Incredible Art

Real-Life Mermaids!

Have you or your kids always wanted to see a real mermaid? Now you can! At Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida, one of the oldest theme parks of the state.
People from al over the country come to Weeki Wachee to see its most unique attraction: beautiful women dressed like mermaids, performing in an underwater show.
Being a Weeki Wachee mermaid is not an easy job – even the most experienced swimmers find this very difficult. The women have to spend almost an entire day under water, at a temperature ranging in the lower 70’s. The ideal water temperature for adults is in the higher 80’s. To add to this, the ladies have to wear tight, 15-pound mermaid tails that bind their legs together. It sure does look beautiful, but it’s pretty hard to swim around as though you have only one leg. While under water, the mermaids perform a synchronized choreography routine while trying to breathe through a hidden rubber hose.
But nevertheless, the mermaids manage to swim gracefully, with pretty hand movements and smiling faces.

A French Family Builds A Fairytale Home

Jo and Dominique Pillet’s home in Causse de Sauveterre, Lozere, France looks almost surreal. That is probably why they have named it “Utopix”.
The couple got married in the 1970’s and purchased 27 acres of land to build their dream home on. The Pillets are both artists and they wanted their home to be aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. Building Utopix has been a long journey with many hurdles, but the Pillets finally fulfilled their dream in 2010.
They used a lot of the abundant limestone in their region, structuring the house in the form of an igloo. The domed structures were then reinforced with concrete and wood, and later covered with stones to give them a cave-like feel.
Apart from the house, the Pillets have also created other pieces of art made of limestone, such as a car, a dinosaur and a mini golf link.

Beautiful Still Life Photos Of… Rotten Food!

These pictures by Austrian photographer Klaus Pichler are beautiful. What looks like artwork at first glance is actually rotting food. From fruit to cookies and berries, Pichler’s unusual idea turned out quite stunning.

A Man Who Lost His Arm In an Accident Has His Stump Transformed Into A Beautiful Tattoo

Heine Braeck, a 33-year-old man from Norway, was “sick and tired” of looking at his stump after losing his arm in a train accident: 'When I was 13 I tried to take a shortcut across the top of a stationary train which started moving. 'I lost my balance and grabbed hold of the wire that powers the train and got fried.' says Braeck.

When he realized the stump was shaped like a dolphin’s head, he asked tattoo artist Valio Ska to turn it into a 3D tattoo of the marine animal. Mr. Ska, who owns a tattoo studio in Bulgaria, spent 3.5 hours on this complicated job. The result is stunningly beautiful.

'My friends think it is awesome and I love it because I don't have to look at a tired old stump anymore' Braeck says.

Miniatur Wunderland Display Wows Millions a Year

Miniatur Wunderland, an amazingly detailed, 1,300-square-meter miniature civilization built by a pair of German brothers, now boasts the world’s largest model railway and airport.

The miniature Wunderland has been under construction for the past six years, and includes eight different sections that give visitors a glimpse of mini-versions of Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, America, and more. With over 900 trains, 250 computer-controlled vehicles, and even airplanes and working miniature boats actively traveling across the teeny landscapes, the recreation is perhaps the most life-like model anywhere in the world.

Over one million visitors a year travel to Hamburg to awe at the bustling, ever-expanding world of tiny humans, animals, and scenery. Upon close inspection, one can spot carefully-constructed scenes such as a mini-Las Vegas strip, a group of archaeologists exploring a cave, a crime scene crawling with police figurines, a group of fitness gurus exercising in a pint-size gym, a UFO landing, and churchgoers entering a cathedral.

The number of hours it’s taken to build the incredible display (500,000 so far!) is constantly increasing as construction continues. The model’s creators, Frederick and Gerrit Braun, both 41, plan to add a mini-England, France, and Africa to the Miniatur Wunderland by 2020.

Watch a video tour of the Miniatur Wunderland and see the sights for yourself!

From Trash to Tubas: Orchestra Uses Instruments Made From Garbage

You would never be able to know from its sound, but this Paraguayan orchestra uses some truly unconventional instruments. In fact, all of its instruments are made from recycled trash.

Formed mostly by musicians coming from poor backgrounds, The Orchestra of the Recycled Instruments is dedicated to training youngsters in music theory and performance. Many of its members formerly worked as recyclers at a local dump site in Paraguay before deciding to pursue recycled-instrument musicianship. To date, the Orchestra of the Recycled Instruments has played over 80 concerts, during which audience members have included past presidents and Nobel Peace Prize winners. Talk about turning trash into treasure–not only are these musicians finding ways to reuse discarded items, they’re spreading the joy of music everywhere!

Incredible Features EXCLUSIVE: Artist Natalie Irish Lets Her Lips Do the Painting

Twenty-nine-year-old Natalie Irish had always been passionate about creating art, turning her talents to every medium from sewing to ceramics. One evening, when she was getting ready to go to a concert, she applied some bright red lipstick, and as she blotted her lips on a piece of tissue, inspiration struck: “It just hit me. I didn’t even go to the show. I immediately started playing around with the shapes and shades I could create by putting my lipsticked lips to paper,” describes Irish.

She has since dedicated herself full-time to painting in pouts, using lipstick or theater makeup to create lifelike portraits. She has produced incredibly lifelike images of cultural icons such as Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, and, as illustrated by our exclusive photo shoot, the new bride of Prince William, Kate Mountbatten-Windsor. Irish says the technique takes a toll on her lips, so her house is full of all varieties of chapstick and moisturizer. Before she starts painting, Irish admits, “I say to my husband–’You need to give me a kiss first, because I won’t be able to kiss you for a while!’”

Woman Tattoos 85% of Her Body

In 2003, Oxford, England resident, Jacqui Moore, decided to get a tattoo to celebrate her divorce and her impending new life. As soon as she walked into the tattoo parlor, though, she got more than she expected. The mother immediately fell in love with tattoo-artist, Andreas “Curly” Moore.

Now, at 41-years-old, Moore’s one tattoo has expanded into tattoos over 85% of her body, with plans to cover the rest. The only places of her body not fully covered are part of her right leg, her left armpit, and part of her face. Curly, who has his most of his body also covered in tattoos, has done all of her body art for free. If Moore had paid, however, it is estimated that her tattoos would have cost her approximately $22,000.

Mechi In Action

Remember our post about Mechi the painting rhino?

Well now you can see this tough girl in action through our YouTube channel. Mechi is a rhinoceros at The Mesker Park Zoo, located in Evansville, Indiana. She was found in the wild alone, after her mother was poached in the mountains of Nepal. The zoo offered Mechi the chance to paint as a form of stimulating entertainment for the long winter months when she couldn’t get out to mud wallow or sit by her pool in the sun. At first pieces of banana, carrot and sweet potato were placed on the paper for Mechi to move around and nibble on. Once she got used to the motions she made with her lips to move the treats, the keepers replaced these with blobs of non-toxic, all-natural paint. It seems like despite their tough exterior, rhinos do have a soft, and artistic, side to them after all.

Incredible Features EXCLUSIVE: Haute Couture for Cats and Rats

Fashion designer Ada Nieves makes one-of-a-kind glamorous outfits and celebrity-worn red carpet award gown replicas for pets that have recently been featured on TV series ’30 Rock’ and ‘Ice Loves CoCo’. Nieves doesn’t restrict her designs to cute outfits aimed at small dog owners however, as is often seen these days. She’s now branched out, designing custom outfits for rats, rabbits, cats, ferrets and even iguanas.

Ada produces copies of the Oscars and Golden Globes gowns annually, dressing dogs from local shelters and auctioning off the outfits for the benefit of the rescue organizations. This year her work went towards Umbrella of Hope, a California-based animal shelter.

In an exclusive fashion show for Incredible Features, Ada showcased her intricate and detailed designs for dogs, cats and rats. The majority of the models were rescue pets.

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