'Toby's Japanese mouse' - update

 You may remember I posted about my love for 'Toby's Japanese mouse' from the book 'The Children of Green Knowe' by Lucy Boston and how I saw a resin version for sale in the Hemingford Grey shop. I told my friend Rachael about them and she very kindly made me a polymer clay version, which is lovely. You can read my post about it here (you'll need to scroll down the post a little).

Rachael's polymer version

 Well, of course, having seen the mouse was back for sale, I treated myself to one and was very excited when it arrived, accompanied by a hand written note from Diana Boston who is in charge of the house now. I had expressed a wish to see the gardens and she suggested visiting in May or June, so that is on the agenda for us now.

Back to my mouse.  He really is as pictured in the illustration from the book, which is not all that surprising, as the mould was was taken from the original.

 Even with the shiny black eye.

 Underneath, you can see his tail and the soles of his feet with his toes peeping over the top of his tail.

So now my first mouse has a friend and I am delighted with them both.  Somehow, I feel as though I have a tangible link to this magical story which captivated me when I was a child and has stayed with me.  I still read the book every December.

Versatility

 I know that I am often writing about how versatile polymer clay is, but the two projects featured today really do demonstrate this.  A colleague from work asked me if I could lengthen a necklace which she had bought recently.  I had a look at it and said I could.  Chris and I looked through our massive stash of beads and gemstones, but, we didn't have anything just right.  I then thought I could take the necklace apart and intersperse some round beads in similar colours.  I then had a brainwave!  Polymer clay! I set to and made lots of tube beads out of the ecru clay and baked them. I then painted the ends with some acrylic paint, which I rubbed off to just leave a faint colour.  Having glazed them with a satin glaze, I threaded them onto eye pins and made the necklace longer.

 You can see the beads I added in this photo, but I was pretty happy with the match.  I just hope my colleague is happy with them too!

 On a completely different subject, ever since I was a child, I had really wanted my own 'Toby's Japanese Mouse' from the story 'The Children of Green Knowe' by Lucy Boston.  I loved the illustration in the book which was drawn by Peter Boston.  In the book, here is the description: "...an ebony mouse, life sized with shiny black eyes. It was so cleverly carved that you could see every hair, and it felt like fur to stroke".  I visited the website for Lucy Boston's house, Hemingford Grey and was thrilled to see the shop offering resin versions of the mouse.  'I must order one', I thought,  However, I didn't and when I looked again, they weren't on sale any more. (Ironically, they are back on sale again now! Typical, isn't it?! I may have to have one anyway now...)

However, my clever sculpting friend, Rachael, has come to my assistance and has made me my very own Toby's Japanese Mouse out of polymer clay.  He isn't exactly the same as the illustration, but that makes him more special. 

Isn't he sweet?  I dry brushed him with a grey acrylic paint which I wiped off straightaway, so that the fur can be seen and the details can be seen.

I then glazed him with a gloss glaze so that he would be shiny.  Thank you so much, Rachael, he is wonderful!