10 of the weirdest projects to ever hit Kickstarter (pictures)

Kickstarter has played host to some projects that mine the fringes of creativity. From a gaming system that draws real blood from your veins to a baby-shaped drink flask, the crowdfunding site has been the proving ground for quite a few oddball ideas.

One of the more enjoyable goofy projects to conquer the crowdfunding trail is Lionel Richie's Head, a campaign that successfully raised the cash to create a massive inflatable bust of singer Lionel Richie. The public art project delivered on its promises, launching the head at a music festival on the Isle of Wight in the UK.

Kickstarter didn't look too kindly on the Blood Sport project in late 2014. The creators built a gaming system that would draw real blood from a player's veins when a character sustained damage. The idea was to spice up the world of blood donation, but the project was canceled by Kickstarter.

The Meat Soap Kickstarter in 2011 was founded on a basic premise: "We love meat and we love soap." The project passed its modest $1,500 funding goal and delivered pink, bacon-scented soap to its backers. The money was used to create a custom soap mold with a pig on it, as well as source the materials for the porky product.

Fans of the Second Amendment flocked to a Kickstarter project based on a bad pun. The Bear Arms Shirt campaign collected enough funding to deliver a set of shirts that featured fake-bear-fur arms along with slogans like "USA!" and "Just pimpin' my rights!" The project was also ambitious enough to create a short-sleeved biker jacket with fuzzy bear arms.

Bacon is a surprisingly popular topic on Kickstarter. There have been successful projects for bacon-scented soap, portable packets of bacon jerky and bacon cupcakes.

Crystal Bacon was a funded 2012 project that featured clear renditions of bacon in acrylic. The project creator described it as "a true ode to bacon" and a "sculptural tribute to the most delicious of all meats."

It doesn't get more bizarre than a drink flask hidden inside a fake baby you wear on your chest with a straw accessible from behind the baby's head. The Cool Baby project is one of the odder items to try its luck on Kickstarter. With a lofty $70,000 aim, the project has so far failed to attract enough backers to reach its goal.

Performance artist Michael Barrett had a vision, and he used Kickstarter to help him get there. His vision was to create the world's largest jockstrap. The project topped its goal in late 2011. Barrett's website now lists him as the holder of the Guinness World Record for the "World's Largest Jockstrap."

One of the most amusing and infamous Kickstarter projects of all time was Zack Brown's effort to make a potato salad. He started with a funding goal of just $10, but ended up at $55,492. He used the funds to pull off a massive potato-salad party. The project was the object of much scrutiny, with Kickstarter watchers divided between supporters and those who thought the whole thing was too silly to exist.

Brown's success spawned a series of knock-off food-related projects ranging from bacon cupcakes to pancakes.

If you enjoy strapping on a set of armor during the weekends, then you're the sort of person who would back a Kickstarter project like Combat Kitchenware. The kitchen became a battleground with frying pans that have sword-style handles. It proved to be a popular pledge, resulting in the original $7,000 goal being struck down beneath the might of a $46,261 funding total.

The FoldiMate Kickstarter project may have been too far ahead of its time. The robo-machine's purpose is to fold your shirts, towels and pants so you don't have to. The complex machine still looked to be very functional, but it wasn't able to gather enough backers willing to part with nearly $5,000 to not have to fold laundry.