More Mice For The Museum!

Last Summer I was asked to create some mice for our local Museum. Katie had suggested we had a mascot mouse called Bonnie [from Bishop Bonner's Cottages] and the idea sort of mushroomed - we ended up with seven on the mouse trail. A sleepy Victorian gentleman in a nightshirt, a kitchen maid, Ann who lived in one room in the cottages, Bonnie the mascot, Sam the grocer, Ellinor Fenn [local educator] and Jethro the farmer.

This year, Katie asked if I could dress a few more mice, as she wanted to have some different displays...
Knowing I was a little bit busy, what with a bear and a kitchen and stuff, she undressed three of the mice, so I only needed to make one new mouse and four costumes.

Yesterday I took them round to BBCM, ready for the opening on Friday morning. My brief was two guys and two gals. First, a general purpose "boy" mouse [I've called him Jake] who could be used in different settings.

He just had a simple pair of dungarees and a cap - and could probably be set in any period in the last 150 years. The second male mouse was much more specific. Could I make "Brian" to represent Brian Aldiss, who came from Dereham and became an award winning Science Fiction Author.  

2025 is his Centenary Year.
In many photos he is wearing colourful braces, and often a hat

Here's Brian, holding a copy of one of his books, "Comfort Zone". I confessed to Katie that I chose that title because I could make a tiny, but neat label on my Labelmaker. She was pleased, as it was not one of the titles in her display, so it was good to have it recognised.  I am glad it will be inside the glass cabinet - if anyone did flick through the pages, they would realise it has been made using an instruction manual from an IKEA flatpack cabinet [ the pages of small print] Making Mouse Hats is difficult, because of the ears!

I will post pictures of the girl mice later in the week

🐭🐁🐭🐁