With hundreds of videos, articles, and blogs available at the touch of a fingertip, anyone can learn how to do anything on the internet. Hobbies, life hacks, and tutorials are so widely available that it has created a new online subculture: DIYers. DIYer's run YouTube channels, Facebook pages, and blogs, to create content that teaches others; some of them, with the help of ad revenue and sponsorship, make their income this way. But as with any subculture, DIY has it's fair share of oddities. Below are my top seven strange, ridiculous, and just plain weird DIY projects I have run into online.
7) Rainbow Grilled Cheese
POPSUGAR, an online lifestyle media publisher, created this aggressively colorful recipe, inspired by a similar dish from Kala Toast in Hong Kong. While the savory dish may taste odd with the addition of sugary sprinkles, I would be more worried about the chemical taste coming from the copious amounts of food dye. This is a case of aesthetics over practicality, but hey- whatever grills your cheese.
6) Edible Mascara
To YouTuber GlitterForever17's credit, she does put a disclaimer in her video warning not to put this DIY on your eyes. It's meant more as a gag gift or party favor. She has an entire series of weird things made edible, but this one takes the cake. Just don't keep this one near your real makeup products unless you want a not-so-sweet infection.
5) McDonald's French Fly Flavored EOS Lip Balm
In all honesty, I would give anything to have YouTuber GlamourLifeFox make a two months later follow up video to this DIY. This lip balm contains instant potato powder and sea salt. Best case scenario, the salt is going to dry out your lips even further. Worst case scenario, the potato will grow mold. Either way, the only redeeming quality to this DIY is that it uses natural beeswax.
4) Faux Rock Necklace
This DIY by blogger TriedandTrue looks innocent enough-- until you look at the materials list and see "dryer lint" listed. The fibers are supposed to give the rock a more realistic look, but I feel like the same thing could be achieved with bits of black and white clay. Sorry, but no necklace is cute enough to make me play around with dryer lint.
3) Edible #PolishMountain
For the blissfully unaware, #PolishMountain is a trend going around YouTube where a beauty blogger paints 100 coats of nail polish on their nails so that it creates a giant lump. Just looking at it makes my fingers hurt. But leave it to our old friend GlitterForever17 to take a weird trend and up the ante. Each color was made of gelatin and a different flavor syrup into the technicolor monstrosity you see before you.
2) Fake Snow from Diapers
Well. This is exactly what it says on the tin. According to YouTuber Juzzybum, if you pour water over a diaper and then cut it open, you'll find a layer of crystal-like things which you can use as snow. I did some research, and the crystals are called ESuper Absorbent Polymer, or SAP. Technically its nontoxic, but the idea of playing round with the contents of a diaper just squicks me out.
1) Curry and Rice Phone Case
Ever wanted a phone case that looked exactly like a steaming hot bowl of curry? No? Well, apparently YouTuber PolymomoTea did. This DIY uses real rice, but thankfully the potatoes, carrots, and beef are made of polymer clay. I have to admit, as odd as it would be to see somebody whipping this out to take a call, I'm very impressed with how realistic it looks. Modern art, y'all.
Try any of these weird DIY's? Have any strange ones of your own to share? Add them in the comments down below, and thank you for reading!
