The Scene: We are currently in the middle of a massive snowstorm, with drifts reaching knee level. While I’d love to just stay cozy inside, the chickens don’t care about the weather! We had to literally dig our way to the coop just to feed them and change their water.
Outfit of the day
The Discovery: While we were shoveling, I took a quick video to capture the madness of the storm. Later, when I was reviewing the footage, I realized I wasn’t the only one commenting on the weather. Through the rhythmic scrape of the shovels and the sounds of the chickens, a voice manifested clearly:
“Sooo much… snow.”
The Analysis: What makes this clip so chilling (no pun intended) is the delivery. The word “snow” wasn’t just spoken; it was sung. It carried that unmistakable Prince falsetto—the same breathy, airy, and melodic voicing you hear on hits like “Kiss.”
The “Producer” Perspective: In the past, I’ve used scrambled “alive voice” samples to give him the raw material to speak (a process called Audio Transfiguration). But this time, he did it all on his own using the environment. He used the “white noise” of the shovels and the organic sounds of the chickens as his “carrier wave.”
It’s as if he’s still the master producer, sitting in a studio, taking the random sounds of my backyard and “mixing” them into his own iconic vocal signature. Even in a snowstorm, he’s finding the “buttons” to make sure his voice is heard.
For those who know his music, you know the ‘scoop’ he does when entering a high note. In this recording, that same melodic scoop is present. It’s a vocal fingerprint that is nearly impossible to replicate through random noise.
Not only is May, my birthday month, but it’s my favourite time of year for its seasonal blooms. It is as if everything springs back to life from the winter hibernation. The warm weather brings seemingly immediate growth to plants that laid quietly dormant from the winter months.
Though this time is exciting, I am currently feeling overwhelmed with so much that needs to be done in the garden, and life in general. It becomes an urgent priority to get seeds sown in, and shop for plants before the planting season ends. Canada’s growing season is limited, so one must make the most of the time when it comes.
These last few weeks have been occupied with going to plant nurseries and garden centres to find the best selection of plants for my garden. In addition, there is always something that needs attention in the garden, whether it is weeding, pruning, watering, planting, and of course harvesting. I also do research to make the most of what I am growing. This year, I have added sage, catnip, lavender, green perilla, and violas to my herb garden. I have also added in a mix of edible and wild flowers from some surprise variety seed packs. It will be interesting to see what comes from it.
I tried eating viola for the first time. Its fragrance is divine. I put one in a glass of water and I could smell it every time I took a sip. Then I ate the flower, and it was crisp. Its flavour was floral, grassy, and slightly peppery.
Last week, I was weeding our garden vegetable beds, and discovered a single violet plant, tucked away in a corner. I felt it was a blessing, as for several months now, I have been wishing for violet. I have never seen them in person, as they don’t seem common in my area. I even bought seeds to try to germinate them, though I heard they can be difficult, they will have to wait for autumn sowing. Perhaps it was P who brought me this, carrying its seed in the wind, hoping to create this “ocean of violets in bloom” that I dream of. I had been researching its medicinal properties and uses, and wanted to add it to my stock of herbal supplies.
I have a lot of things I need to do for my art projects and my shop, but I have to take the time out to work on my garden, which is the source of my shop inventory. I will be adding dried violas to my shop when I have gathered a lot. So a lot of things have to go on the back burner for now. Because as we all know, the blossoms don’t last forever. You just have to enjoy them while they’re there.
I never thought I’d wear Crocs, but here we are, they make them in Lavender color, the only color I’d wear them in. Perfect for gardening, an anti-fashion fashion statement.
Monet is one of my favourite painters, he created his works in his garden, the source of the subject matter for most of his famous works. I hope to have something like that in the future for myself.
I’ve been busy updating my Etsy shop, adding new products, and my revamping packaging. It started out with running low of thank you postcards, and I was going to order more. BUt I noticed the price of printing has jumped out substantially. I decided to get creative.
Over the years of being in business, I’ve adapted a philosophy of “use what you’ve got”, instead of buying more stuff, akin to the saying, make lemonade when life gives you lemons.
My art supply stack of card stock has gone unused and neglected. I decided to design thank you cards with the card stock. Each card opens up with a thank you note attached, which can be easily removed. The customer can then use the card in the future to write a note to someone else. The card has two sides,one without my promo info, so it can be flipped to just the picture side.
I also decided to create a design for my mailing envelopes. I use these resealable envelopes with the hope that the customer will reuse it for something else. My thought is if I make it really pretty, it will increase the likelihood of not being tossed out. I am also printing the return address directly on the envelopes, so that I am halve reduce use of labels by half.
While doing all this, I ended up finally finishing a product design that has been sitting on the back burner. I’ve been wanting to redesign my Arnica Balm labels to relaunch it on Etsy. Up until now, I have only had this balm on offer to personal friends. I’ve been working on this formula a long time, designed to relieve muscle aches and bruises. Now I am really happy with the new design.
I’ve designed my labels to be printed on fine qua;ity paper. I found the paper was sturdy enough to withstand wear and tear. It is glued on using an adhesive that works on glass. The great thing is that the labels and glue come off easily after soaking in hot water. No sticky gummy mess to deal with! My hope is that customers reuse the jars instead of tossing it in the recycling bin.
I also designed a label for my Lavender essential oil roller. I never travel without lavender oil. I learned my lesson from the past. You never know if the place you’re going to will have mostquitos, or you get a pimple on the way there! Better safe than suffer on a long journey!
Originally, I wanted to design a print for kraft paper wrap for gift orders. But it turned out that my printer cannot deal with the task. I don’t want to order it custom, as I don’t normally use tissue wrap in my orders. I consider it non-essential.
Instead, I created a gift wrap design, which features plain tissue wrap, a lace cut-out obi strap and embossed logo sticker seal. Embossing is a great way to customize stationary items, and it requires no ink! The obi strap is made from scrap remnants of photo paper that would have been thrown out otherwise.
Long time readers of my blog will recognize the line drawings on my packaging. They are my channelled drawing with P. I’ve long wanted to incorporate them into my designs.
So far, I feel that the start of 2022 has been a productive one. They say that how you start the year on the first day will project into the rest of the year. I was packing orders on New Year’s day. Perhaps the saying is true?
I even had the energy to design this gift bag for my shop. I’m going to be offering premium gift wrapping options for my customers buying presents.
My philosophy for designing packaging is to keep it simple, and as minimal as possible. A lot of times, I will try to find ways to reuse packaging that I receive in orders. I also keep in mind how the end user can reuse the packaging. I also consider durability of the packaging, so rather than being recycled, reuse is preferred. I still use plastic in my packaging, but it is used for the purpose of keeping items fresh, or to prevent damage during transit. I’ve had samples of those biodegradable clear plastic protector bags, and I’ve got to say, that I am not a fan. They break apart easily around the edges and folds, as they are not as flexible. Some of these packaging products that are said to be environmentally -friendly are not long lasting.
Recently a friend asked where I got the name for my shop, Dreamer Gallery. I chose it for several reasons. I like the feeling the word dreamer evokes. But the word “dream” is also in the letters of my name. ANDREAMAI.
For the past few months, I have been working on a collection of individually printed silk scarves. I’ve been experimenting with a process involving light activated dyes and film negatives. If you are interested in any of the items, they are for sale on my Etsy page. They are all one of a kind and unique (like a snowflake), never exactly the same as each other, not even the colour.
It took me quite some time learning to work with these dyes. A lot of testing was needed, as you do not know what colour is going to turn out until the final wash. When the dyes are applied, they are almost colourless.The colour develops as the dye is exposed to light. Film negatives are laid out on the fabric to create a resist against the light. After the exposure is complete, the fabric is washed to remove excess dye.
This process I’m working with has me excited. I’m looking forward to the spring when the peonies in my garden will be in bloom. I’d like to make a peony print.
I’ve been experimenting with light activated dyes for a couple of weeks. It’s been an interesting experience. The dyes react with UV light, and so different printing techniques can be applied. It’s an interesting medium for me to work with, as both a photographer and a textile artist, I get to print on both paper and fabric. Here are some of the results from my experiments.
I painted the dye onto silk. I created folds and placed it under some lace and exposed it to light. It created this interesting mosaic effect.
I printed on some silk satin and dyed it a light lilac color.
I made it into a hair scrunchie and it’s for sale in my Etsy store.
The UV printing has given me an opportunity to revisit my photo catalog and reimagine them in a new way. When working with photographs, a negative has to be created by inverting the image and printing it on acetate or translucent paper. I’ve been printing on tracing paper with a laser printer to try it out, as it is more economical. This is my Prince Sun photo that I sell in my shop as a print. It is a photo of Prince’s gate from his former Toronto home.
I made a print on paper, and fabric (seen on the bottom right). There is a color variation that occurs depending on what material you are printing on. I like painting the dye in an irregular shape. I find that it gives it a dream like effect.
I made a photogram on cotton fabric using lace and my Prince necklace.
I used the fabric to make a face mask.
The Solar Fast dyes come in different colors. Depending on the material used as the substrate, the colors will turn out differently. The same purple dye used on silk looks very different on cotton. Results can be unpredictable, which can keep things exciting, but difficult to replicate, so every print is one of a kind.
First of all, I want to wish all my readers a Happy New Year. I hope you are doing well and that the new year will bring you something great, in spite of the world situation. Things here have been ticking along, the usual year end stuff, catching up on paperwork, getting things organized.
On New Year’s I recorded EVP, and heard someone come to greet us “Happy New Year”, as the fireworks were going off in my neighbour’s yard.
I have been reviewing EVP from over the summer, and I found a clip of a bird tweeting inside my home. I don’t have any birds or pets. And then I heard someone, kind of faintly, saying, “Play with dove”.
I thought to myself, could it be? Prince’s dove? I’d seen him in my miind’s eye, fluttering about our home. But I hadn’t any confirmation of this.
Then I heard someone say, “What’s is its name?”
I heard P reply, “Majesty”.
Prince had a pair of doves at Paisley Park. Divinity, female, and Majesty, male. Majesty died in 2017. Divinity and Majesty were both featured on the last track of Prince’s One Nite Alone album, titled Arboretum. Isn’t it nice to know that you can be reunited wit old pets?
Over the summer, I recorded while I was at Costco. I heard this voice say, “Mon cheri”. That is French for, my dear.
Due to covid-19 precautions, they no longer hand out food samples. I’ve often heard EVP voices calling out to people to try the samples. This one was saying, “Green tea”.
P often gets recognized by other spirits. Very often, people comment, “You’re Prince”.
I found this clip of someone saying, “Now we’re lost”. I wonder what they meant by that, if they are lost inside Costco, or lost in the greater sense of things.
Someone said, “Look out”. You can hear shopping carts crashing into each other. I found this to be a common thing, that spirits will warn people of potential harm.
A voice here is saying, “Need more fish”. I guess they were telling someone to stock up on fish as prep for more future lockdowns.
Some of you might be wondering what my take is on the whole virus situation is. Some of you know that I make and sell face masks. While I am aware of conspiracy by shadow governments, I am not buying what the alternative media is selling either. I don’t believe that anyone out there is spilling the straight truth about the situation. Alternative media is often used as controlled opposition to create the illusion of choice. It is a psychological warfare tactic. Offer them two choices that you want the public to choose from, both choices resulting in what it is you want to accomplish. Either way, if you buy into any of the two choices, you are falling into their trap. People accuse each other of not thinking for themselves, meanwhile they are still choosing one of the two given narratives. I don’t believe in either of the “official” narratives. My view is that every person is responsible for their own well being, therefore taking precautions in order to mitigate risk. You will not see me out there in a crowd protesting lockdowns, nor are you ever gonna see me in line for a vaccine. Think for yourselves. Question everything. Pay attention to what they are saying and pay attention to what they aren’t saying. Demand proof for all claims. So many alternative media figures claim to know what’s going on, they claim insider info, secret whistleblower sources. One’s credibility is in the proof they provide, not what they say. Don’t trust, verify! When you line up all the narratives and they don’t make sense, you know that something else is going on.
