Welcome to another issue of Kultivate Magazine! It is March, which is the time for St. Patrick’s Day! Being someone who had a native Irish paternal grandmother and native Irish paternal great grandparents, I am proud to honor the patron saint of Ireland!
you fashion for March.
Eleseren and I are coming off a very busy month in February, where we hosted our very first fashion event. This event emphasized the arts and we ran a great fundraiser for Feed A Smile, where we were able to provide over 500 meals for children in Kenya. This event Our featured article for this was also entirely 100% free to month is on Casper Warden, all participating merchants. I owner and creator of CasperTech. We also restart our am adding this fact because the arts is something that Eleseren music coverage with an inside and I believe in strongly and look at LaurieC Alexis, fashion is an art form. Second Co-Owner of The Keys Live Life should be about these type Music Venues & Management Group. Guest contributor Amy of things, coming together for a BeeBe has a great Spring photo cause and having fun! essay, while Inara Pey covers the latest exhibition at Eleseren and I would like to Cittolina’s Rooftop. Guest thank our contributors, our contributor AlisonJames has a advertisers, readers, and artists great feature on Builder’s for another great issue! We Brewery and Veruca Tammas hope that you enjoy it. covers the Somewhere Sim. Contributor Illyra Chardin takes La fheile Padraig! you into the world of a Modicum of Color and our featured artist John, this month is Nils Urqhart. Owner & Publisher of Lastly the Edge Stylists bring Kultivate Magazine
KULTIVATE MAGAZINE—MARCH 2017 CREDITS
John, Owner, Publisher, & Editor in Chief Eleseren Brianna, COO & Editor in Chief of The Edge Jessii2009 Warrhol, Marketing & Social Media Coordinator Inara Pey, Lead Contributor Dawnbeam Dreamscrape, Contributor Ilyra Chardin, Contributor Kinnaird Fiachra, Contributor Myra Wildmist, Contributor Stavaros Gracemont, Edge Contributor Anouk Lefavre, Editorial Photographer Casper Warden, Cover Photography Amy Beebe, Guest Contributor AlisonJames, Guest Contributor
THE EDGE MARCH 2017 STYLISTS: Ruby Ornamental Cubito Smit Euridice Qork Aella Illyar Tiszo Cioc Honey Bender Indigo Avonside
KULTIVATE ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE: Sandi Benelli, Lead Artist in Residence Pam Astonia Byrnedarkly Cazalet Warm Clarity
TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 26: FEATURED ARTICLE: CASPER WARDEN & CASPER TECH PAGE 48: INSIDE LOOK: LAURIEC ALEXIS & THE KEY WEST LIVE MUSIC VENUES AND MANAGEMENT GROUP PAGE 64: PHOTO ESSAY BY AMY BEEBE: SPRING PAGE 88: VOYAGES WITH VEE: SOMEWHERE SIM PAGE 106: EXHIBITION SPOTLIGHT: CIOTTOLINAS ROOFTOP EXHIBITION PAGE 122: INSPIRATIONS WITH ILLYRA: A MODICUM OF COLOR PAGE 142: ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: NILS URQHART PAGE 158: BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: BUILDERS BREWERY PAGE 174: THE EDGE
FEATURED ARTICLE: CASPER WARDEN & CASPERTECH
ARTICLE: JOHN PHOTOGRAPHY: CASPER WARDEN
Caspertech is the company behind the most popular vending system in Second Life, CasperVend. I was able to sit down with CasperTech’s founder and owner, Casper Warden:
vending system? CASPER: After spending a
while in Second Life, I created a couple of scripted products which became quite popular on XStreet (which is now the SL marketplace). As demand grew, I needed a JOHN: Casper Tech is the vendor system to manage largest and most popular my various outlets in vending system in Second Second Life. I tried some of the vending systems on Life. Of course it the market at the time, encompasses more now and hated them - most than vendors. Tell our readers what brought you were pretty slow, script-heavy, and often to Second Life? buggy - so I decided to CASPER: I was originally make my own. At first it introduced to Second Life was just for me, but by a client of mine, a people kept asking me to production and digital sell it, so eventually I marketing company who launched CasperVend as a asked me to investigate service. Second Life as a potential new outreach platform. As JOHN: What sets your it turns out, they never entered Second Life, but I vending system apart from others? got hooked. CASPER: Quite a lot, honestly! For us, our main JOHN: And why did you win has been keeping decide to create the
ahead of the curve. Right from the start, our vendors ran with just a single script, making them low-lag. This was our main unique selling point for a while. Other systems soon copied us (e.g. Hippo Elite), but we were always ahead. We also were the first to add marketplace sales integration, server-side bot integration for group invites. We were the first to offer mesh vendors, and we were the first to utilize llTransferLindenDollars for secure payments.
community. Our group chat is always active, filled with helpful and friendly people. We've always maintained a relaxed policy in the group, to help encourage the community to grow.
JOHN: And are you the sole person behind CasperTech or do you have any other talented individuals? CASPER: I wrote all the
scripts and code, designed the websites, and I maintain the servers. But CasperTech would not be here today if it weren't for our dedicated staff, Norsk Customers love our global Himmel and Sphynx Soleil redelivery system, which al- (who are always on hand to lows customers to get help and maintain our redeliveries from ANY documentation), as well as CasperVend merchant, all our mesh artists Discord from a single terminal. Schism and Carn Fall. I am We're also the only vending eternally grateful to these system provider to offer wonderful people for being networked plugins like lucky a huge part of our success. chairs, midnight madness, gachas, etc. JOHN: Tell our readers about your other products. I We're also very proud of our
know that you recently CasperVend and our other released a security system. products have come from CASPER: CasperSafe is our feedback from customers. new security orb, which was in development for two years. But it's not just a security system - the bit that I'm most pleased with is the visitor tracking capabilities, complete with cool graphs and conversion data on the website. It's great for stats geeks like me. We also have CasperLet, our rental system, CasperUpdate, a product update solution, and a whole bunch of other products. We're soon going to be launching a new licensing system, too.
However, the final implementation of the feature is where I try to work some magic. Wherever possible, I try to improve upon the status quo. I like to innovate, not just copy others. One example of this is our gift-wrapping system. Other systems require the customer to rez the gift box first, to "fill" it - but I was not satisfied with this, so with CasperVend there is no requirement to do this.
JOHN: We often hear that the state of SL is in decline JOHN: How do you come up and I remember you publishing stats last year in with features for your regards to the amount of products? Do you accept sales that pass through suggestions from your your vendors, to refute this. customers? If so how can they submit a suggestion? Can you tell our readers if sales are up or down? Or CASPER: Feature ideas will we have to wait for your come from everyone! Pretty upcoming stats report? much all of the features of CASPER: We get these
comments an awful lot, and of course commercial activity in Second Life does decrease at times. Generally speaking, September is the weakest time in Second Life for sales, and January/December is the strongest. I'm not going to try to analyze why this happens - I'm sure there are people far more qualified than me to make these assertions - however, I can tell you that January 2017 was the strongest month in history for sales via CasperVend. You can view our published stats here: https:// caspervend.casperdns.com/ economy.php
community in that way. The fundraiser raised over 20,000 USD. What motivated you to create this fundraiser? Do you support any other causes in real life or Second Life? CASPER: Whether I like it
or not, as the owner of a well-known brand, I do have a position of influence within the Second Life community. I believe that people who are lucky enough to have that kind of influence, also have a responsibility to promote and motivate things which are for the good of everyone, and not just for themselves.
As a liberal gay man, I strongly believe in freedom of speech, freedom of expression and the freedom of JOHN: I want to say sexuality. The attack on thank you for the Pulse the Pulse nightclub was an night club fundraiser. That attack on every value I was very generous of you hold dear. So, I was to organize the motivated to use the
influence that I have, in order to try to make a difference. All I did was make a networked donation board that anyone could rez, kick-started the fund by donating L$100k from CasperTech. From there, the Second Life community took over, and the response was absolutely awe inspiring. This is one of the reasons that I adore Second Life - the community is like no other. Such a vibrant collection of people from every walk of life, people from many countries, religions, ethnicities. They all came together to help the families of the Pulse victims. This was truly a win for the Second Life community, and I was honored to be able to be a part of it. As for other causes, we regularly do collections for Cancer Research, too, and
we support Second Pride.
JOHN: Will we see CasperTech in Sansar? CASPER: My understanding
is that Sansar will be a very different beast to Second Life. It's unlikely that our products will translate directly, however I believe the answer to your question is unequivocally "Yes" - we'll just have to see what form it will take. I've been working with VR since 2012, so I am very keen to see what we can do there.
JOHN: Does CasperTech exist in any other virtual worlds? CASPER: We were present
in Avination for quite some time, but we withdrew when it became clear that the cost of maintaining our products in an OpenSim grid was significant. OpenSim changes a lot more frequently, and the cost of
maintaining our products in an OpenSim grid was significant. OpenSim changes a lot more frequently, and the cost of updating our products whenever they got broken became prohibitive.
much, but it would make the Second Life platform so much more versatile. We need the ability to animate anything.
And finally, a more flexible debit permissions So currently, no. system. We need to be able to request permission JOHN: If you could have for certain amounts of L$, Linden Labs include 3 new so that customers don't need to give unlimited features in Second Life, access to their what would they be? accounts. KM CASPER: First and foremost, trustworthy I would like to thank content Casper for taking the time delivery. Deliveries from to be interviewed! You can the Second Life keep up to date with their marketplace are now products and new releases (finally) reliable, however by visiting the links below: there is no equivalent functionality available for LSL. I guess it's not Main CasperTech Website profitable for them to make in-world vending CasperTech Marketplace reliable when they have Site the marketplace.
CasperTech in Second Life
Secondly, rigged objects. This wouldn't benefit us
Kultivate is proud to once again feature music from Second Life in this issue! It is the start of upcoming music spotlights on Second Life based musicians and venues. In this article we were able to sit down and talk with LaurieC Alexis, Co-Owner of The Keys Live Music Venues & Management Group:
journey but I can tell you that I have never been happier in my Second Life then I am right now. I work with the most amazing people in Second Life and have a wonderful set of friends. I keep logging on because I am curious where each day will lead me on Second Life. It surely has been a wild ride but I could not JOHN: So tell our readers be happier.
about yourself. How long have you been in Second Life and what keeps you logging in?
JOHN: I see that you are co owner of The Keys and The Keys Management. LAURIE: First let me thank What type of venue is The Keys? Kultivate Magazine for taking the time to interview me, this is quite an honor, I hope I do not bore everyone too much! I will be on SL for 5 years in May, this has been such a strange
LAURIE: . Key West is a live music venue. We are celebrating out tenth year in Second Life this July. We are one of the oldest venues on the grid :) And in my opinion
we book the finest singers in Second Life! So if you have not checked us out yet I would implore for you to come. Just a wonderful vibe at Key West.
Mimi Carpenter, Nina Bing and Parker Static joined our ranks. We signed our first male singer in Dimivan Ludwig who is known as the patriarch of KMG. Lo Bloch then joined us and we then JOHN: What about The Keys were able to convince Christopher Quan, Krysania, Management? How many live artists do you manage? SaraMarie Philly, Loreen How long has the business Legion, Winston Ackland and AMForte Clarity to join existed? our ranks. I simply adore LAURIE: Keys Management all of our singers. We are Group was created in more of a family then a August of 2016. We now business. It really has been represent 13 of the finest a joy for me to be part of. performers in Second Life. It was created by Liz Wake, Sydney Baddingham JOHN: How can an interested club or individual and myself we then welcome in Lo Bloch shortly book a live performer with after and Nora Freiman has you? joined us also. We also have LAURIE: Just send an IM to Jasmyn Sugarplum and me Lo Bloch or Nora Lady Glory Eales heading Freiman and we will get you over our wonderful set right up. If anyone hosts. Jacq Luik was the would like to view our first performer to join us, website, you can do that by she has since taken a break going to this from performing but we address: https:// hope she comes back thekeyslivemusic.wordpress soon. Then Melenda Mikael, .com/. I promise you that
you will be pleased with any singer you book with us.
JOHN: Much has been made about Second Life changing and it is not what it used to be in terms of the number of people and events. Do you think this trend is true of live music? If so why do you think it is the case?
example could an avatar in InWorldz book a live performer from The Keys Management there? LAURIE: Krysania has sung in other grids as has SaraMarie Philly. It is not something we have not pushed as of yet but we are always happy to extend our services to all who love live music :)
LAURIE: Yes Live Music has seen some harder times lately. Part of it is the growing prices in SL as well as much more competition out there. As always we are adapting to the changes and are excited about the challenges ahead.
JOHN: How many days a week is The Keys open? LAURIE: Key West is currently open 3 days a week. Sometimes we do a fourth day for special events.
JOHN: How can a live singer use your live singer management services?
JOHN: Do you have any plans to expand your LAURIE: They need to talk service to other grids? For to one of Liz Wake, Lo
Bloch Nora Freiman or myself. We are not currently taking on anyone new as we put a limit to the amount of singers we will represent but we are always happy to talk to all singers.
Kultivate would like to thank Laurie for the interview! You can learn more about Key
West Live Music Management by visiting the following link: The Keys Live Music Venues & Management Group Website
PHOTO ESSAY: AMY BEEBE PRESENTS SPRING PHOTOGRAPHY: AMY BEEBE
VOYAGES WITH VEE: SOMEWHERE SIM
ARTICLE & PHOTOGRAPHY: VERUCA TAMMAS
Imagine this conversation .. “I’m writing an article about Somewhere.” “Where?” “Somewhere.”
to post photos. Personally, I took over 140 photos just for this article and plan to go back and take some more for an exhibit I’m working on.
“No, where?” “SOMEWHERE!”
Somewhere has a little something for everyone. The landing Somewhere is located in the region called Nothing point is where you’ll find one of the little beach Else Matters and was areas and some old ruins, created by Skye Spark trailing vines, gnarled (Skye Vuissent). Be trees and a medieval aware that the sim is an tower. Each of the tower artistic expression and rooms have their own a work in progress style with a library piled so structures and decor high with books to a will change from time to time. At the landing point fantastical room with there is signboard where images of goddesses, the moon and stars and a you can find information on joining the group (one chariot bench. With apologies to all my time fee of 200L which allows you to rez) and the unicorn friends, some address of the Flickr group might find the mounted
but I thought it added a perfect touch to the setting. As you climb the tower you’ll find an open seating area created by the crumbling walls above. There’s a little cabana to sit and chat with friends or cuddle with a loved one. The furniture has many animations for posing but be aware that the “Princess and the Pea” themed mattresses has adult animations as well as general posing animations. The opening created by the destroyed walls allows for you to play with the light and environment features on your viewer to capture some of the outdoors as the background for your
photos. To get to the next island you can either take a canoe of just fly, whichever is easier for you. I chose the piratethemed island next. Here you’ll find lots of places to sit and take photos and just play with the pirate theme. Make sure you explore the ship and the skull above since they’re both very different. The pirate area can accommodate more than one person below decks unless you rez your own props. There’s a gaming table on the island next to the skeletons floating nearby or as I call them the poor pirates who lost their shirt, their pieces of gold and their lives at the gambling table
ARGHHHHHHH! The third island has a fairly twisted circus theme so don’t expect the usual feel-good exhibits. There are some circus-themed animations available with the props and those are great for taking photos (make sure you come in costume). Treat yourself to some cotton candy while you’re there! Up above you’ll find the puppet theater tent. Explore inside but don’t look too closely at the creepy puppet propped in the corner staring blankly into space. You’ll start to
question if it truly is a puppet or something more sinister? Remember, Somewhere is continually changing so you’ll never know what you’ll find on subsequent visits. KM
You can visit the Somewhere Sim at the following slurl: http:// maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife/Nothing% 20Else% 20Matters/184/57/21
EXHIBITION SPOTLIGHT: CIOTTOLINA’S ROOFTOP EXHIBITION
ARTICLE & PHOTOGRAPHY: INARA PEY
It’s been a while since Caitlyn and I last visited Art on Roofs at Solodonna Land, so it was with some delight I received an invitation to pay a visit to explore a new exhibition by an artist I admire: CioTToLiNa Xue. I first encountered CioTToLiNa’s work whilst visiting an exhibition on Mistero Hifeng’s work at the same exhibition space (which you can read about here). Since then I’ve been captivated, and always enjoy seeing her pieces on display.
Some 20 pieces are presented across the rooftops of Solodonna’s Art on Roofs exhibition area. All are quite exquisite and carry a
narrative of their own. Some embody the intimacy of love, others reflect CioTToLiNa‘s cultural / political / ecological interests, others marry 3D work with 2D art – notably the three Moods pieces – as seen in the image above. Several of the pieces a quite large, such as Lesbian World (below) and pista puzzle chiuso, which are something of a departure from CioTToLiNa‘s earlier work, which has tended towards a smaller scale, as evidenced by most of the pieces on display. I see this as perhaps a sign she is growing in confidence in her technique and ability – and applaud her in more freely expressing herself
with these larger pieces. One of the things that particularly attracts me to her work is that the emotional power contained within a piece is so often felt, rather than seen. The eyes may well appreciate the beauty of a piece, but it is within the heart that it resonates, causing to pause or return to it and ponder it again – and even desire it.
genuinely one that should not be missed by anyone who appreciates art and 3D sculpture in Second Life. Should you be taken by that desire to purchase one or more pieces, they and other items from CioTToLiNa’s collection can be found at her in-world store. This is on three levels, so be sure to see it all. KM
SLURL TO EXHIBITION:
http:// The exhibition will remain maps.secondlife.com/ open through until the end secondlife/ of February, and is very
INSPIRATIONS WITH ILLYRA: A MODICOM OF COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY: ILYRA CHARDIN
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: NILS URQHART
ARTICLE: JOHN PHOTOGRAPHY: NILS URQHART & JOHN
JOHN: So tell our readers about your gallery. How long has it existed in Second Life and what is the premise?
types of work are featured? NILS: For now 4 exhibits are running :
- one in my main gallery NILS: I'm a French RL Rill'Arts (Winter is photographer. I started coming ) http:// with my 1st gallery at Isla maps.secondlife.com/ Victoria in 2008, and, secondlife/ since 2010, my main Helvellyn/56/197/31 gallery Rill'Arts is located - one in my 2nd gallery at Helvellyn. I wanted Rill'Arts (A winter tale) show my RL photos for http:// sale. maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife/ JOHN: Is your gallery a Amsterdam/113/127/25
personal one or do you have exhibits that feature - one at White Chapel (Lights in the other artists? NILS: The art gallery Rill'Arts is my personal gallery. I show only my owns photos.
JOHN: Tell us about your current exhibition. What
night) http:// maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife/ LEA10/204/18/27 - and some pics in the Environment Protection Info Centre About Real Life
http:// maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife/Phasic% 20Foo/96/49/21
one month in Vosges, and one month in French Alps.
KM
Kultivate would like to JOHN: What is the theme thank Nils for the interview! of the gallery? Do you allow both 2D and 3D art? You can visit Nils’ gallery NILS: Only photos, no at the following slurl: others artworks. http:// JOHN: What are some of maps.secondlife.com/ secondlife/ the exciting things that you have planned for later Helvellyn/53/201/34 in the year? Any exhibits for later in the Spring or early Summer ? NILS: 1 or 2 exhibits in my main gallery. And maybe in others galleries if I'm invited. I'll go in mountains for take new photos, between June and November 2017. One month in Auvergne,
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: BUILDER’S BREWERY
ARTICLE & PHOTOGRAPHY: ALISONJAMES
If you ever decided to join Second Life and you wanted to build things or buy things or you wanted a place to open up some boxes or learn how to take a photograph or you just wanted a nice sim filled with friendly people to sit at for awhile and you were to ask me what is the one place I would go to or the one group I would join….I would immediately, without hesitation point you in the direction of The Builder’s Brewery.
great things I find in Second Life, but honestly… it IS that great. (and if you are getting all judgey and snarky because you want me to be a biatch and point out crappy things, what the heck is WRONG with YOU???????) OK…so now we have that out of the way, BUILDER’S BREWERY!!!!!
Since I first stepped into this world, this group has been an incredible source of information about anything from how to deal I know I have mentioned with griefers and trolls them before in posts, but (report, block, evict and I thought I should actually ban by the way….or if you dedicate a WHOLE post to are quick, drop a box over their head!) to Scripting this group and this Sim and Blender. No question because it is so darn has ever been too stupid WORTHY. And yes, I realize that the majority of or asked too many times. my posts gush about the
I pop into the brewery almost daily and can quite often be found building in a sandbox there. Even though I probably have enough prim allowance and space at my own place now, I still prefer to build at the Brewery for a few reasons‌ 1. There are ALWAYS other builders there making stuff and it can be really fun, inspirational and educational just to watch them. 2. I have met some really lovely people at the Brewery, ones that just wandered up to see what I was making or building, and as a result, we got to talking. 3. The brewery not only has a ground platform on which you can rezz things or build things, but they have MULTIPLE sky platforms as well which are really useful if you have a big build or
just want a bit of space to tinker and think. When I was new and had no place of my own, I used to use their free and private dressing rooms all of which are beautifully appointed and have everything you need. You can stay in these for up to 3 hours at a time and set who is allowed to enter while you are in there. They have pose stands and lots of space so you can cam all around your avatar to check out how fabulous you look from any angle and in different poses. The Brewery holds classes in their classrooms regularly, The calendar can be found on their website or on the boards located all over the Brewery. The classes can be on anything
from in game photography to making mesh. They use both text and voice and they are highly practical in that you will be making something as you are being taught. The classes also cater for a wide variety of levels from beginners right through to advanced, some classes are one offs and others are part of a series. It’s a really good way to learn.
about this place and this group. So I will stop and post some pretty pictures for you after I say this last thing…In the big world that is Second Life, this group and this place is a haven for creators that are and creators that would be. It is a place of respect, where ideas are shared freely with good humor and boundless patience. I have never heard an unkind word be spoken or a request for Located on the grounds is help unanswered. also a whole village of shops selling high quality So, my friend, if you are items that are mostly full looking for me in world, permissions. You can find you know where you will textures, scripts, find me. Hop in the group, furniture, building or take the SLurl down components and so much below to Builder’s Brewery more at really reasonable and let me show you prices. around and introduce you Yeah…I can go on ALL day to some people.
Many thanks to Sensuous Builder’s Brewery SLurl Maximus for permissions for http://maps.secondlife.com/ this post. KM secondlife/Builders% 20Brewery/130/191/23 Refs: Builder’s Brewery Website http:// www.buildersbrewery.com/
MARCH 2017 EDGE STYLISTS Ruby Ornamental Cubito Smit Euridice Qork Aella Illyar Tiszo Cioc Honey Bender Indigo Avonside
EDGE STYLIST: AEALLA ILLYAR
[Aleutia] Daneen pants and Cathy top. Available at Kultivate Spring Fashion Week.
EDGE MARCH STYLIST: RUBY ORNAMENTAL
By Heartsdale Jewellery @SWANK Darling Opera Collar and Darling Opera Earing
EDGE MARCH STYLIST: CUBITO SMIT
TOP: ::K:: – Crew Neck Sweatshirt @TMD PANTS: ::K:: – Roll-Up Color Jeans [New Release] SHOES: FLite – Taylers GLASSES: MINIMAL – Hunter Glasses @TMD HAIR: Modulus – Jude POSE: K&S – Leonard 1 5
EDGE MARCH STYLIST: EURIDICE QORK
Swimsuit | Maya from Thalia Heckroth
EDGE MARCH STYLIST: HONEY BENDER
EDGE MARCH STYLIST: TISZO CIOC
EDGE MODEL STYLIST: INDIGO AVONSIDE
Eyes: (Ikon) ~ Charm Eyes Hair: (little bones) ~ Gem Gown: (Revoul) ~ Giselle ~ Swindle @ Tres Chic Jewelry: (MANDALA) ~ Haramita Nails : (Gorgeous Dolls) ~ Them Fancy Girls New Fingernail Shapes Hands: (Vista Animations) ~ Vista Pro Hands Bento Pose: (XPOSE) ~ 108 & Bag 11
RISTORANTE IVANNA This free self service restaurant is part of Kultivate Art Galler restaurant. **The restaurant is not a roleplay restaurant wh restaurant where you can bring your date or loved one for a
ry and is in the style of a romantic Italian here you have to pay to be served. It is a FREE quiet and romantic setting. **
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