11 People Who Shot for Artistic Brilliance and Landed in a Messy Fiasco

Exploring your creative side doesn’t always go as planned, and sometimes the results are more funny than impressive. For some, that’s where the journey ends—but for others, it’s just motivation to laugh it off and keep going. The key is to enjoy the process, no matter how messy the outcome might be.

• My sister asked me to bake the cake for her gender reveal party. I made the inside a beautiful shade of blue. The second I walked into the party, my heart sank. Everything was pink.
  When my sister cut the cake and saw the blue filling, everyone went silent. Then our dad said, “Well, maybe it’s twins!”

• For my mom’s birthday, I decided to draw a portrait of her. When I finished, the portrait was horrifying. I hid it under my bed.
  But one day, I found my mom standing in my room and staring at the portrait. She smiled at me and said, “This is such a great sketch of your uncle Martin!” I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was supposed to be her. Since then, my terrible drawing has been proudly displayed on the fridge.

• Someone I knew who was an art student wouldn’t wear shoes to class in college. The teacher finally snapped and said that he didn’t care if she wore nothing else but shoes, but she had to wear shoes to class. So the next class, she walked across campus in nothing but shoes. That was... unique. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I knew a kid in my high school art class who refused to draw anything except for tongues. It didn’t matter what the assignment was, he drew tongues. It was super creepy, however, he was pretty good at drawing tongues. © Desilu027 / Reddit

• My grandma was a cooking disaster. One time, she accidentally dumped the entire salt shaker into the stew and didn’t tell us. She thought she could mask it with other flavors. On the first bite, I choked and gagged, and we poured it down the drain. © drpepper1992 / Reddit

• A guy in my program spent about a month creating this elaborate clay sculpture of Superman. Then smashed it with a mallet at the gallery opening. It was some sort of statement about fragility and strength, but man. I cringed. It was a nice piece. © At_the_Roundhouse / Reddit

• I had a work event where someone said they were bringing tacos for everyone. They brought cold flour tortillas, shredded chicken, and boiled brussel sprouts. I understand that people have different tastes, but you don’t put brussel sprouts on a taco! © ImInJeopardy / Reddit

• I did a study abroad program and lived with a local family. They were lovely, welcoming people, but none of them could cook, like at all. The mother did most of the cooking, and it was just, well, awful.
  I was especially spoiled at home because both my parents could cook and, at home, I had a delicious meal on the table just about every night. But, I got used to things eventually, and I really only ate dinners with them, so I just dealt.
  However, one day, the mom made broiled endive. She literally took endive, put it into the oven and just cooked it until it was a mush of the most disgusting texture ever and if there was any spice in it (even salt), I sure didn’t taste it. That is the most awful thing I’ve ever had to choke down. © Unknown author / Reddit

• A person I was newly dating fancied themselves a “chef.” They invited me for dinner and said they were making a “special” seafood pasta. I love to eat and have an adventurous palate, so I was really looking forward to it. The dish was a huge plate of plain spaghetti (no sauce, no oil, and no seasoning) with calamari on a bed of cilantro.
  I took a big bite, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed (they had overcooked the squid). It was like eating rubber bands, paste and lawn. I managed to swallow the bite and tried for a second, but just couldn’t do any more than that. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I tried to make my husband rice for dinner. Got distracted, forgot I was making it and boiled all the water out of the pot leaving a very smoky charred conglomerate in the pot that I swiftly pitched onto the porch right as he was coming home. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I recently tried baking a chocolate cake, but I didn’t have any cocoa powder. I added chocolate chips, but they melted and sank to the bottom. It was a not very chocolatey cake with burnt chocolate bottom and bready, flavorless top layer of cake. © Unknown author / Reddit

The kitchen is the perfect place to get creative, but not every experiment turns into a success. If you love reading about kitchen adventures, check out 12 People Whose Cooking Attempts Led to Unexpected Results.