Location: Morris Mertel's Shop
As the House of Usher Project has evolved, I took short-cuts to avoid trying to "make it all myself." Even where I have the skills to do things, I can lack time. Luckily for me, a number of talented builders make great themed content.
I've sung the praises of Viv Trafalgar here before, and Viv is making costumes for actors and visitors at our simulation. Now I want to praise Morris, whose shop 3Dreamworld Studios led me to all sorts of everyday items to make a Victorian mansion look more Poelike--that is, a bit worn, Gothic, and massive. One trick for such a build involves not going for the over-the-top Goth look that is so popular in SL; it parodies for dramatic effect actual Victorian homes that Poe knew and that still stand in my and his home town.
I've imagined the House to be in England, perhaps an old family manor that may have been a castle in the dim past of the doomed family. That seemed to call for a mix of heavy retro-medieval pieces as well as more dainty Victorian objects.
Morris' fireplace, pictured below, came to us free of charge. It was bundled with a number of the period cottages I have seen on his property, and when I contacted him, he gladly gave me a free fireplace. We're using many of his items in our House of Usher, but the idea of helping an educational project seemed to appeal to him.
The fun of working in a community--that Burning Life spirit--keeps SL's creators creating. And I'm glad to support them with my Linden Dollars.
3 comments:
Are your students also working on this? Will it go public? I always thought of the house as being in America, so I'm interested in your conception of it as being in England.
We visualize the House as English, not American. Poe does not state the location, but the crypt's use as a "donjon-keep" in "remote feudal times" led us across the Atlantic.
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