but yeah, i'm probably now actually cursed.
So I went shopping today and it was super disappointing. We hit every store but there was so little interesting, not just no new stuff but not even any worthwhile old stuff. What old stock we did find was all still full price so eugh, screw that.
Dolls are getting harder and harder to find it seems, least, a variety and selection of dolls are. If you don't want barbies and crappy barbie clones you're outta luck it seems.
this frustrates me.
The toy market is just really bland right now.
Anyway,
on the way home I popped into our local charity shop who always stocks toys (they're a kid's charity so yeah)
They hadn't restocked their doll bins and still had a lot of junk so as I was leaving I had a dig through their 25p plushie bin which they keep outside for some reason.
Often there's interesting things in there. I got an Alpacaso from there at one point, as well as a giant totoro plush and various other nerdy bits and bobs.
Anyway,while digging I uncovered a strange rag doll thing that looked home made and filthy. Someone had painted this thing with brown paint to dirty it up and it was kinda bizarre.
It looked home made.
I kept digging and found ANOTHER one, only this one had been painted with black paint and the body was made with an encyclopedia print fabric instead of geometric brown patterns. Most bizarrely, the encylopedia print seemed to be on the page about anatomy, featuring a diagram of lungs on the front, an arm on the back, a skull toward the rear and even a spiderweb. Wth?
It also had a necklace made of buttons which somehow only added to the "probably seriously cursed" vibe.
The weirdest thing is, the two were identical in shape, just painted differently with a different body fabric. Same strange bulging eye, same x eye, same wonky ears. The other one didn't have a voodoo necklace thing going on though.
I had to buy this one. It was just too bizarre.
But I have now dubbed it the "probably horribly cursed voodoo bear".
Where the hell did the body fabric come from? I want a dress made of it omg.
It took me most of the night to realise the black bean shape was a nose, not a howling in anguish mouth.
I pointed this out to husband and now he can't unsee the anguished mouth. Oops?
It's a well made thing, very nicely sewn together but it's got no labels so it's gotta be home made right?
but.. why are there two of them?
WHAT ARE THEY?
Who made creepy ass zombie voodoo bears and then donated them to a children's charity?
If i'm murdered in my sleep, it's the bear's fault okay?
It's probably fine...if they really wanted to curse you, they wouldn't make the cursed item look so creepy, because you'd really be asking for it otherwise. All kidding aside, I'd be more concerned about it in a hygienic sense, because any secondhand plush is just a little suspicious, especially in cases like this where you can't tell what's artistic distress and what's not.
ReplyDeleteLol. Given the brown smears are pretty intentional i'm fairly sure it's either tea staining or paint.
DeleteAlso it smells of dust and nothing much else.
The charity shop sells a LOT of secondhand plushies, some are really ratty and gross, others are like brand new. It's bizarre. Often though, they get rained on which i doubt is very good for em.
Poor unloved plushies. They've had some of the same ones for months now.
Some people buy them for their dogs to chew on. Makes me sad.
Hey, a little plague is good for you right? lol.
I would speculate that your bear was created by someone who wanted a "Junker Jane" figure. Catherine "Junker Jane" Zacchino is a semi-famous American that makes creepy art dolls from scratch, very much like what you have here. If you do an online search, you'll find tons of photos of what I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteI also frequently purchase plush toys from thrift stores like yourself (they don't keep them outside like you described though--that is indeed unusual). My last acquisition was an official Gund figure of Grumpy Cat.