Yesterday, in a fit of creativity, I decided to build myself a Tortoise stove in Second Life. I've wanted one of these in real life for ages, but sadly it's not to be - way too expensive and there's nowhere I could put one in the house anyway - but in SL, anything is possible!

Being a novice at building just about anything in SL, I was unsure about how well I could make one, but buoyed up by a little research and a false belief in my abilities (!) I set to work...

Lunchtime today I finished the build and the final results are below:

Now, it may not look like much but i'm pretty pleased with my first attempt. I've taken a couple of liberties with the design, but attempted to stay faithful to the basic design. To give you an idea of what the real thing is, i've found an image of one above:

Tortoise stoves were first manufactured by Charles Portway in 1830 in Essex, England. They proved immensely popular, and many sizes were made - the one above is a number '2' stove. The reason for the name, "Tortoise", is that the stoves are very slow but highly efficient fuel burners - every stove carries the motto "Slow but Sure" and has a tortoise emblazoned on the top and on a crest on the front. They can work with any fuel, but work best with Anthracite coal, once commonly mined in Wales and Scotland. They were widely used to heat private homes, halls and churches, hence the mention in the first verse of John Betjemen's poem "Christmas":

So, at last I have my Tortoise stove! I aim to improve the detailing later, but for now i'm content to leave it in pride of place in my island house, just keeping the office warm, ready for my return...