I often needed to get a picture of a new V-Tech tee over the past year. When I did, I threw on the V-Tech for the Maitreya Lara mesh body and took the picture. It was never a perfect solution, though. I decided it was time for a new Second Life avatar as I was getting ready for the Practice Makes Progress photoshoot.

Peng Barthelmess is my big brother inworld and for my new avatar, we would get a younger sibling, Ann Barthelmess. I can’t call her our little sister because she’ll quickly tell you she’s non-binary and her pronouns are they/theirs. Ann’s being enby, like their height and hair color, are there to honor some great people in my life.

Creating Ann

For my new Second Life avatar, Ann started with the Daisy mesh starter avatar and pulled in some of the clothes for the Chris starter avatar. Ann fits the overall Daisy look, but they’re not quite a shorts, flannel shirt, and cowboy boots kind of person.

Ann was created to model my mesh shirts, so they needed a mesh body. Since they would model my V-Tech tees, they needed a Maitreya Lara body. The V-Tech ladyboi mod is an add-on for that specific body. I also got the Maitreya Petite mod so that when they’re not wearing V-Tech clothes. When they’re not in V-Tech tops, they’re a great candidate for the Itty Bitty Titty Committee. ( The base tees shirt I use for my shirts are from White Canvas. I hope they’ll start supporting the Lara Petite mesh body, but I’m not sure the designer is even active on SL anymore.)

Ann wore the Daisy head for the Practice photoshoot, but if I wanted to get their skin color matching between their head and the rest of her I knew she needed a better mesh head. I ended up going with the AK Advanced #W07 head. It’s a really nice looking head, and it supports BoM right out of the box. For the skin, I went with Pink Fuel because they have great V-Tech skin, and their Vanilla is a great shade for Ann’s skin.

I definitely want Ann to be a ginger (a nod to some awesome redheads in my life), and I got them the My Pretty Mixels (MPP) Alex Red Pack hair.

My new Second LIfe avatar wasn’t cheap to create, but they’re worth it

Some people question spending so much on a new Second Life avatar for an alt. But it was worth spending the Lindens so Ann was would be more photogenic. I’m okay with buying them the Maitreya Lara body because modeling V-Tech clothes, they have to have that mesh body.

I have Ann pretty much set now, although I need to figure out why her neck does a weird sideways sliding thing sometimes. It’s almost as if they’re an alien who doesn’t quite understand how human heads are supposed to move.

Ann’s Look

• Mesh Body: Maitreya Lara Mesh Body (SLurl)
• Body Mod: [V-Tech] Boi Chest Mod (MP SLurl) (or) Maitreya Add-on Petite (Maitreya website article)
• Mesh Head: [AK Advanced] – Bento Head 3.0 #W07 (Website SLurl)
• Hair: MPP Hair – Alex – Cherry (from the Red pack) ( MP SLurl)
• Skin: Pink Fuel Vanilla skin (SLurl) (or) DeeTaleZ Skin ADDON for Maitreya Lara (FLAT)/DEF – European (Website SLurl)
• Shirt: NN Fuck Chemo V-Tech Tee (coming soon)
• Jeans: JellyRoll – Weekender Jeans (MP)
• Shoes: SL Chris avatar Shoes (not shown)