Baba Yaga's Home: The Decor of Fairy Tales I

I've been horribly remiss, I know.  The Domythic Bliss Facebook page has still been active and enthusiastic, but I haven't blogged here in far too long.  Let's change that, shall we?

I thought it would be fun to do a new series of posts where we imagine what the home decor of fairy tale characters might look like.  With the cold air and changing leaves, Autumn is definitely in the air.  I decided to start this series with a look at Baba Yaga.

Click here to find out about Baba Yaga if you don't know her yet.

Forest Rogers, who has done one of my favorite artworks and sculptures of Baba Yaga, has a *marvelous* Pinterest board with images of her.

Forest's renditions of Baba Yaga:

So let's start with the exterior of Baba Yaga's home.  A few candidates:

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Since Baba Yaga is a Russian fairy tale character, the last dacha is probably the best for her.

Of course a primary signature of Baba Yaga's home is the fence made from skulls.  Two options below:

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Going into the property, Baba Yaga's garden might look like this:

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 A perfect shot of Baba Yaga's interior:

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And what sort of details might you find in her home?

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Forgive me for this one but...well...it DOES strike me as something Baba Yaga would have in her home....

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And finally we have Baba Yaga's mortar and pestle...

There's this fine specimen on Etsy:

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or this gorgeous old specimen:

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There's this lovely carved soapstone version:

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But really, ultimately, I see Baba Yaga using this classic model:

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I'd love to take suggestions for other fairy tale characters to choose for exploring their hypothetical decor styles! 

A Wall Fit for a Mythmaker...Or Three!

The other day on Facebook, mythic artist Jackie Morris posted an album of images of her garden gate and fence.  But it wasn't just any garden fence: It was an utterly Domythic, magical and enchanted garden fence that was a mixed-media wonder of storytelling and creativity.  I was blown away, and immediately asked Jackie if I could share the fence/wall in a blog post.  Thankfully she not only said yes, but she included me in a conversation with Tamsin Abbott, the glass artist who created the phenomenal panels, and Astrid de Groot, the incredible visionary who did the woodwork for the project.

Here is the tale of the creation of this incredible storytelling monument, told from the perspective of all three women.

Jackie's Story:

This is how I remember it. I asked Astrid if she would make me a garden gate. Simple. I wanted some glass in it, by Tamsin. I kind of left it at that. Astrid said she had some Welsh Oak and went on to make a garden door fit for a cathedral with medieval joint and of such elegance. I had also talked about something along the top of the wall. The design was kind of left to Astrid, who talked with Tamsin. We were doing a swap, me and Tamsin, painting for glass. Then Tamsin came and stayed and asked what I wanted and I said let's go for a walk and see what we see. Well, fox, cats, butterflies, buzzard, seals, chough, badger, just about everything you can see. She has also thrown in the odd creature for me like the glorious seahare.

I love it. It is a thing of such beauty.

Tamsin's Story:

Jackie’s Wall of Wood and Glass

Jackie Morris‘s house is swathed with the magic air of hill and sea – when I approach up the stony track that leads there my mind begins to loosen from its usual moorings and another world beckons.
The first time I visited Jackie was on a hot day in July two years ago. She introduced me to Astrid, the woman of wood, and we talked about the idea of making a wall and a gate of wood and glass.
Scribbles were made on pieces of paper and technicalities were discussed. But not for long. The main plan was inspiration. The ground around the house, foot trodden over the centuries by person and beast, sent out the first whisperings, tendrils of ideas that began wrapping themselves around our ankles. We carried them out onto the hill where the singing of seals embellished each curlique with sighs. Meadowsweet spoke of fairies and otherworlds whilst a fox ran, daylight-brave, across broken walls of cottages long fallen to bracken and bramble.

Buzzards and ravens cut clear sweeping shapes against the bright evening sky followed by a trail of stars as night fell. The following morning a badger cub bustled across a lane rich with campion and foxgloves and I was well and truly entranced. The land was like a tapestry of souls kissing our faces with butterflies’ wings.

These seeds were planted and thoughts began to grow. The woodwork, oak bold and strong, was completed within 6 months but the glass has taken a little longer to complete. Giving it time has allowed more and more magic to creep in. One piece was so heartfelt that it has remained in the house and another had to be made to fill its place in the wall! The inspiration from this has tumbled over into my other work so that I sometimes feel as if I have grown wings and can look down upon the land and see the spirits of then and now.

Last weekend I was back. July again and hot and sultry. I had not seen the wall in place before and, like Jack’s beanstalk, it seemed to have sprung from the ground and created an enchanted space of its own. I almost feel as if I have had little to do with it being there! I added a couple more panels of glass, we drank a few more glasses of wine and the wall, the magic and friendship just continues to grow.

Tamsin Abbott July 2013

Astrid's Story:

"I want a tall gate next to the wall in front of the garden", I had no clue what she meant.  I never noticed a wall anywhere.  I could tell Jackie had it all clear in her mind.  "And on the wall more wood."  She talked about Tamsin who makes beautiful glass pieces and how she wanted us to work together on this. I went over to see what she was going on about and where she wanted that tall gate, so Jackie showed me her back garden with the wonky wall and a drainpipe where the gate would come.  "Don't move the drainpipe please," she said.  Ok, that's for later to break my head over I thought.  She showed me some of Tamsin's work "oh that is really beautiful.  I could see that in combination with wood." But I had no clue yet.

Next an invitation from Jackie: "dinner with Tamsin and you two stick your heads together and get started."  I felt the pressure because Tamsin came from far so I wouldn't see her easily.  We had dinner, and Jackie showed us the space.  We went for a evening walk so we got a feel of the surroundings and all the living creatures, and the ideas started to come. I came home with a scribbles of sketches of what became the tall gate with the wall pieces, but more important I got a good feeling about this project.  I could vaguely see it all in front of me and felt that Jackie fully trusted us with it.  I felt free and couldn't wait to get started, and the gate formed itself.  I followed the natural lines of the Welsh oak boards that came from a garden in the area where the trees had fallen down after a storm. And I trusted myself to find solutions for the technical problems that would occur but all in it's own time, so I could enjoy the work.

Here are links to Astrid's blog posts about the creation of the project.  Blog 1  Blog 2

 Jackie recently released a beautiful novelization of East of the Sun, West of the Moon.  She wrote the version of the tale and created all of the illustrations.  Jackie and Tamsin are also members of the Sisterhood of Ruralists, a group of enchanted artists that deserves a blog post of its own.

Jackie's outdoor space also features a couple of other incredible mythic pieces I also have to share.

Stone carving by Catherine Wood:

Weathervane by Greens Weathervanes

Gothic Style - The Good, the Bad and the Southern

Hooked on Houses recently showcased a post on Kat Von D's house.  It was recently posted for sale, but then taken off the market.  It was, however, a chance to peek into her goth decorating style. 

After looking through pictures of her house, my overall impression was that I've seen goth decor done much worse, but I have also seen it done much better.  Her entryway was lovely, I thought, other than the sickle waiting blade-up in the corner.

And I liked *aspects* of her living room, though overall it was a bit overkill...pun intended with all those stuffed animals.

But the dining room was overdone, as were other spaces I thought.  It got me thinking about goth interiors done well.  And in my opinion, if you want an elegantly macabre space, you have think less goth, and more Gothic...

One great recent example was the house from the recent tragically short-lived Munsters reboot, Mockingbird Lane. 

As always, click images to see larger.

The house is delightfully Victorian, decrepit but elegant.

You can see it sits down on a hill below street level, and a dark elegant entrance shows you to the steps to the front door.

All the woodwork is nearly onyx in dark richness.  And the wallpaper is elaborate and dark too.

A patterned floor celebrates the vast size of the entry. 

What was I saying about vast size?

 No gothic home is complete without a secret passageway or two.

This is the scene that made my little Domythic heart go pitter-pat.  Note not only the ravens, stained glass, and branch, but the gorgeous murals. 

More of the murals.

We see very little of the house besides the entry and the dining room in the one short episode.  But we do get to see the main bedroom.  Yes.  Oh lovely. 

 This shot better shows the Burne-Jones-esque shields mounted on the walls behind the end tables.

 

The gorgeous room we saw earlier appears to have been turned into the dining room...a Gothic triumph.  And of course I'm not biased at all because it's teal and tree-themed....

 Beautiful stained glass windows, and whaaaaaat is Portia wearing??  Wait a second...

Quick detour, sorry...wow is that garment gorgeous. 

I mean, LOOK.

 Ok back to the house.  Here you can see the stairs leading down from street level, with tilework on them.

 Little Eddie sleeps in a roll-out worthy of Dracula.  Mysterious cupboards with no immediately clear purpose add that goth edge...

 Gosh...look at all the gorgeous patterns and textures and colors on the house exterior!

 A quick glimpse of the study or library.

The house at night.

One final shot of everyone in the gorgeous dining room.

Then there's Southern Gothic style....that gnarly, swampy, half-abandoned mysterious look that makes it an exceedingly legit atmosphere for vampires (Interview with a) or witches (this movie).  Thus was the case with the recent movie, Beautiful Creatures.  Only a mediocre story in my opinion, it's still worth a watch for the visuals.

Look at this GATE:

Deep shadows against a mysterious house with a beautiful bench and urns outside.

The main room seemed a bit of a let-down to me...a bit too modern, though I do love those branchy sconces...

Old ironwork tangled with dead vines.  Deliciously atmospheric.

Ahh, once again it's the dining room that steals the show in this house.  And it's the tree theme that makes me love it.

A rich teal tablecloth sets the scene for a feast. 

One more non-decor shout-out for this film: when I am older, this is what I want to look like:

For one more example of deliciously well done Gothic style interior design, see my earlier blog post on the movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark.