Weird Art – Page 2 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on June 25, 2015 by MOTW Admin

Don’t know what this says about the marriage

Forget the controversy about whether or not to wear white to a wedding. These people are deciding between quilted an extra-absorbent. It’s an contest sponsored by Charmin (as in “don’t squeeze the”) where dress designers create a wedding gown out of toilette paper. Why? Who knows? They’ve been doing it for 11 years.

A model walks the runway wearing ‘Garden Party’ a design by Carol Touchstone during the 11th annual toilet paper wedding dress contest at Kleinfled’s Bridal Boutique in New York June 17, 2015. [Reuters/Brendan McDermid]

The winner was Donna Pope Vincler. Her gown is pictured here.

A woman wearing a white gown with a veil and tophat — The winning dress in Charmin’s 11th annual toilette paper wedding dress contest.

Alright, yes, it’s very fetching. Not many people can pull off wearing toilette paper like that. Most people just use it as an occasional shoe accessory. Of course, this is probably no weirder than the annual duct tape tuxedo contest, where students can win scholarship for showing pictures of prom wear they’ve created with duct tape. Though, if I have to pick my skill for the zombie apocalypse, I think I’d rather be a duct-tape wizard than a toilette paper princess.

Oh, well! It’s art! Have you ever made something weird like this? Tell us about it! Maybe we’ll feature your strange creation.

Posted on May 26, 2015 by MOTW Admin

Munstrous Mansion in Texas

They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and that goes for fandom as well. In 2002, Sandra McKee and her husband Charles created a big Texas tribute to celebrate their passion for The Munsters, the iconic 1960s television series that took a light look at the Universal Studios movie monsters. Nestled in the wilds of Waxahachie, this replica of 1313 Mockingbird Lane features the architecture and much memorabilia.

The detail of this place is incredible, as many of the items in the house are either original from the show or painstaking replicas. This gallery from their web site will look very familiar to fans of the show. The Munster Mansion is not a museum or a public attraction. This is their actual home. They have special tour events, typically around Halloween. Watch their web site for availability.

Of course, the house is not the only thing that they recreated. Here is Charles McKee, as Herman Munster, firing up the Munster Coach. Nice!

This location is included on our Weird Places Map.

Are you a big fan of something? a cosplayer? If so, you should definitely check out all the goodies at Sfanthor, our sister store. Share your biggest fan moments and we’ll feature the best of them in a future post.

Posted on December 22, 2014 by MOTW Admin

The Bigfoot Gift Guide for the Cryptid-Hunter Who Has It All

Still having trouble what to get for that cryptid-hunter in your life? There does seem to be a bit of a cap on Bigfoot accessories available. Many of the more popular items you can buy at The Museum of the Weird, located at 412 E.6th St in Austin, TX, so please, come on down and shop in our gift shop! But the point of this post is to hunt down some of the more off the beaten track items. Lets explore Sasquatch gifts for the fan who seems to have it all…

First off, tis the season for outrageous holiday sweaters. Why not make your giftee happy with their very own Bigfoot one?

This beautiful (?) bit of hirsute holiday habiliment is available over at Archie McPhee. Alternately you’ve got this great one…

Available from middleofbeyond.com, which make crazy sweaters for lots of different obsessions, including Dungeons & Dragons, Cthulu, Krampus, Gremlins. Zombie Santa. and, my personal favorite to shake up the family at Christmas dinner, Satan. They also make scarves, rugs. t-shirts, christmas ornaments and more using images from these same off-beat topics.

Perhaps your friend is somewhat circumspect about engaging others in conversation about the beast-man. A more appropriate gift for them to admire in the privacy of their own home might be this:

The story goes that Teddy Roosevelt had a Bigfoot encounter. Of course it probably didn’t go quite like this, but what fun is history if we can’t patriotically embellish it a bit (not sure if this is sarcastic or not)? This beautiful, handmade, 11×17 print is available from Etsy. The store also offers other US Presidents and historical figures fighting various monsters or using them as steeds. I’m partial to Paul Revere on a “Tron” lightcycle.

I don’t like to assume things about people. Like for instance, who am I to say that none of you are close personal friends with supermodel Megan Fox? That would be just plain rude of me. Especially considering that she’s a devoted cryptid fan.

In an interview for Esquire Magazine, she extolled the virtues of Bigfoot and more…“Would you not be so much more interested in finding out that Bigfoot existed than in watching a really good movie?” she said.

Assuming you’re that guy tasked with buying her something nice, or really anyone who’s got to get something sexy for your lady that espouses her Bigfoot-belief, may I suggest the tasteful…

What says “I love you” (or, at least, I love your body) better than a “Bigfoot for President” thong? I can’t think of anything (and believe me, I looked for Bigfoot engagement rings). You can pick this up. or the same slogan printed on just about everything else, right here.

You’ve got to decorate your tree, and there are a lot of cryptid-specific ornaments out there to choose from. But let me point out two of the best…

This lovely fellow is extremely popular and tends to sell out well before Christmas every year, so this might be in prep for NEXT year, but you can pick him up from designToscano.

Bigfoot rides Nessie. I love it. And on a Christmas star. I think this one is a loch for the perfect christmas gift.

Of course, your friend may not be quite so passive. Do they have a big trip planned this year to Washington State or Canada? You should know that they’re probably planning on traipsing through the woods hoping to catch a glimpse of the fabled creature. Why not help them out with professional Bigfoot hunting gear?

Roadtrippers.com not only has assembled a list of the best Sasquatch hunting equipment out there, but is even sponsoring a contest where you can win it all!

So there ya go. We here at Museum of the Weird hope that not only will you consider some of our off-beat suggestions, but perhaps as well consider buying some of the items we offer ourselves. For instance, we offer this “Bigfoot Lives” t-shirt that you can see our intrepid leader Steve Busti wearing as he poses next to our “Minnesota Iceman” exhibit.

We’ve got lots of Bigfoot gifts along with a plethora of downright weird items of every stripe. Come visit us at 412 E. 6th st in Austin, Texas or call at 512-476-5493 to see about shipping options. And have yourself a Merry, Hairy, Little Christmas!

Posted on December 8, 2014 by MOTW Admin

Chocolate Skulls and Anatomy Cakes

Looking for some stocking stuffers for that Museum of the Weird avid blog fan on your ‘nice’ list this year? Traditionally (in my family, anyway) the stocking is where the sweets went; any kind of sugary sweet that we could immediately shove down our child-gullets was most welcome. I can only assume the plan was that we’d use all that hyper energy tearing open our gifts afterwards and then would crash for an hour or so giving our parents some peace.

These sweets might not be so kid-friendly, but your weird-fans will love ’em.

Whatcha got right here is a baby skull. A CHOCOLATE baby skull. Because there’s a place for everything and everything has a place. Even chocolate baby skulls. Talk about your niche markets. But Conjurerskitchen.com has got your nichey needs for your chocoholic fantasy cannibal friends. But perhaps the chocolate baby skull is too tame for you. Perhaps you need something a little more wild for your sweet tooth.

That’s right, CONJOINED chocolate baby skulls. Because, why not? SOMEBODY out there has got to be saying to themselves, “damn, if only I could pop a sweet chocolate conjoined baby skull in my mouth!”. Well hypothetical someone, you can pick up one (two?) of these babies for roughly 80 American dollars a pop. All you gotta do is visit their website and smack your lips at their ghoulishly tasty treats. Heck, you can even get them custom painted with the name of your, erm, loved one. Because it’s not morbid enough as is.

Lest, I forget, you can also eat Vincent Price’s face. Heaven forbid I leave that one off the list. And I’m not even gonna discuss their ‘CAKES’ section…

*gags*

Posted on October 20, 2014 by MOTW Admin

The Women Who Lead the Charge in Rogue Taxidermy

The field of Taxidermy has been the domain of more than just the family from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and your weird, creepy uncle. To the circus sideshow, taxidermy mad-skillz, and off the beaten path mad-skillz, were pretty much essential. Sewing together parts from different animals to make a new one is how the sideshow Gaffs began, most notably P.T. Barnum’s famed Fiji Mermaid. Gaffs have run the gamut from furry fish to the always popular Jackalope (which as I previously reported may have actually been based on a thoroughly disgusting natural phenomenon). But now, the portmanteau stuffing of animals have moved from out of the darkness of circus tents and into the art galleries…and it’s a group of rather attractive women who are leading the charge.

Meet the women of “Rogue Taxidermy”. From left to right, Sarina Brewer of Minneapolis, Kate Clark of Brooklyn, Lisa Black of Brisbane Australia, Katie Innamorato of New Jersey and Amber Maykut of Brooklyn. They all share an interest in this new art form that is, according to Robert Marbury, co-founder of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, “a pop-surrealist genre of sculpture that uses taxidermy materials, traditional materials, in an unconventional manner. The attempt is to be as ethical, to reduce and reuse as much as we can of the animal so there’s no waste, feeding back to stewardship and conservation.”

Abstract and strange, rogue taxidermists don’t hunt but re-use, often combining other forms of art into their pieces. The results vary and quite a bit, but these creations are strange, beautiful and sometimes kind of haunting. Check out some of these examples…

Amazing.

You really should check out this article from Vice.com which explores the new art form and interviews each of these women about their style and techniques. Coolness.