Editors Note: Krisanna Marie is back again, this time sitting down for a chat with Weird Aunty Mildred, a horror and macabre creator who makes one of a kind oddities.
Tell me a bit about your company and creations? Who are you where are you based
Weird Aunty Mildred: Thank you for having me! My name is Jacqui, and I am the owner of Weird Aunty Mildred, an online store catering specifically to fans of horror and the macabre. We are based in Pretoria, South Africa and for the most part are focused on handmade props, dolls, SFX items, and other creepy decorative pieces, although we do also sell second hand books, VHS, mounted posters, framed art and old photos. Basically, anything dark or dark humor adjacent. We have an excellent exporter, and many international clients, so shipping worldwide is a breeze.
What got you into horror and the macabre?
Weird Aunty Mildred: I’m not sure really haha! I’m not a morbid person by nature, but I’ve always really loved the aesthetic of creepy things and places. My humor has raised eyebrows since I can remember and the atmosphere of horror fiction in books and film has fascinated me since I was a child. I don’t think there was ever a defining point when I crossed over to the dark side. People have always been concerned lol.
What are your favourite top 5 movies?
Weird Aunty Mildred: The order changes all the time, and there are more like 10 or 15 that are permanently on rotation, but to keep things simple. True Romance, Jojo Rabbit, Suspiria (2018 remake), The Crow, Evil Dead (2013).
What kind of music do you like?
Weird Aunty Mildred: Industrial, metal, punk, 90’s alternative, 80’s and also some of the generic, godawful Afrikaans music that is churned out locally. Current bands that come to mind are old DevilDriver, The Coathangers, The Interrupters, early 2000’s Manson. I also really love the one song I found from this mysterious band called Fiona’s Phobias!
How does a general creation session look like for you from start to finish?
Weird Aunty Mildred: It’s absolute carnage, haha! My boyfriend or I will get an idea and then we start the awkward dance of picking it apart and analysing every step of the process to make sure that it’s within our capabilities and resources. A lot of things need to be considered at this point, and probably the most important, is calculating if it’s financially viable. If there’s a specific idea for a doll that will require 3 days of work time (making clothes and wigs is incredibly time consuming) and the finished product is realistically only going to be worth 70 USD then we need to make some adjustments up front. But once we’ve decided to go ahead, then it’s pure chaos. We are constantly working on several different things, and there is a lot of drying time and chemicals involved, so the work area is a war zone. There is no structure or order! It must be said though, that there are a lot of items that we make often, and these are always a breeze. This is when I can put my headphones on and go into auto pilot. Once a piece is finished and if it’s something we haven’t really done too much of before, we’ll make a reel or post, and put it up on social media and maybe offer it as an early bird promotion. After that, when my partner is doing uploads for the website again, it will get photographed with all the other new items and listed there.
What struggles and hardships have you had to overcome as an artist?
Weird Aunty Mildred: I struggle with anxiety, so that brings a lot of its own baggage to the party. Imposter syndrome is a biggie, but I know that this is common for many creatives. I’ve also found that there are cliques on the international custom doll scene and a lot of the mainstream creepy doll groups on social media are run by the same bunch of friends, and they can sometimes be a bit non-inclusive. It’s heartbreaking when you submit creations for them to approve for their pages (that they ask for) and those just get deleted. But I’m fully aware that nobody owes me anything and it doesn’t bother me for very long. It just stings a bit at the time.
What’s your funniest creation story?
Weird Aunty Mildred: It’s always funny to me when something goes completely off the rails and turns out nothing like what I was aiming for, and then a customer falls head over heels in love with it. It’s very grounding but also hilarious. Unfortunately, it goes the other way too, with an item turning out a hundred times better than I imagined and then nobody even gives it a second glance. I’m notoriously bad at predicting what people will go for! Some people get truly freaked out that our severed body parts and “human” skin props feel real to the touch. Like they literally rip their hands away and take a few steps back at markets and that always makes me laugh as well.
What do you want others to know about you or your art?
Weird Aunty Mildred: I guess that we are authentic in the most basic possible way. Nothing in our business model is handled by automated bots or AI, so payments, and all correspondence, shipping arrangements and every single aspect of a transaction or interaction is handled either by myself or Graeme. Customers are dealing with humans, and are therefore treated like humans. I absolutely cannot stand spending ages on automated calls and being told to wait for operators that have no authority to do anything and giving out my account details to third party payment systems. Getting rid of all of that was always a huge part of our vision for the Weird Aunty Mildred brand. A genuine mom and pop store that is built on the foundation of creating happy customers. It’s something that isn’t that common anymore and we can see how much it means to people by the reactions that we get from our clients.
Any words of encouragement for younger and newer creators starting out?
Weird Aunty Mildred: Absolutely just keep creating. No matter how well or not-so-well your art is doing, the day will come when people start taking notice. It might be a year, it might be 10 years, but when that time arrives, you want to have a nice big portfolio and lots of stuff to show. The bonus is that every creation makes you a tiny bit better at what you do, so yeah, that would be my two cents of wisdom!
Our website: Weird Aunty Mildred
Interested weirdos can further find us at:
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