It all began with an artist friend of mine (who works mostly with clay and wood) who was asked to produce his own idea of a birdhouse. For some reason I can't even begin to explain, what came to my mind immediately was a northern Cameroon Mousgoum "beehive" mud hut, or tolek.
Not really thinking about his rendition of a birdhouse anymore (which was actually all that mattered in the real world of commissioning, designing, producing and delivering), I started musing about the kind of birds that would visit such an unusual structure as a 'tropical' birdhouse. They, of course, would be colourful, to set off against a clay background. Hey, I suddenly thought, birds might just be another use for all the off-cuts remaining from my sewing activities!
I remembered seeing fabric birds on the Internet. Beautiful. But come on, (1) copying is not creating, and (2) I live in an "exotic" country, and the birds I could see with my no less exotic mind's eye were bright parrots, not tame, reasonably proportioned little birds. My birds would therefore have strong bills, a distinctive egret and an exaggerated long tail. Translating my idea into something reflecting the balance I wanted was a bit tricky.
My friend (of birdhouse fame) liked my colourful birds so much that... He decided he wanted butterflies too (I've never heard of butterfly-houses, have you?). Well, everything in its own good time. Butterflies will be the topic of another post.
And what about the birdhouse itself?
