The Scalp Squid Head Massager from Archie McPhee is a big-eyed squid-shaped device that features “tentacle sensation that relieves stress and improves circulation.”

Experts agree, there’s nothing more relaxing than a head massage from a squid. This hard vinyl 7-1/4” x 3-1/2” pink Scalp Squid massager has rounded tip tentacles that rub your head in just the right spot for maximum stress relief.

Phineas X. Jones of Octophant has created Squid in Morning Dress, an illustration of a squid looking rather dapper. The art’s screenprints were created in collaboration with Nevermind Gallery who have made two versions available to purchase. Last year, we posted an earlier version of this illustration.

“Dapper, you say? Sir, you insult me. I can respect your plainly keen eye for the finest bespoke haberdashery and your appreciation of the same. But to imply that my manner of dress is self-consciously beyond that of any proper gentleman is pure effrontery! Do you take me for a preening dandy, Sir? A foppish twit? I am simply attired in a style suitable and fitting to a squid of my social station and I certainly do not have time for your knavery. Good day to you!”

“I said ‘good day,’ sir!”

California-based print-maker and ceramics artist Kristina Ayala of Pufferfish Press creates all kinds of great art pieces featuring squids. Her squid artwork will be shown starting on January 29, 2012 at women-owned tattoo studio and gallery, Mermaids Tattoo in San Francisco, California. Also check out her Etsy shop, Pufferfish Press.

Squid vs. Wienermobile is a great t-shirt design from artist Jonathan Rosenberg (Goats and Scenes From A Multiverse). Considering that I recently took a ride on RELSHME, a touring Wienermobile, the shirt almost seems custom-made for me! The t-shirt is available at Topatoco.

Recent studies show that giant squid feed almost exclusively on food-shaped vehicles that accidentally fall into the ocean. This is true! You can trust me.

Thanks to Tim Holt for the tip!

huladollsquidgirlrides

Huladollsquidgirl is a series of retro-styled art pieces from Florida-based artist Erika Taguchi-Newton where the grass skirts on sweet hula doll-like girls are lightly covering their squid parts. Prints are available at her Etsy shop, Raven Girl.

Work-in-progress of huladollsquidgirl

Work-in-progress of huladollsquidgirllovestiki

via Super Punch and Tiki Talk

images via Erika Taguchi-Newton

Archie McPhee has designed and created the world’s first Inflatable Tentacle Arm. This vinyl 3-foot long tentacle “fits snugly over your own hand” to provide a unique tentacular experience. It could easily be coupled with their stylish Tentacle Mustache for a truly unique cephalopod-like look.

Your plain old human arms are so humdrum and commonplace. Why not replace one of them with a tentacle? This…vinyl Inflatable Tentacle fits snugly over your hand and lets you pretend you’re slowly turning into a squid. Adds a bit of zing to any boring, traditional costume. Instead of dressing like a hobo, you’re a tentacle hobo!

San Francisco-based illustrator Bill Robinson created Palace of Fine Squids in appreciation of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Prints of this friendly pink squid are available at Bill’s Etsy shop, Flimflammery.

Crafter Bethany Hockenberry has created Squidtivity, a series of nativity scenes using handcrafted felt squids instead of the traditional people and animals. Bethany has been making the squid-filled nativity scenes since 2006 and sells them at her Etsy shop, Cleo Dee. Her animator husband, Scott Benson, created a quirky short video about Squidtivity called The Fifth Annual Squidtivity. We lasted posted about this husband and wife team in the post, The Adventures of Tadly Waldorfington, A Mimic Octopus.

Bethany on her inspiration for Squidtivity:

The squidtivity is a tribute to the nativity plays in the church I grew up in. It was a very small Methodist church with an organist that would fall asleep during hymns and at least one choir singer who was always off-key. Our nativity plays consisted of a fake baby snagged from the nursery and swaddled in a towel.

Scott describes Squidtivity in his own words:

For a half-decade now, my wife has been making handmade plush squid. No machines are involved – it’s all cut, embroidered and sewn by hand. Every holiday season, she rolls out the annual Squidtivity set. I remember the first year she made it, both of us worried that no one in their right minds would buy one. We were very, very wrong. The response we get every year is incredible, ranging from audible delight to absolute horror. Atheists love it. Devout believers love it (most of the time). Unaffiliated fans of squid love it. It certainly makes shows interesting.

Hine Mizushima created a wonderful pair of Dress-Up Squid and Dress-Up Octopus for the Luv-able Hug-able 2011, a plush art show that opens on December 1 at Gallery Hanahou in New York City.

The 2010 short film, The Anachronism, is a well-crafted steampunk adventure that follows two budding Victorian-era scientists as they discover a giant futuristic robot squid. The film was written and directed by Matthew Gordon Long of Anachronism Pictures.

Thanks to Joel Betancourt for the tip!

The Squidulus line of skateboards from Stimulus Skateboards features superb squid designs. The Squidulus artwork was designed by Joe Scordo.

images via thingsfrommyface

Hungry Squid Bag by Archie McPhee

The gigantic, man-eating squid featured on this bag has snared a scuba diver with his chopsticks. If you think it’s hard to use chopsticks with your fingers, try doing it with tentacles! Each 16-1/2″ x 18″ x 3-3/4″ reusable bag is made of a rayon material created from bamboo. We only mention it because bamboo just happens to be one of the most abundant and renewable natural resources in the world.

Dr. Who Squid by Meg Lyman

via Bonnie Burton & Jeff Carlisle

Baby Squid, a wonderful new sculpture by Nemo Gould. This is a follow-up to Nemo’s beautiful Giant Squid sculpture.

Fight The Vampire Squid, an Occupy Wall Street illustration by Molly Crabapple (large download, stencil art & vector art).

Mother Jones recently wrote about the “mixing economic populism with cephalopods” in their post Octopi Wall Street.

Joe Cardella of ART/LIFE, a limited edition fine art magazine, has hand-carved these marvelous surfboards with seaworthy images of squid, god of the sea, Neptune (check out his codpiece), a mermaid, and a bare-breasted blonde woman.

He calls his California surfboard carving shop: “Squid Studios”.

photo by David Pu’u

images via Joe Cardella

Octopoteuthis deletron, a species of deep sea squid, engages in same-sex sexual behavior according to a new research paper by Hendrik J. T. Hoving and fellow researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. The researchers found evidence that male squid were attempting to mate with males with the same frequency they mated with females. The researchers theorize the behavior is the equivalent of a “shoot first, ask questions later” policy:

The researchers think that male squid may mate with any member of their species they encounter, which helps these rare animals take advantage of any possible chance to reproduce. Co-author Bruce Robison explains, “This is a solitary species that is not very abundant; it lives in deep, dark waters where opportunities for reproduction are few and far between. In response to that challenge, this reproductive strategy ensures that no opportunity for successful mating is lost. It’s kind of like buying a Lotto ticket, except the odds are much better.”

Thanks to Violet Blue for the tip!

photo via Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

A while back our friend and occasional guest blogger Kevin Evans made this wonderful squid themed art for us.

Josh Freeman (ObeyMyBrain) made a creepy cool Zombie Squid Hat that he’s selling through his Etsy shop, where has several other awesome squid hats.

Upon learning of my vacation plans to the Seattle area, David Wahl, the Director of Awesome for pop culture behemoth Archie McPhee, took no time extending a invitation to me to visit their retail store in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood for a behind-the-scenes tour. I, already a big fan of their offbeat wares, took no time accepting the invitation. As plans firmed up, what started as a tour ended up in us planning a fabulous event where I served the quintessential East coast sandwich treat, Fluffernutters, to their customers. David filmed the event and made the wonderful video where I, in part, give instructions on how to make the perfect Fluffernutter.

For the uninitiated, a Fluffernutter is a sandwich made with Marshmallow Fluff, peanut butter and soft white bread. For years, it was only available on the East coast and now it’s finally made its way to the West coast.

Here are a few photos from the event.

Handerpants are the perfect accessory for serving Fluffernutters.

Some folks from the local neighborhood blog, Wallyhood, paid a visit and sampled the goods.

Shana Iverson, the High Priestess of Rubber Chickens for Archie McPhee, and myself, Rusty Blazenhoff, enjoying our day of Fluff fun.

Little known fact: Archie McPhee’s own cryptozoological wonder, The Wallingford Beast, loves Fluffernutters and Crazy Cat Lady Soap.

I felt right at home surrounded by a bathtub full of Finger Tentacles.

From left to right: Mark Pahlow, Owner of Archie McPhee, Shana Iverson, Rusty Blazenhoff and David Wahl.

Here is a humorous “death by The Fluff” video that Cap’n Dan’l of the Archie McPhee store made shortly after the event.

Thanks to everyone at Archie Mcphee that made me feel so welcome. The Fluffernutter day was a great success and was most definitely an Endless Geyser of Awesome!

photos by Rusty Blazenhoff, Shana Iverson, and Veek Toastia

See also:
–Archie McPhee, A Unique Toy Company In Ballard, Seattle
–A Tour Inside Archie McPhee, A Novelty Toy Store In Seattle

“20,000 Lieues Sous Les Mers” by Philippe Nicolas

HORROR VACUI

Manganese make my colors blue

Pneuma

The Mass Ornament

German-based artist David Zink Yi created a series of sculptures in the likenesses of dead Architeuthis, the giant squid. Using a mixture of lead and copper glazes he created a varied metallic sheen on each of his ceramic colossal cephalopods. Only one of these art works is not lying in a large pool of blue ink, The Mass Ornament.

Art gallery Hauser & Wirth explains a little about Zink Yi’s squid art:

The subject of lore and fine art for centuries, the Architeuthis emerges to human view only at its death, when it washes onto shore and is deposited at the border where the opposing but interdependent worlds of land and sea meet. Zink Yi’s dying squid sprawls across the gallery floor, a body without breath. Its 16-foot, deflated, creamy pale form rests in a pool of glistening dark liquid, provoking the viewer into a powerful encounter with the unfamiliar. Intended less as narration than as a pedestal or frame for the work, this liquid brings the viewer back to awareness of the alchemy involved in its making. Looking like tons of dead animal protein, Zink Yi’s Architeuthis is in fact a 660-pound ceramic object achieved through a tremendously difficult process that pushes the material to the very limits of its potential. Through a literal and figurative trial by fire at more than 1200 degrees centigrade, Zink Yi thus fixes a body at the border of two other opposing but interdependent worlds: the realms of grotesque and the precious.

images via David Zink Yi and Hauser & Wirth

Norse mythology tells of the Kraken, a legendary sea-dwelling monster that was said to devour ships, whales and humans. Although most likely the story stems from sightings of a giant squid, the legend of this sea beast lives on in San Diego’s Subtext Gallery at their Release the Kraken! art exhibition celebrating their fifth anniversary.

This found art concept show features “vintage aquatic paintings re-imagined by over 30 artists”:

Each artist was given a painting with a body of water in it, and then asked to “Kraken-ize” it by adding some sea monsters, hydro-creatures or aquatic beasts of their liking.

Release the Kraken! opened on August 12, 2011 and will run until September 11, 2011. A PDF preview of the entire show with a price list is available.

via Hi Fructose

images via Subtext Gallery and Hi Fructose

“Save Me Whale” by Joe Vaux

“The Belly’s Ocean”, a wonderful giant squid painting by Matt Rota, currently on display through September 3rd at CoproGallery in Santa Monica.

via Super Punch