, readers were able to detect a few touches of romance in the air.

This month, we had a great Prim Perfect free gift for you. Our Advice article from Annechen Lowey dealt with tidying up your inventory, and to help you do that, we gave away – with our inworld Intellibook version – a special texture organizer (don’t worry, it has a ‘help’ button) as well as our own branded (and copiable) box to fill with storage items. And make sure you look out for other gifts and landmarks to our advertisers’ stores!

Our Region of the Month was the very lovely Skybeam Estates and Jedburgh30 Dagger explored the contrasting beauties of the area, while Beq Janus met Charlene Trudeau, the owner of the Region, and learnt not just about her work in Skybeam Estates, but also about her work as Chair of the Design Team for Relay for Life.

And nestling within the Skybeam Estates, there was a very special Home of the Month. The very talented designer pitsch Parx created an awesome design, using a skybox designed by Danny Bourne. The result, rich in colours, textures and artefacts, and set in a beautifully landscaped plot, was an awesome tribute to the work of a very skilled designer.  I also talked to pitsch about his work and inspiration – and I’m delighted to say that pitsch is going to contribute a column to Prim Perfect, starting in March 2011.

To capture the spirit of romance, Aisling Sinclair took a tour of ten of the most romantic places to visit in Second Life, while Ceejay Writer had advice for those of you who, inspired by the season, wish to create a romantic garden.

Our Linden Home of the Month was decorated by Samantha Hellmann, winner of the Home Hotshots competition which we reported on in December. One of Samantha’s prizes was to be offered her choice of Linden Home to furnish for this issue of the magazine, and you can see how she arranged the design of a fantasy Shire’s Hearth inside the magazine.

Our Pathfinders this month, under the mentorship of Qwis Greenwood, explored ideas about adding romance to their creations with the help of Eliza Wierwright, who shared some fascinating ideas. You can see more of this in the interview she gave to Qwis.

Iggy O, our gridnaut, explored the world of Inworldz; while in Charity News, Tricia Aferdita leanred about the Pixel to Pixel Foundation.

Then there was all the latest from the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv, and news of the most recent bargains from Spruce Up Your Space, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemon, GM Nikolaidis, Tricia Aferdita and Alaex Aeon brought you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Xmas is a time to celebrate homes and family and all the joy of winter … and our magazine was packed with articles to celebrate families and holidays, as well as advice for decorating homes and gardens … and a very special Christmas photo story to enjoy too.

And that’s not all, as the inworld version of the magazine came with Christmas goodies too! Just look for the GIFT tab on various pages inside the magazines, and you will find gifts from Prim Perfect and from some of our advertisers too!

Families play a big part in this magazine.

Our region of the month was the Cozy Homes sims created by Paige Raven. Our reporter Suzanne Bisiani explored the region to admire the beautiful houses and furniture that Paige has created, and spoke with Paige herself – and met her family!

Another family provided our Readers’ Home for Christmas. We met August and Honoria Paine-Lusch and their daughters July and Oracle, and explored their lovely home and learnt all about their plans for Christmas celebrations in Ceejay Writer’s article.

Then readers enjoyed our Christmas story about the adventures of our snow cat, lost in the wintry city … by Tricia Aferdita and PJ Trenton.

Would he find a family of his own?

For this special time of the year, Qwis Greenwood took a look at the churches of Second Life, while there was also an account of ten seasonal sims to explore by Java Jetcity, and Ceejay Writer showed us how to create a Christmas garden. That garden can also benefit from Beq Janus’ advice on creating that snowy look with sculpties and clever textures.

In addition we had tips for your seasonal celebrations. Rowan Derryth tempted your virtual taste buds in her article on Holiday food and celebrations, while Jedburgh30 Dagger waxed nostalgic about special Christmas traditions in Second Life. And, of course, our favourite Victorian librarians took a seasonal perambulation in the snow to share their thoughts on wintry literature with our readers!

We asked Kaye Robbiani, in her capacity as the owner of the delightful Home Store rather than as one of our gardening correspondents, to choose and decorate a Linden Home for Christmas. You can see the results she achieved in the article by Tricia Aferdita – and Tricia also interviewed her to learn all about the designer behind the Home Store!

Our Pathfinders this month, under the mentorship of Qwis Greenwood, explored ideas about providing goods for the holiday season, with advice from Shyayn Lusch, the owner of the stylish furniture store Shag.

This month’s Spruce Up Your Space, the new and rapidly growing initiative to bring the work of top designers within the reach of everyone by adopting fun monthly themes for items to be sold at bargain prices, planned a family theme for Christmas – and Elle Kirshner also supplied news of a wonderful decorating competition run by Second Spaces, with the sponsorship of many well-known designers (and Prim Perfect too!). And there was information on another competition, and also news of a busy month for the SL Homes and Gardens group, in our regular article by Jennaa Loire.

Annechen Lowey presented the first of a series of advice to newcomers on how to take gorgeous photos in Second Life with an article on creating and using lighting rigs for different effects.

Iggy O, our gridnaut, explored the world of Jokaydia Grid; while in Charity News, Saffia Widdershins learnt about the Breast Cancer Awareness Center in the Triborough New York region.

Then there was all the latest from the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemon, GM Nikolaidis, Tricia Aferdita and Alaex Aeon brought you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This was our Halloween issue of Prim Perfect – but this time we didn't just go for the spookily scary – although there was plenty of that too!

First of all, our inworld readers discovered that we have adopted a new format – the Intellibook. This gave readers the exciting new choice of being able to link to the stores they saw featured in our advertisements when they read the magazine inworld. There were landmarks embedded – and there was the possibility of embedding postcards too. And for readers who looked carefully, there were free gifts embedded on some pages – this is a treasure hunt of a magazine!

Our region of the month was a quite amazing place called The Epic Toy Factory. Tricia Aferdita explored it for us and Scoitti Lyle had a fascinating interview with its owner and creator, Mayah Parx, who was our Designer of the Month. Java Jetcity highlighted eight places you must see in the Toy Factory, while Suzanne Bisiani steeled up her courage and discovered Halloween in the Toy Factory!

We didn't neglect Halloween elsewhere in the magazine either! Various Prim Perfect reporters (and photographers) bravely picked out their own favourite creepy places for you to visit – and there’s even a comic to show what happened when Rowan Derryth and PJ Trenton encountered some unexpected inhabitants in The Village of Nyght!

If you were inspired by all things Halloween, Ceejay Writer had some advice for you on Creating a Midnight Garden, while Miss Annechen Lowey had Advice for Newcomers on how to create a truly memorable Halloween costume!

Our Pathfinders this month, under the mentorship of Qwis Greenwood, explored ideas for Opening Your First Store, with advice from GM Nikolaidis, former owner of the popular clothing store Spork, and now the owner/designer of HomeKraft, the stylish furniture and home store.

This month’s Linden Homes article featured the fabulously chic Charlotte Bartlett of Scarlet Creations, who Ethan Westland interviewed as she made over a modern Meadowbrook home in inimitable style.

We also paid a visit to Burn2.0, the art installation based on the famous Burning Man festival. This was the first year that it operated as an independent identity, and experienced Burner Raven Haalan was joined by self-proclaimed desert virgin Beq Janus for a joint exploration of what was on offer there.

Jennaa Loire celebrated the opening of the fantastic SLHome and Garden sim – and all the opportunities that it offered.

Iggy O, our gridnaut, explored the world of Reaction Grid; while in Charity News, Ethan Westland reported the recent successes of the Frank Lloyd Wright Virtual Museum, including gaining nonprofit status.

Then we had Spruce Up Your Space, the new and rapidly growing initiative to bring the work of top designers within the reach of everyone by adopting fun monthly themes for items to be sold at bargain prices, as they told us about their plans for October.

Then there wasall the latest from the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Raven Haalan, Twisted Lemon, GM Nikolaidis and Alaex Aeon brought you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This time we took our readers to some rather exciting – and unusual places … in our special fantasy issue.

Firstly, we sent our reporters and photographers to explore the stunning Isle of Wyrms and – as I adore the dragons – I went too. I wrote about the lands, and about some of the people behind the Isles in a series of articles. Java Jetcity highlighted ten Place to Visit in the Isles, while Viv Trafalgar took her Librarians on a fantasy walk – and some alarming encounters! And Tricia Aferdita provided a fascinating insight into the role of dragons in myth and literature.

Our Designer of the Month was Julia Hathor, the owner and designer behind Creative Fantasy. Scotti Lyle provided a fascinating insight into the woman behind all these beautiful creations, while Tricia Aferdita took a stroll through her sims in Second Life and cast a ‘scientific’ eye over the creatures that she found there! Julia had also started a new venture on the Inworldz grid, and Beq Janus met her there to discuss her experiences of working with Open Sim technology. The results might have surprised some of our readers!

And to go with all this, Ceejay Writer talked to some of the best landscapers in Second Life on how to create a fantasy garden!

Our Landscape of the Month was the beautiful sim of Verdigris, the creation of two radically different designers – Oriolus Oliva and n0th1ng Ackroyd (who was one of our Designers of the Month in March). Rowan Derryth went exploring and met Oriolus for a fascinating discussion.

Our Pathfinders this month, under the mentorship of Qwis Greenwood, explored ideas for Launching Your First Business, with advice from Leyla Firefly, the immensely talented owner of Belle Belle.

Our Advice for Newbies column this month was distinctly shopping-oriented, as Annechen Lowey laid down some do’s and don’t's for Treasure Hunters.

This month’s Linden Homes articles were rather different. We couldn’t resist the opportunity to show you just how remarkable you can make a Linden Home by showing you the work of Syrah Xue, while Lizzy Saintlouis shared her comfortable Meadowbrook Home – “Southern Comfort” – with us.

The University of Western Australia’s Imagine Art Challenge had been going on all year and was now reaching its climax. Rowan Derryth provided a full report on what had been happening – and what would be happening very soon!

And in addition to our article with Julia Hathor in Inworldz, Iggy O, our gridnaut, explored the world of 3rdRockGrid.

In Charity News, I visited the Remembering Our Friends regions to commemorate Jeffry Pastorelli – and there was information about that and the remarkable place he did so much to support.

Jennaa Loire brought the latest news from the fast growing group Second Life Homes and Gardens – and Spruce Up Your Space, the new and rapidly growing initiative to bring the work of top designers within the reach of everyone by adopting fun monthly themes for items to be sold at bargain prices, explained their plans for September.

Then there was all the latest from the Designing Worlds and Metaverse Arts shows on treet.tv, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Raven Haalan, Twisted Lemon, GM Nikolaidis and Alaex Aeon, bring you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

We rolled out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer… with a visit to the stunningly beautiful region of Costa Rica in the Second Life world.

We sent our reporters and photographers off for a vacation—and Java Jetcity sent home a wonderful series of postcards, while Jed Dagger explored the region and met the locals to learn just what it is like to live in this amazing location.

Scotti Lyle talked to Giancarlo Takacs, the owner of Costa Rica, and discovered the moving story of a woman who played an important part in the development of the region—geko Stoop.

And Ceejay Writer explored the home of WK Ganesvoort, a magnificent creation in Costa Rica that is growing all the time!

One of the things that impresses most visitors to Costa Rica is the stunning landscapes, including the variety of National Parks. Tricia Aferdita explored the biodiversity of Costa Rica while our gardening expert, Kaye Robbiani, took a close look at one of the rain forests. And our intrepid Victorians took a literary walk in Costa Rica to discuss Latin American writing – this month under the watchful eye of Miss Emily Lockhart, seconded from The Primgraph.

Our Designer of the Month was Ambiance, the stylish and richly interactive design team that consists of Desiree Bisiani and Cheewha Palen. We organised a competition for one lucky resident to have their home made over with Ambiance flair… and TraLove Pinazzo won the competition! You can see the results in her remarkable and beautiful house—and also meet the creative spirits behind Ambiance.

Our Landscape of the Month was the richly detailed, groundbreaking steampunk regions of Nemo, created by the French designer, Sextan Shephard. Rowan Derryth went exploring and met the creator for a fascinating discussion.

Our Pathfinders this month explored a very interesting tool—how to get the best use out of their Second Life Profile, with advice from Winona Wiefel, owner of PRIME Furniture (and designer of Prim Perfect, too!). Qwis Greenwood mentored this—and also wrote her Advice for Newbies column on the basics of how to create a good Profile.

There wasan exciting development in our regular feature on Linden Homes. We talked to Linden Lab, and they agreed to supply us with the home of our designer’s choice each month to allow a wider range of designers to take part. This month our designer was Elle Kirshner, and Elle chose one of the Elderglen fantasy homes—the Shire’s Hearth. Another take on the Fantasy homes was supplied by this month’s reader’s home, as Suzanne Bisiani shared her design for the Abbot’s Haven.

This last six weeks, of course, saw two important events for the Second Life community—namely Second Life 7th Birthday and Relay for Life in Second Life. We were there to cover both of them, and the articles on SL7B by Qwis Greenwood and Relay for Life in Second Life by Ethan Westland are both lavishly illustrated by our talented photographers to show you some of the best builds and creations in the Second Life world—sadly with us for such a little time.

Last month we focused on worlds beyond Second Life, and we won’t be neglecting that as our new columnist Ignatius Onomatopoeia will be boldly seeking out new worlds to explore. This issue he introduced himself to you all, but from our next issue he will be reporting back from the host of new virtual worlds that are springing up.

In Charity News, Tricia Aferdita found out about a thrilling project—an artist that is taking her art into the skies to raise money for the children’s charity, the Theresa Group. And Gwen Carillon wrote about the questions in Second Life that she believes need urgent answers.

Then we have Spruce Up Your Space, the new and rapidly growing initiative to bring the work of top designers within the reach of everyone by adopting fun monthly themes for items to be sold at bargain prices, as they tell us about their plans for June.

Then there’s all the latest from the Designing Worlds show, while our team of talented photographers, led by PJ Trenton, Raven Haalan, Twisted Lemon and GM Nikolaidis, bring you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy from across the metaverse!

All this with News from the Grid and more

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This was a very special issue of Prim Perfect—the first that focuses mainly beyond the Second Life grid.

We had looked off grid before in Prim Perfect (with the Science Grid), with Designing Worlds (visiting the Science Grid, the Reaction Grid and—most recently—Heritage Key). And in The Primgraph, we have talked to Desmond Shang about his Caledonia project in Blue Mars and visited Rezzable’s Steamfish project.

But now, for the first time, the bulk of this month’s magazine looked outside Second Life at a variety of fascinating new possibilities.

I wrote about why we were looking at these new locations—and the different possibilities that they seem to offer. And to get you started on your own travels, Qwis Greenwood supplied details of how to access three key locations: Blue Mars, Heritage Key and the Reaction Grid.

There were interviews with the people building these grids—with Jim Sink of Blue Mars, and with Jon Himoff of Rezzable, the group who are developing Heritage Key. And I also talked to Ener Hax who has gone from owning and managing a community in Second Life to managing a community in the Reaction Grid.

And our intrepid reporters went out to explore these vast new lands: Riven Homewood reported on the development of the Caledonia community in Blue Mars, Tricia Aferdita explored Heritage Key—and recommended some fascinating places to visit, and Elrik Merlin returned to the Reaction Grid (which he first visited for Designing Worlds).

Our Landscape of the Month was the region of the Reaction Grid containing the amazing mathematical models of Wizard Gynoid. Raven Haalan talked to Wizzy about her amazing creations, while Viv Trafalgar located other places to explore on the Reaction Grid.

Our Pathfinders also visited different grids. For this month, two of them travelled to Blue Mars to meet Maxwell Graf and to learn the very different building techniques that are needed there. You can read his advice, and also their reactions—while Qwis Greenwood (the mentor supremo for the Pathfinders) talked to Maxwell about what led him first to Second life and now to the Reaction Grid.

And finally, to round off, Gwen Carillon looked at the issues concerning intellectual property violations that may cause problems on other grids.

Returning to the Second Life grid for our regular feature on Linden Homes, Ceejay Writer was invited to explore the home created by True North Designs’ owner Dellybean North. Delly furnished a Tahoe mountain style home—and you will be astonished by just how many stylish rooms she was able to create—while still staying within her tight prim budget. And Ceejay talked to her about her varied career within Second Life—creating not just furniture but gorgeous jewellery and animations—among other things! We had a Reader’s Home of the Month, too, as Nika Dreamscape talked us through how she furnished her contemporary Linden home with items from many of her favourite creators.

There wasnews from Relay for Life® too, while Rowan Derryth told the story of the wonderful Virtual Ability Island. 

Then Spruce Up Your Space, the new and rapidly growing initiative to bring the work of top designers within the reach of everyone by adopting fun monthly themes for items to be sold at bargain prices, told us about their plans for June. And Ethan Westland met a new advertiser for a special newcomer feature

Then there was all the latest from the Designing Worlds show, while our team of talented photographers brought you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy from across the metaverse.

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This was a rather special issue to us - our Third Birthday issue!

Yes, we launched Prim Perfect on May 1st 2007 with a party and a charity auction in Venice Island, one of the many areas of Second Life that has, sadly, since disappeared.

But that was certainly not true of our Region of the Month for this issue, which, under the carefully stewardship of Kiff Clutterbuck and Richardina Petty, has gone from strength to strength in providing one of the best and most popular blues locations in Second Life—Junkyard Blues. Ceejay Writer had a feature on the region, and as always learnt the story of the Junkyard from Kiff and Dina themselves, while Raven Haalan found his groove in the music of the Junkyard. And for those wishing to visit, Jvstin Tomorrow provideds his guide of ten places to see in the Junkyard! Scotti Lyle explored an intriguing aspect of the Junkyard—the process of gentrification that sees not only waterside shacks, but also a trailer park and even pretty two storey houseboats. Because… how downmarket do people want to go?

We explored these two sides of the Junkyard by having two designers this month—Claudia13 Rossini who furnished a stylish, two-storey houseboat, and n0th1ng Ackland who created the perfect grimy shack on the waterfront. We look at these two contrasting homes—both generously set for auction to raise money for autism by Kiff and Dina with the support of the designers.

And there’s more… for Viv Trafalgar revealed our two Victorian librarians (Sir JJ Drinkwater and Miss Kghia Ghirardi) had mysteriously landed in Junkyard Blues and promptly started a lively discussion on the influence of the blues on literature, while Kaye Robbiani, in her gardening column, investigated what might be called weeds… but which she showeds might more properly be termed ‘wild herbs’.

For many designers of homes and gardens within Second Life, this month was, above all, been the time for the Third Annual Home, Garden and Patio Expo for Relay for Life®, and we were there in force—not only with our own pavilion, but with the launch of our new Pathfinder programme. You can find out who the new Pathfinders are and all about their first mentoring session, with Jeremey Ryan (Qwis Greenwood wrote a profile of him, too, as well as mentoring and writing about the whole programme). Jeremey told the Pathfinders all the things to bear in mind when displaying at an event like the Expo. And there is also an article about the Expo itself—and the awesome things that we found there.

Our landscape of the month was the stunningly lovely Empress and Hierophant—a recreation of a rural Irish environment (with touches of Wales, too). Tricia Aferdita went to explore this sim… and she had some surprising encounters—with rather unusual sheep.

And we continued with our Linden Homes programme. Rowan Derryth met LaDonna Upshawe of Sweet Romance Furniture and saw how she had created a beautiful environment for art in her Linden Home… and also explored the designer behind the home too! And our Reader’s Home of the Month belonged to our photographer, Twisted Lemon, who was so inspired by the home that Colleen Desmoulins of The Loft created for Saffia in March that she went out, secured her own Linden Home, and furnished it beautifully.

We also had an article on an initiative to raise money for multiple sclerosis in the Avalon art community—and saw how that community has become involved in organising regular fund-raising events. And there was news, too, about Relay for Life.

Qwis Greenwood had some fascinating advice for newbies who don’t want to wear a conventional avatar. And even if you are not looking to become a robot or a dragon ourselves, her advice on how to create a default appearance folder is invaluable!

Spruce Up Your Space is a new and rapidly growing initiative to bring the work of top designers within the reach of everyone by adopting fun monthly themes for items to be sold at bargain prices. They told us about their plans for May.

Then there’s all the latest from the Designing Worlds show, while our team of talented photographers brought you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy in Second Life!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

We hope that you enjoy this Third Birthday Issue!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

We enjoyed the craic in the West of Ireland — and the surfing too — and we brought you some of that very special West of Ireland style in this issue!

Rowan Derryth led our exploration of the West of Island region, while Jvstin Tomorrow provided his guide to places to see in the area. Scotti Lyle had an interview with Sioban McMahon, the owner of West of Ireland and a tireless worker not only for the region, but also for the charity Project Children — and Scotti also brought us the full background to that! And we joined in with this, too. Cierra Anatine, the designer behind the fabulous Kismet store, was our Designer of the Month; and she donated a beautiful manor house, fully furnished, to be auctioned on St Patrick’s Day to raise funds for Project Children. You can learn more about the Designer — and the wonderful home she created — in the magazine.

And Irish gardens were not forgotten either. Kaye Robbiani set out to create a proper bog garden — and on the way, she learned something about the urgent need to conserve peat and the bog environment. It made for a fascinating article — and, in places, a disturbing one.

The West of Ireland is a place to have fun — as Ceejay Writer found as she went in pursuit of the craic — that uniquely Irish blend of conversation and music and entertainment. And if your tastes run to literature, Viv Trafalgar accompanied Sir JJ Drinkwater and Kghia Gherardi as they strolled around the West of Ireland and share their thoughts on Yeats. Rowan Derryth also explored the art on display here — not just in the galleries (although she certainly visited those), but also the monuments that celebrate Ireland’s past.

Tallking of Ireland’s past … our landscape of the month was a beautiful recreation of Ireland on the cusp between Paganism and Christianity. Ancient Ireland is a friendly role playing sim with stirring stories to tell — and Raven Haalan visited it and brought back a report.

Qwis Greenwood was out visiting too. She explored the options for newcomers arriving at Community Gateways — and seeing how they are developing different levels of support and engagement. Fancy an avatar that looks like you in real life? Want to start life in a famous city? Or are you more interested in contacting your inner elf or joining a Victorian steampunk community? Qwis had advice on all of them!

This month we started a major new series based around the initiative from Linden Lab — the Linden Homes. Every month, we ask a top designer to furnish a Linden Home, within the 117 prim budget. This month, that designer was Colleen Desmoulins of The Loft, and you can see how she made Saffia Widdershin's Linden Home look utterly wonderful.

In addition, we’ll be running a regular feature each month on Readers’ Linden Homes. Send a picture to primperfect@gmail.com of what you have done with your Linden Home — and we’ll feature the one or ones we like best in the magazine!

This month saw the launch of Relay for Life — and in this issue, we explored exactly what Relay for Life is. More than the donation kiosks, more than the wonderful events like the Homes, Gardens and Patio Expo, and the fabulous Clothing Fair — it’s one of the great communal events in Second Life — a shining example of what we can do when we bring all our creativity and initiative together.

In Content Creator News, Gwen Carillon explored the experiences of content creators who find their content stolen while, on a more hopeful note, we had the first of our columns from the team behind Spruce Up Your Space — a new initiative to bring the work of top designers within the reach of everyone by adopting fun monthly themes for items to be sold at bargain prices.

Then there was all the latest from the Designing Worlds show, while our team of talented photographers brought you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy in Second Life!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

We made a New Year's Resolution to bring you more glorious regions, more talented designers, more advice, more information and more gorgeous eye-candy … and you’ll see that we kept our resolution in this issue with a visit to the stunning Giverny region, inspired by the life and works of the painter Claude Monet.

Ceejay Writer explored the region and talked with our Designer of the Month, Kaye Robbiani, who shares with us a beautiful home furnished in French country style.

Jvstin Tomorrow chose his favourite spots to visit, while Tekillya Mode met the co-owner of Giverny, Soliel Snook. Scotti Lyle had a fascinating account of the real Giverny, and explored the life of Monet which led him to this beautiful French village.

Viv Trafalgar joined JJ Drinkwater and Kghia Gehardi as they took a literary walk and discuss love poetry, because, of course, Valentine’s Day was almost upon us.

And in pursuit of romantic locations, Raven Haalan paid a visit to Tempura Island, a fitting location to be our Valentine Landscape of the Month.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, Kittie Munro had another feature on some of our favourite creators’ goodies which you might wish to purchase for someone near and dear on Valentine’s Day.

But it was the New Year and all the possibilities for change and tidying have been occupying the minds of some of our writers. Nika Dreamscape gathered together some ideas for wonderful new skyboxes. And Qwis Greenwood and Annechen Lowey proffered advice not just for newbies but for all of us on the dreaded issue – how to tidy up our inventories!

Thinking of spring planting for your garden? Or even being more ambitious and preparing to plant a spring meadow? I talked to some of the top landscape designers about their suggestions for creating the best looking display for the most economical primmage, and you can see their ideas in this month’s gardening article!

Lumiere Noir gave another class on Modular Building in our popular series for builders, and in Content Creator News, Gwen Carillon celebrated the second anniversary of the Content Creators Association, while Coughran Mayo explored a fascinating nonprofit working out of New Jersey and using Second Life to teach young people about tolerance.

In our Pathfinders article this month, Sofia Standish talked about the hazards and benefits of working on commission. We looked at Sofia’s career as a creator and Aarcher Zanovka, one of our original Pathfinders, reflected on how she has progressed over the last year, and the different things she has learned.

And we started our search for two NEW Pathfinders to join her for 2010 – so make sure you read the article on how to apply to have your business mentored, and a chance to interact with some of Second Life’s leading business people.

Then there’s all the latest from the Designing Worlds show, while our team of talented photographers brought you some of the most romantic and artistic eye candy in Second Life!

All this with News from the Grid and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Christmas was upon us once again – with the stores of our virtual worlds being full of goods, and all manner of treats for enjoyment in our virtual homes.

With this in mind, for our Christmas issue we took a trip to a region that specialises in Winter – winter sports, winter fun, winter celebrations! This was Wolf Mountain, where skiing, skating, and a host of other fun activities can be enjoyed all year round. Our fearless team of reporters pulled on their winter jerseys, their snow boots and their woolly hats to explore….

Qwis Greenwood explored the region, and talked with the owner of the resort, Peach Fizz. Jvstin Tomorrow chose his favourite spots to visit, while the intrepid Ceejay Writer tried her hand at winter sports. Scotti Lyle found out all about Winter Weddings in the region (and paid a visit to a honeymoon cottage!). And Viv Trafalgar documented a winter walk as people discuss Christmas in Literature.

Our Designer of the Month was the very talented Xandi Mars; I met up with her, and had the pleasure of exploring the stunning home that she has created – a log cabin snug amidst the snow. Xandi was one of the pioneers of *Second Life*, and, in a fascinating interview, she shared some stories of the “good old days”.

Nika Dreamscape gathered together some gift ideas, and Kittie Munro put together an advertising feature showing gifts from some of our favourite creators. And Qwis Greenwood’s advice for Newbies column had some advice on gift giving, and how to ensure that lovely parcel you want to give to your nearest and dearest will actually transfer safely!

Planning to give a Christmas party? Annechen Lowey had some invaluable advice on how to set up a successful dance machine that to keep your friends twirling, stomping or hopping for hours!

Raven Haalan investigated how to transform your garden for winter. In association with that, we decided to start a new Where to Buy Page. Here people will be able to find out about where they can buy some of the items featured in *Prim Perfect* – and can ask questions about where to find Homes and Gardens related products. More on this exciting new feature on our News from the Grid page!

We had a real change with our Landscape of the Month – just in case you were suffering from a surfeit of Christmas! Regent Estates host a wonderful collection of motorbike regions around the theme of Route 66. Recently, they held an Essay Competition to discover the best description of the atmosphere of these sims and what they have to offer. There were some outstanding entries, and we decided to publish the winning one by Tekillya Mode.

We have a serious theme for our Pathfinders article this month. Gwen Carillon was the designer we focused on, and in her article she explained steps that content creators can take to protect themselves … and also what the next step should be if they find that they have been victims of content theft.

Once again, we had news from the Step UP! campaign – but this time we highlighted our next campaign: the Step UP! University – which will offer courses aimed both at newcomers to *Second Life*, and to creators who want to take action against copyright theft.

Coughran Mayo discusses what the launch of the Second Life Enterprise inititative could mean for non-profits.

Then there’s all the latest from the Designing Worlds show, while our team of talented photographers bring you some of the most wintry seasonal eye candy in Second Life!

All this – with News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Now the long nights started to draw in for the Northern hemisphere, and we reached the season not just of mellow fruitfulness, but of mists … and of things that may lurk in those mists, waiting to seize upon us. And so we came to Halloween … and an issue of Prim Perfect that celebrated it!

Therefore our Sim of the month was the wonderfully chilly set of Arkham lands, drawing their inspiration from the stories of H P Lovecraft. Ceejay Writer explored them, and met the owner – Ceres Eilde, while Qwis Greenwood explored Places to visit and had a rather scary time! Again Viv Trafalgar eavesdropped on JJ Drinkwater and Kghia Gehardie of the Alexandrian Libraries as they took a stroll – but this time they were walking through Arkham and reflecting on the literature that chills us to our bones.

Our Designer of the Month was the Amazing Cutea Benelli of Low Prim and Grim and Grim Bros – and when we introduced her and Ceres Eilde, and they started gleefully planning together, the editorial team suspected that the two of them might have been separated at birth! Saffia Widdershins interviewed her and explored the wonderfully frightful house she created in Arkham – and it led to a spooky experience of her own. She was exploring the house – which was chilling in both its designs and its soundscapes – when suddenly, moving her position, she saw someone standing right behind her. The fact that he had Friend of Cthulhu in large letters above his head did not inspire greater confidence! Fortunately, she escaped to write her articles and edit this issue of the magazine!

Aeolus Cleanslate supplied a fascinating background article on H P Lovecraft and the reality that lies behind … well, certain aspects of the tales, as he acquainted us with the strange lost towns and counties of New England (and what has happened to them since Lovecraft’s time).

And Raven Haalan visited a spooky Landscape of the Month when he took a trip to Wretched Hollow and met Star Fairymeadow, region owner and creator of Wretched Dollies.

An important part of the month’s magazine was news of the Step UP! campaign. Read it to learn what the campaign is all about – and how you can help. And Gwen Carillon supplied our Content Creator’s news – last month her powerful article was one of the spurs to the Step UP! campaign.

We also had the third part of our exciting new series on Modular Building, written by Lumiere Noir, the man behind the fantastic learning tool The Ivory Tower Library of Primitives, an article that should inspire new builders – and also teach some older ones a few new tricks!

Keeping our Halloween theme, Nika Dreamscape described how you could find elements to give your garden a really spooky feel for the Halloween season and explored some fascinating Halloween goodies on sale around the grid, while Qwis Greenwood had Advice for Newcomers on how you can raid your Library to create some Halloween treats!

This month, our Pathfinders were mentored by Canolli Capalini of Capalini Fine Furniture, who looked forward to how stores can prepare for the holiday season – and who was also interviewed by Viv Trafalgar. Aarcher Zenovka, one of our Pathfinders, gave an Australian take on things!

Coughran Mayo reported on a sobering Second Life exhibit, the Deomcide Mueum.

Then there was all the latest from the Designing Worlds show, while our team of talented photographers – including PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemoin and Delphina Audina – bring you some of the darkest and most spooky eye candy in Second Life!

All this – with News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

A very special issue of Prim Perfect for Fall (or Autumn – for the Europeans among us!) featured an exciting and vivid region for Sim of the Month – and we also had our first ever article on an Open Grid development – our Reader’s Home of the Month – an amazing creation on the Science Sim!

In the Northern hemisphere, the days were drawing in – longer nights and colder weather. Trees were beginning to take on rich autumnal shades as the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” is with us once more. And at Prim Perfect, we decided to explore a region that draws its inspiration from an area that is, for many people, synonymous with the beauties of – as they would say – Fall: the Islands of New England.

Many themed regional areas in Second Life have a community, but the Islands of New England go further – it could truthfully be said to have a strong and vibrant community who play an important part in the sailing, art, and music worlds, as well as offering great commercial and residential areas. And this month, Prim Perfect explored all of these elements of the New England estate – and more!

Qwis Greenwood provided a vivid introduction to one of her favourite areas in the Second Life world and met Gayle Cabaret, the Estate Manager – while Jvstin Tomorrow did a round up of fascinating places to visit in the region. Isle Lunasea and Raven Haalan explored the music of the area for us, while Annechen Lowey delved into the art community that is encouraged there. Scotti Lyle took a boat trip to discover the famous lighthouses, and, in a new feature, Viv Trafalgar eavesdropped on JJ Drinkwater and Kghia Gehardie of the Alexandrian Libraries as they took a stroll through the New England woods and reflect on the literature of the region.

Our Designer of the Month was the very talented Rayvn Hynes of MudHoney. Ceejay Writer met her, and discussed her work – and then took a look at the beautiful coastal home in New England that she created for us – furnished with all Rayvn’s style – and a wealth of her elegant and comfortable poses.

Then we took a trip out of the Second Life world and into the Open Grid environment to the Science Sim to discover a fascinating exploration into the possibilities of Virtual World technology. How rich in decoration can an area be? That’s what Shenlei Flasheart was asked to discover – and the result was both beautiful and awesome! Read all about it as our Reader’s Home of the Month article.

We also had the second part of our exciting new series on Modular Building, written by Lumiere Noir, the man behind the fantastic learning tool The Ivory Tower Library of Primitives, an article that should inspire new builders – and also teach some older ones a few new tricks!

Keeping our autumnal theme, Nika Dreamscape visited the Heart Garden Centre to find out how the Heart sisters – Lilith and Dolly – were preparing for autumn (and their exciting task of changing the Islands of New England to their autumnal shades) while Moodyloner Korobase addressed the season in our fun quiz – and also spared a thought for those in the Southern Hemisphere too! And Qwis Greenwood had some Advice for Newcomers on how you can give your home a flavour of autumn.

This month, our Pathfinders were mentored by Fatima Ur of Antique Artistry and Incanus Merlin of Incwell Textures, who provided invaluable advice on the art of selling – and were also been interviewed by Viv Trafalgar.

Coughran Mayo reported on a fascinating initiative to support a Second Life nonprofit that took place at the Second Life Community Convention, while Gwen Carillon brought us the latest Content Creators news in a powerful article that went a long way to starting the Step UP! campaign.

And our team of talented photographers – including PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemon and Delphina Audina – brought you some of the most gorgeous design eye candy in *Second Life*!

All this – with News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Over the life of this magazine, we have looked at a variety of sims and cultures – many realistic, some fantastic. But by and large we have looked at designers whose ethos has been drawn from Western culture. This month, all that changes as we have a special Oriental issue.

Our Sim of the Month is the glorious Hosoi region – owned by Amiryu Hosoi, Kalderi Tomsen, and Nani Yifu. Ceejay Writer introduces us to this lovely place and talks to Amiryu, whose vision and designs have shaped the area, while Jvstin Tomorrow has singled out some key areas of interest to visit, and Viv Trafalgar explores some of the spectacular paths of the four areas that make up Hosoi.

Hosoi is primarily a role playing sim, and this has prompted Viv Trafalgar and Annechen Lowey to examine the ways in which role playing areas might be developed in Virtual Worlds to create vivid and interesting experiences, while Annechen addresses the issue from the other side too, and looks at how a newcomer might go about joining a role playing group.

We also have the first part of an exciting new series. Lumiere Noir, the man behind the fantastic learning tool The Tower of Prims, starts a series for Prim Perfect readers on Modular Building with an article that should inspire new builders – and also teach some older ones a few new tricks!

Keeping our Oriental theme, Isle Lunasea and Raven Haalan explore a very different vision of the Orient in our Landscape of the month – the neon-lit, dark urban environment of Neo Kowloon. And Scotti Lyle describes the theories and ideas that lie behind the creations of Japanese gardens, while Kaye Robbiani describes how she created a Japanese garden of her own. In her article for newcomers, Qwis Greenwood explains how you can create an attractive wall hanging for your home to add an Oriental touch while Nika Dreamscape has visited a store with a distinctly oriental flavour for her article this month.

And Moodyloner Korobase has given our fun quiz a decidedly Oriental flavour, too … or has she?

In addition, we have reviews of *Second Life* 6th Birthday (where we had a wonderful display, courtesy of Dellybean North, with gifts and images from many of our editions and shows), and of Relay for Life where Designing Worlds had a TV studio (also designed by the wonderfully inventive Dellybean!). Both occasions gave us an opportunity to meet some amazing people and some wonderful creatives – we hope that you enjoy seeing a few of the things they produced!

This month, our Pathfinders have been mentored by Zasa Rossini of La Belle Vie (which is, alas, no more – although you can read why she is opening a new furniture store) who has provided some fascinating advice on marketing. Read her interview with Viv Trafalgar – and also the key advice she gives our Pathfinders. And two of our Pathfinders, Aarcher Zenovka and Cinders Vale, reflect on what the advice means to them.

Gwen Carillon reviews the new ideas on Content Management put forward by Linden Lab, while Coughran Mayo meets the woman behind a fascinating nonprofit.

And our team of talented photographers – including PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemon, Vera Canning and our designer Perry Applemoor – bring you some of the most gorgeous design eye candy in Second Life!

All this – with News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Two years ago, a new cruise liner was launched with much fanfare and celebration. No champagne was broken on her hull, however, for this ship was The Galaxy, the three sim-long cruise liner created by Bill Stirling and the largest single build of that time in Second Life. We were there for her launch ... and two years later we have returned, to see how the Galaxy has been thriving with a new owner. We give you a taste of the places to see, the things to do, the special events and parties to attend ... and Sigmund Leominster meets some of the people who work on the Galaxy, who visit the Galaxy, and who make the Galaxy their home.

And we talk to Bill Stirling about what he has been up to since giving up the ownership of the Galaxy.

Our designer of the month is Pamela Galli of La Galleria, and she has created a really spectacular cabin on the Galaxy, with a super array of her trademark extras ... the special dishes, snacks and decorations that makes her lovely furniture quite unique.

Nika Dreamscape visits her on the Galaxy, and in her store too, to learn all about this very special designer. And you can revel in the glorious pictures supplied by PJ Trenton, Twisted Lemon and Nika Dreamscape.

We have a review of the 2nd Annual Home, Garden and Patio Expo - with top designers picking out the builds that they liked best - and we have news too of our build at the Second Life 6th Birthday celebrations. We hope you'll visit us there at Aeon - and later in the week, we'll have news about our party!

Our landscape of the month is rich in pirates, mermaids and a rich backstory leading to some stunning builds. It's Armada Breakaway, and Miss Annechen Lowey tells us of the fascinating visit she paid there, while PJ Trenton supplies some gorgeous photos!

This month, our Pathfinders have been mentored by Luna Bliss of Bliss Garden Center (and a great many more projects). Read her interview with Viv Trafalgar - and also the key advice she gives our Pathfinders. And one of them, Aarcher Zenovka, reflects on what the advice means to her.

We have a wonderful article from our gardening correspondent, Kaye Robbiani, on creating a seaside garden. This will, sadly, be her final regular column as the exigencies of real life and maintaining her only lovely region of Giverny are taking up more of her time. We wish her well - and hope to see an occasional column from her as a treat!

Perry Applemoor meets Vryl Valkyrie, the maker and purveyor of textures, who talks about the opportunities for textures in Second Life. Qwis Greenwood and Annechen Lowey have columns of advice, while Gwen Carillon explains how the Content Creators Association can help - and what it is important NOT to do in cases of content theft!

Nika Dreamscape has found a fascinating build, while Coughran Mayo tells of a tireless worker for non-profits in Second Life. And we have another Moodyloner quiz for you to enjoy!

Plus, there are articles to smooth our Second Lives from Qwis Greenwood and Ceejay Writer on how to smarten up our inventories, while Annechen Lowey gives some very useful advice on how to adjust attachments.

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Two years ago, a new magazine was launched in Second Life – the very first magazine to take Homes and Gardens as its theme.  Perhaps that is not so surprising – in Second Life, new magazines launch regularly – and, sadly, seem to die almost as regularly.

This one, however, has gone from strength to strength … for it was Prim Perfect, and this issue we were delighted to celebrate our second birthday.

We did this with the help of a major retrospective article on our first two years.  Some of the many people who appeared in our pages or worked with us on projects share their thoughts and memories.  And we had a special Moodyloner Korobase quiz for this issue – as well as a chance to try again the quiz from our very first issue!

Our Sims of the Month were the Confederation of Democratic Sims, a fascinating combination of themed quality builds and idealistic political experimentation.  Sigmund Leominster and Jvstin Tomorrow explored the sims and talk of their experiences and encounters with the locals.

Leyla Firefly was our Designer of the Month.  Ceejay Writer explored the Alpine chalet she furnished so beautifully and talked to Leyla herself about her career and her fascinating builds. And there was a chance to win a month’s free accommodation there – if you enter our Star Competition – this month’s Treasure Hunt. You could also learn how our last month’s winner found a beautiful home for a month in a gorgeous townhouse from the March issue.

We also had news of the exciting 2nd Annual Home, Garden and Patio Expo, organised in support of Relay for Life.  Read all about the plans for stands, educational events and entertainment that made this a must-go-to event!

Our Landcape of the Month was the winner of the Japanese section of the Second Life Readers’ Choice competition for Favourite Back In Time location – Edo Japan.  M0lly Dench told us of the fun she had exploring Japanese history and culture, and the pictures her photographer Twisted Lemon brought back will have you hurrying there straightaway!

This month saw an exciting change in our sister TV programme, Meta Makeover – which received a Makeover of its own and emerged as Designing Worlds, with a brief to cover homes, gardens, landscapes, designers … and all that is best and most exciting in Virtual World design.

Our gardening correspondent, Kaye Robbiani, had some lovely ideas for a spring garden – with the emphasis on a rather unexpected sense -getting some good sounds in your garden!  Nikki Dreamscape found some exciting new prefabs to share with readers, while Gwen Carillon took them through the process of filing a DCMA.

Plus there were articles to smooth our Second Lives from Qwis Greenwood and Ceejay Writer on how to smarten up our inventories, while Annechen Lowey gave some very useful advice on how to adjust attachments.

Our team of talented photographers brrought readers some of the most gorgeous design eye candy in Second Life!

All this – with News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Spring is coming and St Patrick’s Day is here! So where but Dublin could we go this month?

Dublin in Second Life has a fascinating story to tell - one of the oldest and strongest communities in Second Life, it reflects not just so many people’s love of the Irish past and culture, it also reflects the leading European capital that Dublin has become, at the forefront of technology and business opportunities. Join us as we explore the different layers of Dublin, encounter some of the people who make up its enthusiastic community - and meet the man behind the city, the phenomenal Ham Rambler.

And don’t miss our Dublin Townhouse, designed by Dellybean North. Our reporter Ceejay Writer interviewed Dellybean and also took a look at the gorgeous townhouse she has furnished. And you will have a chance to win a month’s free accommodation there - if you enter our Star Competition - this month’s Treasure Hunt. You can also learn how our last month’s winner has found a beautiful home for a month in the lovely Dans Les Montagnes sim.

There’s another home featured in this month’s magazine - the richly decorated Brideswell  Hall, the home of Laird Brideswell, Elrik Merlin, with a very special Victorian garden laid out by Soliel Snook. M0lly Dench took a tour in the company of the Laird and was inspired by what she saw.

Another inspiration this month comes from the amazing Skydancers. We’ve been to their latest marvellous show and have brought back a full report of this astounding event that fuses art, dance and music into a seamless, jaw dropping whole … this is an article and a show that you really don’t want to miss!

Plus we have news of our very exciting new project. We are starting an initiative to mentor new designers from their first attempts at creation through to becoming successful entrepreneurs. Over the coming year, our chosen pathfinders will be advised and mentored by some of the top designers in Second Life – as well as by other mentors who can advise on related aspects of creating a Second Life business. Our three Pathfinders have now been chosen - read all about them in this issue!

Our gardening correspondent, Kaye Robbiani, brings news from a very special garden - the Library Garden that forms part of the Caledon Library, and she has a fascinating conversation with Sir JJ Drinkwater, Director of the Caledon Libraries, about what constitutes a library. Gwen Carillon sets out a wishlist from content creators in Second Life as to what they would wish to see - and Crap Mariner questions whether creators in Second Life need a bailout.

Plus there are articles to smooth our Second Lives from Qwis Greenwood and Annechen Lowey, while Nika Dreamscape tells us about a great new store she has discovered! And Coughran Mayo talks about a fun new opportunity for networking among Non-Profits in his Charity News article.

Our team of talented photographers bring you some of the most gorgeous design eye candy in Second Life!

All this – News from the Grid, news of our associated TV programme Meta Makeover … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

In this issue, we attempted to detect the first touches of spring in the air (for all the Northern hemisphere types - Southern-siders were looking out the winter woollies by now!).  But more importantly, we were on the lookout for Romance!

We had some very special features this month – such as a special gift feature packed with ideas of what you could give (or hint that you would like to receive) for Valentine’s Day.  See what ideas some of the best designers in the Second Life world came up with to make Valentine’s Day that little bit special.

Our Sim of the Month was Dollz Town - a fantasy in pink and cute with some wonderful additions for everyone to enjoy - and a flavour that can be naughty and nice!  Don’t miss the opportunity to wander round the square and visit the shops - or the trailer park!  And make sure you call in at the Seaside cafe to enjoy a coffee.  And for after dark … there’s the Dollz Theatre - with its cabaret and burlesque.

For our Landscape of the Month, we had something different.  M0lly Dench shared the location of ten very special sims, each guaranteed to give a different and very memorable Valentine experience!  Was your favourite be on her visiting list?  Read the article and find out!

Our Designer of the Month was the recently-returned Zasa Rossini, now opening her own extremely lovely sim - Dans La Montagnes.  And Zasa designed the very pretty townhouse that was on offer as our Star Prize. 

Plus we had news of a very exciting new project from Second Life.  We are starting an initiative to mentor new designers from their first attempts at creation through to becoming successful entrepreneurs.  Over the coming year, our chosen pathfinders will be advised and mentored by some of the top designers in Second Life – as well as by other mentors who can advise on related aspects of creating a Second Life business. Read the article to find out how YOU could become a Pathfinder - and more about how this exciting project will be developed.

Jvstin Tomorrow visited the world of SL Shakespeare, and Kaye Robbiani showed how to create a romantic garden.  There was an article from Crap Mariner on his Music ISL Project, and from Gwen Carillon on concerns about Content Theft.

Plus articles to smooth our Second Lives from Qwis Greenwood and Annechen Lowey, while Nika Dreamscape told us about some great bargains to be had!

Our team of talented photographers brought some of the most gorgeous design eye candy in *Second Life*!

And you could learn about the lucky winner of last month’s prize.

All this – plus Charity News from Coughran Mayo, News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

We had some very special features in our Christmas issue – such as a Christmas Photostory set in our Build of the Month.  Meet Jeeves – a dog – and see what he thinks of the traditional Christmas celebrations!

And we also had pages of gift ideas from around the grid.  See what ideas some of the best designers in the Second Life world came up with to make your Christmas giving that little bit special.

Our Sim of the Month was Wunderbar – a collection of Victorian sims with an unusual aesthetic, influenced by its cosmopolitan inhabitants.  Our landscape of the month was another Christmas treat – M0lly Dench explored the delights of Winterland – and tried her hand at spotting all the Christmas classics referenced there!

M0lly also visited our Readers’ Home of the Month – the beautiful family home belonging to Aradia Dielli, her husband Lucian Overlord and their four young daughters.

Then we had a feature article on a very special event held in a selection of vintage and steampunk sims – The Grand Tour.  We had an account of what happened when a large number of those sims came together to celebrate their strengths – with comments by Baron Klaus Wulfenbach, who will be a familiar figure to readers of the popular web comic Girl Genius.  There’s also an article on the Radio Riel Players of Caledon, who were currently in rehearsal for a seasonal production of A Christmas Carol.

This month’s Star Prize was a month’s free accommodation in the beautiful house designed by Keith Extraordinaire on the Kettle Moraine sim in Wunderbar.  You can read all about the house – and an interview with the hugely talented Keith Extraordinaire, designer and artist, himself.

We had two new correspondents in the magazine.  Crap Mariner took us through the Openspace sim crisis, while the very popular Second Lie of Twitter fame read your problems and gives his definitive – and idiosyncratic – solutions.

And there was a wonderful poem by M0lly Dench, offering a very alternative view of Christmas!

Then there were features by our regular correspondents too.  Jvstin Tomorrow visited a selection of Winter Wonderlands, while Qwis Greenwood showed how to decorate your own home for Christmas.  And Kaye Robbiani’s article on the Winter Garden was likely to have us all hurrying out there to create our own colourful gardens!

And our team of talented photographers bring you some of the most gorgeous design eye candy in *Second Life*!

We also had the results of our special Christmas photo contest – and there was a special Valentine photo contest giving you chance to win an advertisement in our Valentine’s Day issue!  And you can learn about the lucky winners of last month’s prizes – including a very generous donation to the SL Shakespeare Fund from one lucky winner.

Gwen Carillon brought us the Constitution of Content Creators Association – and information on how to join.  Nika Dreamscape showed us how to pick up some lovely Christmas bargains, while Bailey Longcloth brought us the latest news from Homestyle Consolidated, the group that draws together all the best home style designers and keenest shoppers in Second Life.

All this – plus Charity News, News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This month, our Sim was something very special because – through the generosity of Reacher Rau and his team from Reach Isles, we were able to create our own. This is Caer Blanco – a Halloween sim with a difference!

Firstly, every part of it was created by a top Second Life world designer, just for us. That’s right! From the haunted castle to the witches’ cottage to the ruined monastery to the ghost ship, every element was meticulously created for our readers to enjoy – and to raise money for a clinic in Lesotho, Southern Africa.

For the Halloween period, readers were able to visit Caer Blanco to explore its ghostly treats, to buy some of the most beautiful objects in Second Life (and some of the most spine-chilling too!), to take part in a series of fabulous events – ranging from themed costumed balls, to fantastic performances by popular live artists, to special ghost story readings and story-tellings – and to find out more about the clinic that we will be helping.

And you can read all about the sim and the clinic too here in the magazine, together with interviews with Reacher Rau and Rascal Blanco, who set the whole project up!

You’ll find our very special star prize on Caer Blanco too … an amazing witches’ cottage designed, built and furnished by Maxwell Graf.

And just in case you haven’t had enough of the ghostly and the ghastly, our Landscape of the Month was the wonderfully evocative role-playing sim of October Country, with wonderful H. P. Lovecraftian overtones. M0lly Dench took a trip there and a very cautious peep behind the gravestones! Just … be careful crossing the bridge …

And following on from that, we also find out a little about the fascinating Dark Victorians, and take a very spooky train ride!

Even our gardening correspondent Kaye Robbiani has a ghost story to tell from her lovely garden – and a reminder to set out your autumn bulbs!

We took a break from the Halloween theme though with our infinitely stylish and coolly elegant Readers’ Home of the Month – when M0llie Dench explores for us the glamorous world and lifestyle of Villa Blanc and its owner WK Ganesvoort.

And Jvstin Tomorrow provided a review of some of the fascinating exhibits he found at Burning Life.

Yes, with our team of talented photographers hard at work this month, we bring you some of the most gorgeous design eye candy in Second Life!

We also had the results of our special Halloween photo contest too – and we think you’ll be suitably chilled by the results! There wasa special photo contest this month too – a chance to enter our Christmas photo contest – and win an advertisement in our bumper Christmas issue! And there was our regular Treasure Hunt – and you also can learn about the lucky winners of last month’s prizes.

Our Charity News tells you about the fascinating Commonwealth Islands, and Francesca Cassini tells us about the presence of Nelson Mandela’s anti-AIDS charity, 446644, here in Second Life.

Bailey Longcloth brought us the latest news from Homestyle Consolidated, the group that draws together all the best home style designers and keenest shoppers in Second Life! And Gwen Carillon, the designer and artist, and moving force within the Content Creators Association, saluted the vital importance of creativity in Second Life.

Qwis Greenwood continued her series of “How To” for newbies articles with an account of how to make and texture a simple shelf to display some of the goodies you might find within the pages of the magazine, while we also brought you our regular news from Meta Makeover.

All this – plus News from the Grid, a fun quiz about your Halloween Second Life by M0lly Dench … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

This  month, our Sim was one of the most exciting cities in the world – London!  We exploed the London sims, a series of really upmarket locations with a host of attractions and really beautiful realistic texturing.  Jvstin Tomorrow pinpointed some of the things that you really must see and talked to residents too.  In addition, there waan interview with Debs Regent who is building some unique crossovers with real life and Second Life world businesses.  And you can learn about the Media in London with Janey Bracken who produces the special blog – Virtually London Lite!

Plus there was a gorgeous apartment in Chelsea waiting for one lucky Star Prize competition winner, with magnificent styling from CORN Furniture and CORN’s new store, Instinct.

You possibly couldn’t have hada more different set of sims than our Landscape of the Month.  Kghia Gherardi explored the South Carolina Lowcountry themed sims of Wando, Cooper River and Hampton Island, an alternative vision of the historical Lowcountry with no slavery, no civil war, no fever.  There were mermaids though – and a gorgeous underwater palace.  And there was an article from Alesia Markstein on the real South Carolinan Lowcountry.

This month, our Resident Home of the Month was Evocative, a lovely new home created by the two designers behind Lapointe & Bastchild Designs.  You can find out what M0lly Dench discovered in her explorations.

And throughout the magazine you’ll find the work not only of our regular chief photographer but also of three of the talented winners of the Prim Perfect/Orange Island Fashion Photocontest.  A special article tells you all about the contest – and the winners – and we talked to the prizewinners too!  And you’ll have chance to enjoy the glorious pictures.

We also had a special photo contest this month too – as people started to prepare for Halloween.  Who has the spookiest sim?  That’s what we wanted to find out!  And there was our regular Treasure Hunt too – while you learned about the lucky winner of last month’s star prize.

Our gardening correspondent Kaye Robbiani wrote about her autumn garden – and, believe me, it made you want to rush out and start raking leaves!

Our Charity News told you about the non-profit stream at SLCC, while we also had news of the final live concerts on Tribute Island, sponsored by Prim Perfect, Associated Northcliffe Digital and Radio Riel. 

Bailey Longcloth brought us the latest news from Homestyle Consolidated, the group that draws together all the best home style designers and keenest shoppers in Second Life.  And Gwen Carillon, the designer and artist, and moving force within the Content Creators Association, talked us through what Intellectual Property Rights really are.

Qwis Greenwood shows us how you can make a really nice planter for your rooms using some of the things you’ll find in your Library folder, while we also bring your our regular news from Meta Makeover.

All this – plus a mammoth News from the Grid, a fun quiz about your social Second Life by M0lly Dench … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

Yes, summer was here, and we’re explored the romantic sims of the Isles of Fatima. Twenty-six sims of extraordinary beauty, and made for romance … We took a trip around, and showed you the amazing house that has been created for Prim Perfect there, in a very stunning setting. We had an interview with the owners, Fatima Ur and Incanus Merlin. And we also talked to the team at Metaversal Arts, one of whose designers, the very talented Yolanda Hirvi, worked with Fatima to create the Prim Perfect house.

By way of contrast, our landscape of the month was the futuristic world of Extropia, an experiment in living in the future, a utopia rather than a dystopia. And, frankly, it was gorgeous. Come and explore it with Alesia Markstein!

This month, our Residents' Home of the Month was set in the fascinating sim of Pretty N Punk – the work of a collaboration of young designers who combined beautiful vistas with a hard-edged grunge look. It made for an intriguing combination, as M0lly Dench found out.

We had an article on Relay for Life – with several people sharing their experiences of the day – and their appreciation of some of the fantastic builds. We also had news of a beautiful new rose – and a fascinating competition – from Soleil Snook of Snook’s Garden Centre. And there was news of a wonderful Photo Contest on Orange Island that Prim Perfect was sponsoring, together with Orange as well as our regular treasure hunt! There was further news too of the summer Tribute Island ceoncerts

Our gardening correspondent Kaye Robbiani wrote about her creation of a spectacular garden, while Bailey Longcloth brought us the latest news from Homestyle Consolidated, the group that draws together all the best home style designers and keenest shoppers in the Second Life world! And this month they were joined by a new columnist, Gwen Carillon, the designer and artist, and moving force within the Content Creators Association. Gwen provides regular information on serious issues affecting content creation, for a not-to-be-missed regular feature.

We have two different items giving advice to newbies – and helping out the rest of us too! Qwis Greenwood talked about low prim furniture, while Rascal Blanco explained the new device to make our lips move when we talk.

Our Charity News told about a fascinating non-profit that links South Texas and the West of Ireland, while we also brought our regular news from Meta Makeover and information about our exciting new magazine, The Primgraph.

All this – plus a really mammoth News from the Grid, Readers’ Letters, a fun quiz on the subjects of holidays and vacations by M0lly Dench … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here or here at Calaméo.

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This month, our magazine was a little different. Instead of featuring a single sim of the month, with residential properties, we focused on the opening of two commercial sims. Commercial? Yes. But Rustica and Elements in Design are sims that both offer tremendous experiences for the visitor – not to mention a wealth of goodies to buy. We had feature articles on both of these new sims, and interviews with their creators - Maxwell Graf and Gwen Carillon. And we also looked at the opening of the new PRrim Designs store – and saw how Prad Prithivi and Rrishanna Regina are moving in interesting new directions.

For the Landscape of the Month, Alesia Markstein reported on the utterly fascinating exhibition that was Not Possible in Real Life. We featured interviews with three of the creators too. And M0lly Dench embarkedon a journey through time and space with a Time Lord and his intrepid assistant to bring back an account of one of the most fascinating builds in Second Life – the Etheric Travelling Cabinet. Plus we returned to the Galaxy, the fabulous three-sim liner designed by Bill Stirling, to find out what Bill and his team have been up to since we visited for the launch, a year ago.

Then we had news of a series of live concerts sponsored by Prim Perfect, Associated Northcliffe Digital and Radio Riel. All through the summer and autumn, we have arranged for the top live performers to pay tribute to their favourite artists on Tribute Island. Find out who’s playing, who they’ve chosen to pay tribute to - and when you can see them!

And we had the start of a new regular column that we’ve been promising ourselves since the magazine began. So far we had looked at lovely gardens - now we suggested ways in which you can create one of your own! This month, our new gardening correspondent Kaye Robbiani looked at two major trends in Victorian gardening - and the female gardener who drew them both together. And her article was illustrated by pictures from her own garden, as she showed you how you can achieve these effects in Second Life.

Then there was also news of an important new group you can join - as Bailey Longcloth suggested a way in which store owners and customers can make better contact with each other through Homestyle Consolidated. Our Charity News told you all about the opening of Nonprofit Commons 2, the new island managed by Techsoup and the Wishing Tree, created by Sue Stonebender in support of kiva.org, the nonprofit making small business loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world. All this - plus advice for newbies about megaprims, our regular Treasure Hunt, News from the Grid, a fun quiz by our own Moodyloner Korobase (who also solved several problems by proffering advice about SLetiquette) … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

Our sim of the month was the beautiful Orkney Islands. A loving imagining of the islands off the North Scottish coast, they combine tradition with modern day life in a way that was reflected in our Star Prize cottage, furnished by our star designer, Kittie Munro. We invited readers to join us as we visit the ancient cairns and the modern harbour …

Our Landscape of the Month offered another kind of beauty – the Botanical Gardens of the Second Life world. Our Readers' Home of the Month showed what happens when a castle owner and beach home owner set up home together - if they have an impeccable sense of style!

We also had news on Relay for Life, with a sneak preview of one of the sims, and the first of a series of articles about Non-Profit Commons. There was more news about Meta Makeover. We looked again at the very serious issue of IP theft – and what to do if you suspect an article has been copied.

All this - plus our regular Advice for Newbies, the Treasure Hunt, News from the Grid … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

Our sim of the month was beautiful, educational and inspirational: it was the twin sims that make up the fascinating and very ambitious Al-Andalus project. Read all about how this area has been created as an environment to recreate an age where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived together in harmony in historical Spain, and how the founders of al-Andalus are using this to further and promote cultural understanding in very exciting ways.

And you can admire the sheer staggering beauty of the place too!

Beauty of a different sort was to be found in our landscape of the month – La Reve. This is the creation of the second Life artist Lash Xevius and it is replete with mystery, magic and puzzles as well as sculptures that will take your breath away.

We also had news on our new venture – the TV programme Meta Makeover, which we are producing in association with SLCN. In fact, our Reader’s Home of the Month was the house belonging to Motor Loon and Melody Regent that was made over in our second show – we bring you a detailed look at it!

We also took an indepth look at the very serious issue of IP theft – and what designers – and customers - can do to counter it.

We also looked at issues raised in buying land and making a complaint in Second Life. And our Spring Quiz took a peek into the hideous depths of our Inventories …

All this - plus our regular Treasure Hunt, News from the Grid, Charity News, Readers’ Letters … and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

Our Sim of the Month was Celestial Requiem, that powerful tribute to New York and the World Trade Center. But our reporter Jvstin Tomorrow showed you what a thriving and wonderful place it is to be, and we took readers to the glorious penthouse apartment constructed by those PRim Designers - Rrishanna Regina and Prad Prathivi.

Our landscape article featured the Isle of Wyrms - and you can join our intrepid reporter Moodyloner Korobase as she explored this beautiful land of dragons. And we had a really magnificent Readers' Home of the Month, Armonia, the home of two fantastically talented designers - Zasa Rossini and Rascal Blanco. And there was an article from Simeon Beresford, on how to use that vital tool - the Land Menu.

Nor did we forget Valentine's Day. Kghia Gerhardi had a feature on unusual romantic places to visit in Second Life, and there were also some ideas of romantic presents you could be buying at this time of year. And Moodyloner created a hilarious quiz to test whether you're Cupid or curmudgeon at this time of year.

All this - plus our regular Treasure Hunt, News from the Grid, Charity News, Readers' Letters ... and more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

This month’s edition was set in the glorious regions of Caledon - and our Star Prize was a magnificent mansion in the new region Caledon: Morgaine.

Furnished by two top designers, Poppet McGimsie and Fatima Ur, this really was a very special prize indeed - as you’ll see in our photostory of a family preparing for a Christmas party in Morgaine Manor.

There were articles about Caledon too - the people, the places, the history - and its wonderful libraries. We had interviews with both our designers, as well as with Desmond Shang, the creator whose vision lies behind Caledon.

Our Landscape of the Month was Serenity Falls, and you could see the breathtaking effects of Windlight in the photographs that accompany the article, taken by JeanRicard Broeck.

There were pages of gift ideas too, and news of a special Prim Perfect gift that could be obtained from some of our top stores - as long as you were armed with the Prim Perfect passwords.

Plus a Chrustmas Quiz that was guaranteed to have you giggling, News from the Grid, Charity News, Advice for Newbies on decorating your home for Christmas - and much more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

This issue featured some wonderful things - including not one but TWO competitions to win a month’s free rental of one of two sensational properties.

One was the Reader’s Home of the Month - a beautiful castle in Tuscany, furnished by some of Second Life’s finest designers.

The other was furnished by Serra Anansi, our Designer of the Month, and was a chance to win a beautiful home in Winterfell Ebonshire, one of the gorgeous (and very popular) Winterfell sims, sims with a darkly medieval themes, explored in our article.

There was also an account of a visit to Straylight, our Landscape of the Month, by Moodyloner Korobase, our intrepid reporter.

And, in addition, there were interviews with the designers Serra Anansi and Dellybean North.

Our Advice to Newbies showed you how to work with linked prims (very carefully) to make a round table rectangular, and there was also our regular Treasure Hunt with a chance to win lovely prizes.

Then there was News from the Grid, with information about stores opening, expanding, re-vamping and, sadly, closing … Charity News (with news of a great new event in November), a Reader Survey for you to complete, a Problem Page on the question of VAT for Europeans, a selection of your letters … and more.

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

This issue featured a rather special sim - Better World Island, home to nonprofit organisations such as Gardens of Hope, the Centre for Water Studies and care.org, as well as interactive exhibitions such as Camp Darfur and the Streetsof Baghdad. Designer of the Month was Riversong Garden, the custodian of Better World Island, who created a glorious Japanese home for the competition.

Home of the month was the beautiful Castle Twilight, a fabulous new build by Fornicola Butzova - who also featured in an interview.

Our intrepid reporter Moodyloner Korobase got to chill out on Chillah Island, our Landscape of the month, and she also visited a delightful Cotswold mansion designed by followmeimthe Pied Piper.

There was a special article on Marketing in Secoond Life by CK DexterHaven Rucker, owner of the Chetenne Books Stores (among other things).

And Sky Everett had an article on how to create some stunning textures.

All this PLUS News From the Grid; Advice for Newbies; Problem Page; Fun Quiz; Treasure Hunt for exciting prizes, and much more!

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

This issue centred around castles of very different kinds. Our prize rental of the month was a glorious castle on Castle Island, the castle designed and built by Qabalah Quintus. It was furnished by Jeannie Moonflower, and the magazine contained interviews with both her and Qabalah Quintus.

Home of the month was the faboulous Arcana Nuevo, arguably the most beautiful and mysterious home in Second Life.

Landscape of the month was Tol Eressea, based on the novel of J R R Tolien and drawing on old English Literature - and Moodyloner Korobase, our chief researcher and reporter, got to spend time with the elves as she explored there.

You can see the full contents of the magazine here.

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

This issue featured around the Galaxy, amazing three-sim long cruise liner, built by Bill Stirling. Our prize rental of the month was a magnificent stateroom, on two levels with access to two different decks. It was furnished by Sofia Standish, and the magazine contained interviews with both her and Bill Stirling.

Home of the month was Idyllic Exile, a model of the beautiful island getaway - stylish, and also a real home.

Landscape of the month was Svarga - and Moodyloner Korobase, our chief researcher and reporter, provided some stunning pictures.

You can see the full contents of the magazine here.

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

This issue featured around Venice Island, that beautiful sim that captures Venice of the mind rather than a geographically accurate representation of an existing Venice. Our priize rental of the month was a beautiful apartment, with stinning views over the square and the canals. It was furnished by Isabella Lazarno, and the magazine contained interviews with both her and Venice residents, including the owner of Venioce, Melody Regent.

Home of the month was the Odaesan House, designed by Troy Vogel for Zeug Thalheimer, a towering tribute to the Arts and Crafts and Mission Home style.

Landscape of the month was Cave Rua - where Moodyloner Korobase, our chief researcher and reporter, learned to swim like a mermaid!

You can see the full contents of the magazine here.

You can read the magazine itself (in pdf format) here.

See this month's magazine!