This little Grouse is probably the most literal of the Baba Yaga Houses I've yet made; grouses are not entirely unlike wild chickens, I think? My taxonomy might be off. The house's wings and tail were donated by a more conventional grouse who no longer needed them, her legs are handforged by the artist, her house is contructed of some scrap plywood, and her fence is made from the bones of a chicken carefully harvested after dinner
These Darling Izboushkas truly are brand new. They're so new that I'm still figuring out what they mean. I have always been interested in birds, and I have always been interested in folklore, and I have always moved around a lot, so Baba Yaga's Chicken-legged hut has always had something of an appeal. I spent a whole season a year or so ago just reading as many Baba Yaga stories as I could get my hands on (and the public library in my town is pretty good, so it was a lot of stories). I didn't DO anything with that, though, until March of this year, when everything changed so suddenly that I felt like I couldn't keep up. Maybe these little houses will help. I'm told they move very fast. Each one is based on some bird (though mostly not chickens) and are made in various materials. I started in copper, of course, because copper is what I am comfortable in, and while Baba Yaga's hut is a threat, it is also a comfortable house in the woods. From there I am expanding into materials I am less comfortable in, materials I have to stretch myself into, because Baba Yaga is not one to rest on her laurels, and she wouldn't want me to, either.
