They say that every writer (artist, whatever) has one story that they keep returning to over and over again.
I think there’s truth in that. I’m not sure what the foundation story that I keep returning to is, exactly, but I have my suspicions. The face it wears most often is “Auntie Yaga’s Home For Wayward Monsters”. At it’s heart, it’s a story about found family, animal welfare, and caring for those deemed “monstrous” by society. Also soup and fresh bread.
Alright, fine, yes…it also includes gingerbread houses, mortars, pestles, chicken-legged huts, and all that…
There have been several iterations of Auntie Yaga’s Home since the original fibercraft accident that created Fester the Zombie Bunny and his fondness for wasabi peas more than a decade ago, and there will likely be several more before it’s done with me. The most recent shape and stories seem to have run their course, for the time being at least, and now it’s time to move on to the next variation.
A YouTube channel was not where I expected it to go next but, well, here we appear to be.
But, you say, don’t you already have a YouTube channel?
I do, and I have every intention of returning to that one, however it has some critical issues that I’m stuck on that I can’t find the way around just yet. Some of them are as simple as not having suitable winter clothes for being outside in the New England winter for long, while others are a bit more complicated.
One of the issues can be solved by splitting off and starting a secondary channel for Indoor Things like cooking, small craft projects, and whatnot. When it’s too cold to go outside (or smokey in summer, because let’s face it, Smoke Season is now an annual occurrence), I can make videos that include things like making easy soups, breads, and other tasty goodness while mixing in bits of folklore and stories.
So where did this come from? Well, a couple of weeks ago, after 17 years together, Himself and I got married. We just had a very wee ceremony/slash Halloween party at home, nothing fancy. While looking for wedding clothes (surprising no one, I dressed up as a witch, complete with pointy hat), I had to consider what my “witch aesthetic” is, and realized that it can best be described as “Hobbitcore Baba Yaga”. When I mentioned this on social media, the sheer number of people who agreed with this assessment was rather impressive.
It sort of stuck around in my head and eventually it dawned on me that this was the answer to a couple of my YouTube problems. A second channel, built on the niche of that concept. It wasn’t until I was talking to Himself, trying to figure out a name for the channel, that the idea of rebooting “Auntie Yaga’s Home” came up. I wasn’t sold at first, but the more I’ve thought about it, the more the idea makes sense. I’ll probably modify the name to something like “At Home With Auntie Yaga” or whatever, because this is less about the monster adoption and more about the homey things, but yeah.
Anyway, that’s where things are at. I’m really looking forward to getting back to making videos again, and seeing where this new direction takes me. It should be an interesting adventure.
How’s things with you?