Fill the Cauldron – by voting in the competitions! (and shopping and dancing)

Entry for the Garden Contest

The event to support Elicio Ember, Filling the Cauldron, is in its final weekend now, and we’ve already raised a wonderful total of over £451,000 – but there is still a lot going on! Including shopping in the Market, bidding in the silent auctions, looking at the items listed for the Live Auctions … and coming tio some of the fantastic music, dance and story telling events that you’ll see listed on the schedule.

For example, you can still vote in the Garden Competition and really, you don’t want to miss the opportunity to visit the gardens! Nine talented Second Life residents have created gardens in salute to Elicio, using many of the fantastic plants and landscaping elements he has created. In some of the gardens there are places to sit and relax – and you’ll also find other seating areas where you can sit and contemplate …

Because this is a contest, and you can play a part in deciding the outcome!

Entry for the Garden Contest

We’re asking YOU to vote for the garden you most appreciate based on the following criteria:

• Overall look and aesthetic
• Use of Elicio’s creations
• How much you enjoyed exploring each of them.

When you have decided, visit the voting form and use it tell us which of the gardens speaks to you the most. All the popular votes will be combined with votes from the judging panel to select three Gardens.

And then, in the finale, the one winning garden will be selected as the overall winner, by our Guest of Honour – Elicio Ember.

The winner will win the chance to build their garden as a special exhibit at the Second Life Home and Garden Expo, where it will be featured on the central region!

Entry for the Garden Contest

Then there’s the Photo Contest, which comes complete with some very special prizes.

Elicio’s store, Cerridwen’s Cauldron, offers a marvellous, magical setting both in the air and on the ground. We asked competitors to visit Cerridwen’s Cauldron and capture some of that magic. It doesn’t matter if they selected a part of the skyborne store or the ground-level landscape – they simply had to capture all or part of the region in a way that brings out its beauty and magic.

In return, we’re offering the following prizes:

• 3rd place: items from Cerridwen’s Cauldron worth up to L$750
• 2nd place: items from Cerridwen’s Cauldron worth up to L$1,000
• 1st place: an original piece of real world art by Elicio himself, delivered to you in-world and to your home.

Entries are now closed – but it’s YOUR turn to visit the Flickr group and decide which of the entries you like best!

Mark the ones you like with a “Fave” star. Your faves will be combined with the votes from the judging panel and, like the Garden Contest, will be announced at 3pm SLT on Sunday 9th April at the Entertainment Center on Holly Kai.

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Auction for Elicio: Items needed for our Silent and Live Auctions

One of Elicio’s paintings – which could be yours in Second and Real Life!

We have been telling you about Filling the Cauldron, the special event to raise funds to support Elicio Ember, the creator of Ceridwen’s Cauldron.

As part of the fundraising event, we will be having an TWO auctions – a SILENT one (where you will be able to place bids throughout the event from April 1st – 9th, and also a LIVE auction, to be held from 10am – 12 noon on Sunday 9th April at Holly Kai island.

And we have something very exciting already that will be on sale at the auction – a selection of drawings by Elicio himself that will be available not just inworld, but can be sent to you in real life as well, as a very special treasure to keep.

A Unique Gift from Sweet Revolutions!

We are currently looking for more items to add to the auction. These can be individual items … such as art, clothing, jewellery or furniture.  You’ll see above a really gorgeous item that has been donated an a unique gift by Sweet Revolutions – a beautifully detailed Mayan Temple.

But the items can also be special services – a boat trip around the Blake Sea; a hand designed scroll containing a favourite poem. We’ll be offering a Designing Worlds show made on the subject of your choice, and we also have two different and very exciting gifts from different dance troupes in Second Life!

Time and expertise can be just as valuable. For example, if you are a photographer, you could offer a lesson in SL photography or studio sitting; if you’re a machinima maker, you could offer to shoot a video on an event or a location of the bidder’s choosing; if you are a live singer, you might offer to give a private performance to the bidder and their friends. Just provide a description of what you’re offering in the form.

Whatever you’d like to donate for the auction, we’d love to hear about it – please complete the form below – or contact Saffia Widdershins inworld with any questions.

 

 

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Designing Worlds’ show to help Fill the Cauldron is now on the web (and how you can help too)!

The latest episode of Designing Worlds – a very special show, dedicated to Elicio Ember and a special event called Filling the Cauldron – is now on the web!

Elicio’s father has suffered a major stroke, and the family is struggling to meet medical costs associated with his treatment. Since then various groups of people have been putting together ideas, and we’re pleased to announce that we now have THREE ways in which people can and will be able to help Elicio and his family.

Today’s show is therefore a repeat of the show we made last year about Elicio and his work, and his wonderful region – Cerridwen’s Cauldron, a place well worth exploring and at that time newly updated! But we’ve given it a special introduction to explain the situation, and what YOU can do to help.

And full details are also printed at the bottom of this post.

So please join us for a beautful and very special show at 2pm SLT.

Or – if you can’t attend in person – tune in to the web at 2pm SLT on Monday for a showing on SLartist – or catch it later in the week on the SLArtist.com channel, the Aview TV Designing Worlds channel – or on the Designing Worlds blog.

Cerridwen’s Cauldron, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Filling the Cauldron

Filling the Cauldron is a week-long in-world event to be hosted at Holly Kai Park on the beautiful Blake Sea.

When

Saturday, April 1st through Sunday April 9th, inclusive.

What

• Live music and DJ performances at the park’s main events venue
• An art display inspired by Elicio’s work
• A silent auction
• A special Design a Garden contest with a very special prize
• A photo contest with special prizes
• A market area
• Cerridwen’s Corner – a mini-store of Elicio’s creations, allowing you to buy his items and visit his main store.

Website and Information

The Filling the Cauldron website, dedicated to the event, is now up and running – please bookmark it! There will also be further updates through this blog, Prim Perfect and other blogs – so keep your eyes out for news!

Cerridwen’s Cauldron, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Help Wanted

Right now we’re looking for people to get involved, including:

• Musicians, DJs and performers willing to give up one or two hours of their time to perform on stage and help raise money for Elicio. Please see the Filling the Cauldron Entertainment Applications page for more details
• Artists wishing to participate in our Art Show
• Artists and creators willing to donate to our Auction
• Merchants wishing to be a part of our marketplace and gacha
• Volunteers willing to help run the event during the week

So if you are interested in any of the above, please follow the links and sign-up. And if you’d like to attend, make sure you bookmark / follow Filling The Cauldron to keep up-to-date with all that is going on. Bloggers, we’ll have information on blogging the event available through the Filling the Cauldron blog very soon!

GoFundMe Campaign

Available now is a special GoFundMe campaign organised by Vecchio Barbosa (Felix Büchler in RL), which is raising money to help Elicio and his family through physical world donations.

The campaign has Elicio’s full support and endorsement, as he is unable to run a campaign himself from Mexico.

If you would like to donate to help Elicio RIGHT NOW, please visit the GoFundMe page. You can also reach it via a link on the Filling The Cauldron website.

Cerridwen’s Cauldron, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Ember’s Cauldron Shopping Event

Ember’s Cauldron is a shopping event which will run for a month between March 16th through April 16th. Organised by Lerochelle Destiny, it is a store-based event in which people visiting participating stores can purchase special items in the knowledge that 100% of proceeds from the sale are going to Elicio and his family.

We will be supporting Ember’s Cauldron via the Filling the Cauldron website, where you will soon be able to see a list of all participating stores complete with SLurls.

If you are a creator / store owner and would like to participate in Ember’s Cauldron, please visit their sign-up page. Please note than all enquiries on Ember’s Cauldron should be directed to Lerochelle Destiny.

 

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If you do one thing today … buy something from Elicio Ember at Cerridwen’s Cauldron

Cerridwen’s Cauldron, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Almost all of you reading this will know Elicio Ember’s work. If you don’t own several pieces yourselves, then you will have seen it around the grid, sometimes in fantasy areas, sometimes adding a touch of mystery and romance to other locations as well. We’ve shown his work many times on Designing Worlds – a couple of times in shows about him, but many more times as we film other places that use his items.

The Ruins of Nu Orne, photographed by Judith LeFevre

Elicio has designed some of the most beautiful regions in Second Life – his own Cerridwen’s Cauldron (which we used in filming Season 1 Episode 4 of The Blackened Mirror), but also stunning regions for Fantasy Faire – the glorious glass lanterns of Titan’s Hollow, the mysterious decaying Ruins of Nu Orne, returning to the jungle – and so many others. He created the wonderful Otherworld where the Fantasy Faire Literary Festival was held last year.

Titan’s Hollow, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

And his store is filled with beautiful items – water lilies and surprising plants, glowing obelisks and intricate temples. To everything he brings a touch of fantasy that is grounded in reality; his background in the dual worlds of biology and graphic design make even his wildest creations completely plausible.

Elicio’s Lilies

On top of all this, Elicio is one of the sweetest and kindest people I know, whether in Second Life or the real world. He is warm and deeply supportive of friends – and he has many, and gives unsparingly to causes that he believes in.

A Cave of Elicio’s beautiful plants on Night Whispers

So, that made it all the more sad to receive the news today that his father has had a very serious stroke, and that Elicio and his sisters, who are all in Mexico, are faced with very serious medical bills.

On Facebook he writes:

My father had a stroke yesterday that was not seen to until today. There is no clear prognosis yet but things are serious and some kind of neural damage is confirmed. How serious is yet unknown, as his brain is still swollen and blood obscures the true size of the damage. …

Public health security in Mexico is insufficient and often of very low quality. And often even government institutions seek ways for skirting or ignoring health insurance or not subscribing their workers to the public health program. My father is a 72 year 5 idiom speaker that gave language classes during the whole day at the Senior Citizens University in Mexico. A government institution. Such institution does not subscribe their teachers to any kind of health protection program. Through a really shady 1 month contract-recontract practice that insures no teachers get health protection or antiquity bonuses. Even though most of them are senior citizens. So, my father has no health protection whatsover. Which I found about just 4 days ago. Private health insurance is usually out of reach for people like me, several of my sisters and my father. Basically the non existent middle class and below. Mexican public hospitals; although they admit people not subscribed to the public health program, they will often treat people not subscribed as low priority in an already overloaded and poor health system. It’s a Russian roulette. People can be treated well and recover. People die waiting to be treated. People die by malpractice. And if not subscribed to public health, uncertainty is always higher. So we took him to a private hospital before risking a long wait. I have 5 sisters, but not even between all of us we will be able to pay for the hospital charges without severely straining all our economies, not even considering all the expenses of rehab and care that will follow if…well. If he makes it. Which might be actually more terrifying than if he does not as its yet uncertain what the rehab possibilities are.
That’s why, even though I have asked you for support by buying my work during my last months upheld, I will have to ask you for it yet again …

So I am making a rare appeal. I am asking you to go to Elicio’s store today. I am asking you to buy what you can. You won’t regret owning his beautiful objects. But more – I’m asking you to tell people about this. Share this post. Share the address of the store. If you can’t get inworld, buy something from his marketplace store. Tell your friends to go and buy everything they can.

Cerridwen’s Cauldron, photographed by Wildstar Beaumont

Elicio has given so much to Second Life. Let’s show him what Second Life can give back to him.

The Ruins of Nu Orne, photographed by Judith LeFevre

 

 

 

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