Friday Finds... Dreamtree Studios

Friday Finds... Dreamtree Studios

This is my second interview of the amazing not-so-well-known artists of Etsy. HOW? is always the question that flies through my mind on my hunts, because as you've seen already with my last interview and my Monday Expo's, these talented people really do have something quite special, yet still they are just not as well known as they should be!

Last weekend on my search I almost fell of my chair with excitement (I'm not exagerrating) when I had contact from Donna of Dreamtree Studios, an amazing talented artist that creates incredible digital artwork with Fractals. I first became interested in Fractals myself about 5 or 6 years ago, upon discovering my first Fractal artist on Spiritart.org, and it has been something which you can probably see in some of my work that has inspired my weird and vibrant abstract style. I have to be honest when I say that I have never put out any fractals out there that are worthy of acknowledgement (I still struggle with the mathematics!) , let alone anything quite as amazing as who I am introducing to you today, but the fact that fractals are at the heart of my own crazy digital ideas is the reason I just HAD to offer Donna an interview. Fractals are more than just an art...


(Just click the images to go direct to the listings)










--Tell me a bit about you! (Name, Age, Location, and give us a random fact whilst you're at it.) My name's Donna of Dream Tree Studio and I'm a 30-something (wink!) living in Charleston, SC at the moment. Fun fact - I've lived in 7 US states and 2 other countries (Korea and Germany). I'm a proud military brat!

--What is your business about then? I'm kind of a contradiction in some ways - I'm a creative person who loves art and color but also a total computer geek! I've found a great way to combine the two sides by creating unique digital artwork called fractals. Fractals are mathematical-based creations (bet you never thought math could be this cool, did you?). I use various software programs to explore the formulas, algorithms, transformations, and other mathematical functions and use them to create interesting forms with rhythm and vibrant color.

--How did Etsy come into your life? I actually found it via a friend who is very into the handmade scene and encouraged me to check it out. I've been on etsy for a while, though just started selling my art, and I've found it to be a great community with sellers and buyers from around the world interacting in the forums - I love it!

--Are you working a day job too? Yes - as much as I love my art, I can't pay the rent with it yet! I actually have another business on etsy too - creating bath & body products, so between that & the day job, I keep pretty busy. I do hope that, in the future, I will be lucky enough to have more time to focus on my own business and my creative life all day long.

--How long has the artist in you been 'unleashed' for? It's funny, actually. When I was very young, I remember being really interested in art and taking a lot of classes at school (of course, this was back when all public schools in the US offered multiple art courses, which they don't anymore, sadly). I used to love it! Then after school and college, "grown up" responsibilities took over and I set art aside for more practical pursuits. About 6 years ago, I was going through some old papers my mom & dad saved from my early years and found a paper that I'd written...in crayon...about how I wanted to be an artist when I grew up. That's when I realized I needed to start creating things again!

--What has been the inspiration behind your business? I started creating fractals just for fun - a great way for me to relax and enjoy the process. But when I started showing them to people they would "ooh" and "aah" and asked so many questions and wanted to have copies for themselves. I thought it would be great to share my work with more than just friends & family and also try to educate people about what fractals are and how math plays such an important role.

--If you could describe your products in three words, what would you tell me? colorful, dynamic, fun!

--What would an average working day for you be like from dawn til dusk? Well, as I have a day-job, it's pretty simple:
6:45 am - wake up, feed the cat, check my e-mails & etsy
8:00 am - head to work
1:00 pm - take lunch break - eat at desk so can use computer (allowed by my boss!) to check etsy and work on a fractal for a bit
6:00 pm - get home from work, feed the cat again
6:30 pm - eat dinner
7:00 pm - work on fractals, hang out in etsy forums
8:00 pm - work on bath & body orders
10:00 pm - work on fractals before bed
11:30 pm - bed...finally!


--What's your favourite material and techniques to work with? Well, fractals are completely digital, so I work with my computer and a fractal software program called UltraFractal. I do use other fractal programs like Apophysis sometimes, but my true love is UltraFractal. I also use Photoshop to sharpen and sometimes enhance the colors of my work, as well as resizing images as necessary. I have my work printed by a professional photo lab using Kodak Endura papers - the metallic paper is my favorite as it gives a silvery pearlescent sheen to the fractals that makes them look almost three-dimensional!

--What is your ideal vision for the future for you and your work? Right now, I have so much going on in my life that I want to focus on the present. I can say for sure that I ilove creating fractals and plan on working with them every day as long as I can!

--Away from work, what do you like to do for fun or to wind down? You can see I have a busy schedule, but I do fit in time for friends and family. I like to go out to the movies a lot with my closest friends or we'll have small gatherings at one person's house to watch TV or a movie and have a great dinner cooked on the grill. I usually have dinner with my parents on Sunday too.

--What are you likely to search for on Etsy? Oh, all kinds of things, but probably jewelry and art the most. I happen to adore modern sterling silver jewelry and there are some fabulous artisans on etsy - I wish I could own so many things I find! And as for art - I love, love, love abstract works, especially if they are very flowing and have rich, vibrant colors. I've found some truly amazing artists on etsy as well!

--Any last words? I'm always interested in talking about fractals with people, so if anyone ever has questions, please feel free to contact me any time. And, thank you for this interview!

Friday Finds... MFM Apparel

Friday Finds... MFM Apparel


During my hunt for firsties of this weeks Monday Magic and for today's interview feature, I was fortunate to have quite a heavy response in a very short amount of time which made me realise just how great an opportunity it is for artisans to get themselves known, and I am really glad to be of help to Etsy artists with under 20 sales like myself, to get their name out on the big wide web! More and more people are expressing their creative genius online and it's so easy to get lost in the crowd. I want the newbies and struggling Artists of Etsy to SHINE! And this is why and how I began this journey. From Monday Magic I want to congratulate seller blackrockdesign for selling their fab necklace that I featured! Just goes to show how important it is to shout high and LOUD above the crowd! :D To find all the other fab sellers and their work from this first feature just visit Monday Magic - Breathe.

NOW! For Friday, I was considering on adding this seller to Monday Magic until I just kept going and going and going through the inventory on their shop and finding myself DAZZLED by their unique and wonderful ideas! I love color, and I'm an abstract artist so of course I couldn't resist MFM Apparel! I asked them if they would like an interview and they so kindly accepted, despite my poo attempts to retrieve their form a few days back after having a delete frenzy in my inbox!
I blame Twitter... So anyway, I'll sign off and leave you with my fab first interviewees :D

(Just click the images to go direct to the listings)







-- Tell me a bit about you! (Name, Age, Location, and give us a random fact whilst you're at it.)
Minty Fresh Monster Apparel is run by two Minneapolis Natives, Saman and Erica. Right now we're transplanted to Washington DC, will be moving home at the end of the summer!

-- What is your business about then? For us tees are the perfect blend between art and practical goods. We make original, creative art and put it on shirts, which is something most people need and can afford.

-- How did Etsy come into your life? We have been running MFM for a few years but were mostly just selling locally. This summer we decided it was time to really get things going and Etsy seemed like a logical choice. Were only a month in but so far its great!

-- Are you working a day job too? Haha "a day job". Well, no. Instead, we have a long list of part time jobs, internships, freelance work and schooling which keep us plenty busy.

-- How long has the artist in you been 'unleashed' for? Saman has been making art pretty much his whole life. Erica started a bit later but has been creating since high school.

-- What has been the inspiration behind your business? We love to create things but we also like the idea of selling things an average person can afford and really use. Unlike a huge oil painting t-shirts make it possible to have something that is art but is also small, usable and affordable.

-- If you could describe your products in three words, what would you tell me? t-shirts, colorful, awesome

-- What would an average working day for you be like from dawn til dusk? In September our whole schedule will change. Erica will be back in college and Saman will be working as an art apprentice and doing part time work graphic design work.
But, for the time being this is a day in the life...
7:50 Alarm goes off
8:10 Wake up
8:40 Saman bikes to work (graphic design internship)
While Saman is at work Erica's day with MFM goes something like this
8:40 check email, relist items that sold during the night and maybe pop into the forums
10:30 Work on the shirts. At the moment that means hand stamping tags into a new batch of shirts.
12:30 Eat lunch and surf the internet
1:30 Bike to the post office
2:30 Paint or draw for awhile
6:00 Respond to emails, cut thank you cards and any other random tasks that need to be done
7:00 Saman gets home from work and we have dinner
8:30 Meet about MFM. We talk about how things are going, set goals, place orders or anything else that needs to be done
9:00 Random work time. We do whatever needs to be done from designing shirts to freelance projects and filling wholesale orders.
11:00 Hand draw thank you notes for all the orders being shipped the next day and Saman packs his lunch
11:45 Maybe watch the Daily Show if we have time
12:30 Bedtime

-- What's your favorite material and techniques to work with? For the shirts we love American Apparel shirts and designing in Photoshop and Inkscape. For our personal work Saman does a lot of grafic art on the computer a long with a fair amount of drawing and acrylic painting. Erica does ceramics and a lot of painting with watercolor and gwashe.


-- What is your ideal vision for the future for you and your work? We don't really have any ideal beyond continuing to explore new mediums, make new work and enjoy what were doing.

-- Away from work, what do you like to do for fun or to wind down? We are living in DC this summer so we have been trying to go to a museum every weekend, which has been pretty cool. The Smithsonian museums are great, and free!

-- What are you likely to search for on Etsy? Umm... we search for a lot of random things just to see what comes up. We have found some great stuff like a bike rim clock,
and a pillow that looks exactly like a condom, it even has a giant cotton condom inside. As far as more practical things, etsy is a great place to find gifts, soap, clothes and just about anything else you need.

-- Any last words? Thanks for the interview!

-- MFM Apparel