Thumb rat basics

I checked what I had written about rats and thumb rats into this blog, and was surprised that the newest post with the tag "rats" was from 2017. This is weird, because I always feel like I have posted my rat stuff everywhere even if the blog's main subject was not rats. Well. Now I feel like I need a serious update on these things... So, in case I haven't done this already, here comes a basic info bunch about thumb rats. 

Lukki, Skorppu and Punkki having some cake.

What are thumb rats? Thumb rats, also called (nicknamed) "thumbies" or leg beans, are small rat figurines I make from silk clay and foam clay, which are a type of airdry clay that you can't compare with the polymer or earth type clays. Both silk clay and foam clay come in a wide row of colors and all can be mixed. There are also different variations like neon, metallic or glitter. These clays dry very lightweight and are durable in the sense that you can't accidentally break them if your work falls to the floor or something. 

Thumb rats are indeed small, the length from nose to butt is usually somewhat 3-5 cm long. This can vary due to the rat's position, gender (males are bigger than females!), but also the sculpture's age and batch. My habits and tricks change over time, although the basic technique has remained mostly the same since the first thumbies happened. 

Carrat (was made Nov/Dec 2014) and Boltolf (was made Aug 2021).

The scale is not exactly 1:9 alias traditional, but a bit bigger, maybe 1:6 is closer (depends from what era the rat is from). Despite that I have long since accepted them as a part of my traditional scale modelverse, and so my dolls are their caretakers. In case you have any Schleich cats, thumbies are often nearly similar in size, if even a bit smaller. 

Brief history. The first "true" thumb rats got made in late 2014, when I was internshipping in a small craft store and got to test these clays. I first didn't think of using the colors as is, because as a modelhorsier and realism dork I always thought I will just paint everything eventually. That changed when I realised how I can just use and mix the colors there were available in the clays, and I liked how clean especially the eyes looked when I put them into place. I couldn't make them look so sharp and round if I had to paint them. 

The first thumbies on the store table. That small orange blob is a weird, overgrown mouse.

I made the first thumb rats in the store, and eventually brought them home, of course. Here I glossed their eyes with some glossy varnish, and got to name and photograph every one, and wrote their infos up in a text file in the computer. I list up everything I do and call this "registering", because that is what it basically is - listing everything into a file and writing up the creating dates, materials, odd mentionable things, and so on. I also photograph every single rat individually, give it a nickname and then archive the photos in each rat's own photo folder. This is how I know that I have made way more than 1000 rats in almost a decade. 

Three brothers Fooler, Boy and Parre.

Originally all thumb rat parts were clay, but in 2019 I decided to try if I can make and attach leather tails to them. Some trial and error was needed, but eventually I developed a technique which allowed both genders to have leather tails which didn't give them issues.  The biggest problem has been finding proper colors and thicknesses, as I try to avoid painting the leather (I only have acrylics and haven't bothered with leather dyeing so far) and cannot thin some types of leather. 

Tails being trimmed and glued on.

A big pile of thumb rats have eventually moved out of my hands, mostly in hobby trades. I also have brainwashed some friends to making their own, and even if so simple in style, everyone's personal handtrack is visible from their rats. 

Two thumb rats by Kave. I own them. 

I am not the only or first one to make little clay rats like this. In fact, for a long time I struggled when I tried to figure out how to cook up an unique style which wasn't just copying everyone else, but eventually gave up because I learned you have very limited options for stylizing and simplifying clay rats. And when I've seen so many by different people, I can say mine are clearly mine... 

Keimo.

Thumb rats have originally been a form of relaxing to me, and that came accidentally during that internshipping time. I have wanted to avoid stress with these since, and thus I refuse to turn them into anything complex, which also means detailed. It will not be a thumb rat if it gets worked too much - I do model horse customizing for that... So I can sculpt maybe dozens and dozens of thumb rats within one single day, depending from my mood. Sometimes they don't want to be made. Usually the batches are large; the biggest so far had 230 rats in total. 

In and Pup.

Species. Rats are rats, right? Wrong! Most thumb rats are your common brown rat, alias Rattus norvegicus, which also is what fancy rats are. There will be an occasional ship rat (Rattus rattus) in the mix... After that things go wild. I have since developed oddities like spider rats, bug rats, cake rats, spaghetti rats, demon rats and alien rats. And there is more. 

Sinister, a rat with feathery wings; I could call them pegasus rats?

Rauna, a spaghetti rat.

Varieties, alias "breeds". Rat breeds don't exist, but varieties do. Most common may be the basic standard rat with normal ears, but thumbies also come in rex, hairless, dumbo, rarely even manx. I haven't made any dwarf thumb rats yet, as I can't figure out how to prove they aren't just young normal rats. 

Oneida and Päikkäri.

Because thumb rats are made of clay, that of course means they can come in colors and coats (and species...) which are not possible with real rats. The candy colors are a group of their own and I've tried to write down their genetics for a long time. That is mostly the bright primary colors and their mixes and everything weird, like if an earthy rat had green skin and yellow eyes. Or if you have a bright red rat with neutral skin color and black eyes. It's still a candy rat. 

Jäälikäs.

I also have written up and illustrated a lot of unreal white markings and other, well, markings. Naming them has been fun. Yet there are also some odd genes which could be compared to horse greys or roans, or real rat husky. Those could require painting. 

Allan.

For coat types, there are for example metallic, soft rex, granite (glitter) and seapolish. Some of these are only possible with foam clay, which I find dumb, but also mixing the two types of clay can cause interesting results (hence seapolish). 

Berryblob.

Thumb rats in miniature settings. I make cages for these, as well as food, food bowls, toys, snacks, hammocks, etc. The cages are made from real rodent mesh which is probably meant to be used in gardens; it's similar to the mesh I see people using when they make real rat cages for themselves, but just a lot smaller, naturally. I attach the mesh pieces together by sewing with flower wire of the 0.4 mm thickness. The bottom boxes of them are clay. The unrealistic thing in thumb rat cages is that often I make them to have for example three separate apartments in one cage, and these apartments can be smaller than what is required.

Food bowls and a rather new cave design (technique).

While thumbies are mainly meant to be pets for my rider dolls, the rats will have also their own, separate world and culture within the existing "normal" modelverse. I find this amusing and intriguing - they are kind of minimally anthropomorphized at times, without going to the same level as where my dolls are, since those are true anthros. 

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So these are the tiny rats you WILL see in my model horse hobby blogs and photos here and there. They aren't going anywhere, and since my blogs are mine, I don't care if I sometimes mumble too much about them. 

From left: Meg, Kipukeppi (orange and white), Idealist (creamy with brown mane), Imukuppi (front), Marmau, Buddy, Valas, Hullunhuuma (stretched dumbo), Clammy (front) and Sinko.

And... If people want me to make thumb rats for them, that's okay. But please do not ask me to make pet portraits. I will take those seriously and it is not what thumb rat making should be about. Yet, I will not rehome any of these singly - they will go in same sex pairs or more, just like real rats do. 

Rat and rat

I'm not those who plan every photo story or try to get everything to look always as believable as possible. Here's one photo stack to show what I mean... Or do you think that there's a) horse sized rats or b) rat dudes who are small as 1:1 rats?

It has nothing to do with horses, really.

Rats are curous little animals, and, you know, domestic ones are yet more curious and do not fear so easily. So no one was really scared when one of my dolls, Viiskytkin, met my already quite old paperclay sculpture Mokkis.


First, we have some size comparison photos. Mokkis is realistic in scale, I think... I have never met female rats (unbelievable, I have had and met only males). Viiskytkin is a bit taller than male Breyer dolls. 

Then began the story... Accidentally. Because guess who got curious to check what moves in the huge rat's head.

Viiskytkin: "Yea, come here, girl!"

He stepped on... Giggled alone as Mokkis seems not to care about anything...

Then he made a quick move and evil laugh. Mokkis ignored again.

Until he wonders: "What the, where did she go?!"

You never know about animals. As more you know, as better it is, but you never know it wholly. And that's not a bad thingy - when you make sure what you do, how and that you are not a bad thingy, they trust more and can allow things to happen without going away like Mokkis did.


Artistic info:
Viiskytkin is wholly made by me at home... I think this was needless to say. Or then I explain that those photos got taken before I cut his vest's neck... To make it better to see and handle.

But Mokkis is new in this blog. She's 1:1 scale paperclay rat I sculpted at school so she is a schoolwork. Painted with acrylics there, at home I varnished her eyes to gloss naturally. Because paperclay is what it is, it doesn't work as many other clays could. That explains her lying position, rough surface, less details and no recognizable toes and fingers in paws. I have later started to like paperclay, too, as it's OK for larger sculpts, but haven't done that at home.

Her color is some kind of chocolate or cinnamon with a hooded pattern. There's also downunder markings under her belly, really. Everything is mismarked, of course, I like non-perfect animals. 

Viiskytkin

At 8/2/2017 I finished a doll who waited to be really done for... two months? Only because I wanted to capture all his steps. Well, he got done.

I warn you... This post is going to be loooooong. Endless amount of needless photos too. I try to say 'they could be useful for those who want to try making animal dolls'.  

Somewhere at december 2016 I made this wire skeleton. I planned to capture every step of it's process. He was going to be a tall dude... But I never expected him being at the end what he really is todays.

To strenghten the 'official' wire skeleton I added five about meter-long pieces of thinner wire, what was green colored. And for some unknown reason I also captured every damn step of wiring them on, too... Possibly to save memory of myself.

Fake-artistic photo.

Torso and head wired.

Right arm, upper body and tail root wired.

All but legs wired.

The guy already adores being in his way to be finished.

All wires added!

Comparison photo with Omar, to check the proportions.

Well, then was the turn of adding clay. I choosed black silk clay for coat, and mixed a blueish-black for skin (ears and nose). These were chosen because of lack of matching colored fabrics and leathers, and because I wanted to keep the doll simple as I was making a tutorial too.

First amount of clay... A step while I try to sculpt as much as possible once.

Sculpting head rightly is important... As I've said few times already. Not so easy, when seeing this one. He failed a bit, but is ratty enough to me. In fact the head is too small, chin is tiny and the face at all is shaped like an egg. Eyes are placed just OK to me. With his ears I decided to try something different, and bend them more forward-down, but I think it doesn't show... I have no idea how to make that effect anymore todays, once years ago I did it often for thumb rats.

Behind the ears are two spots, who came from first try to attach the ears. It can ne stupidly hard to set them well. And ripping pieces in silk clay can leave bad scars too, so, who knows what those things are then when thinking in story way. The spots don't show here in these photos, but they're visible in many else. 

Nose example photo.

Rattiest view.

After the first clays were dry, I added more. The rat got a tummy, pelvis and better thighs. Now he should be able to ride well. I already apologize about stupid photos you are forced to see.
At all, his anatomy is not the best I can sculpt, but that comes also from what silk clay is... It does not work like epoxy or other clays used in customizing. 

I have few detail pics about this step, too.

When clays were fully dry, I took some comparison photos with other dolls. My first homemade doll, Juoru, looks soooo short next to him... What's not a wonder, as the cat is really short and the rat is quite tall. Also noticed how... short legs he still has, argh.

Juoru is too comfortable when he poses with unfinished dolls... But yea, he's a cat.

Again with Omar.

Then it was time to give him paws and limb furs. Less easier done, but I choosed these while I choosed the clays too, to make sure I don't fail with anything.

Sometimes it's safe to stand on your toes. 

Here are his paws glued... They were horrific to add since the leather was sticky, I don't know. It was, sticked to my fingers! Maybe it was just so thin and badly attached to the underside of it that it was... possible. But because my dolls can't be pawless, I glued the paws while cursing them in my head.

Of course I glued the fabric areas of limbs after the paws. I started from arms. Not so easy. In fact I almost lost my nerves with these too, the glue tube was an idiot again and drooled endlessly... I used a barbecue stick to 'brush' too much glue off and to make sure the fabrics stay.

And why the toe I wanted to photograph every limb differently?

Sarcastically said: really perfectly anatomically made fake lower limb.

When the limbs were ready in gluing, and left to dry a bit, I bent them to positions I needed. Because my dolls are rider dolls, they need to handle reins or ropes nicely enough. This doll got difficult upper limbs who are for first too short and, for second, have less wire inside the paws. That makes it yet tricky to keep anything there, but he still can handle and ride.

After sculpting and gluing it's always turn of some paintjobs. At first I popped the eyes off... 

He smiles. I see he smiles. I'm sure about it!

...then added two white markings to him. Small blaze and a lower tummy stripe, whatever it should be called. I didn't want too much white details. The paint I used was Mont Marte Satin acrylic. Varnished lightly with Heyda matta.

Then I painted his eyes. I wanted them to be brown or blue, or that one is brown and one blue... And then I got another idea, to make one or both with green tint. At the end they turned to be only sap green with black pupils. I am not good with using green color, but sometimes it looks nice, and more dead, rotten and greyish green is always better than some blueish, happy light green. Here you also see all the colors better, as I had set the colors more off for previous steps.

Eyes glued to the sockets.

First amount of paint added; sap green (for irises).

Pupils added. Black of course.

Just another view of eyes.

Then I varnished his eyes to add gloss to them, to make them really alive.

I glossed also his nose and mouth. Not sure am I going to add paint there later, as that looks yet a bit stupid when thinking that rats do not have pigment inside their mouths... But right now it's OK like it is.

Because this doll also got the notch for mane, it was a hairing moment next. I got a huge tuft of black viscose, ripped few smaller from it, cut then for good lengths and glued the ends carefully. Then when the roots have dried nicely, I cut them to smaller pieces to make it easier to glue. Before adding the hairs I trim those roots yet a bit.

Tufts waiting to get trimmed and glued to the head.

Notch. There also are visible the places I moved ears from...

I start gluing the hairs from most back... Smallest tuft gets placed there.

All tufts glued - but the hair looks a bit messy yet!

Honestly, this doll looks too much female too often, only because of his hair... What the.

Slightly trimmed hair (with no scissors!).

After the hairing he was finally FINISHED. My tutorial doll... Well, is nothing I expected him to be at the end, but to be honest, that also is the nice side of this hobby; you never guess what is coming. I though first that this could be again a punker, but it's not. He's clearly the cutest metal rat ever I've made or seen.

He's not the perfect one, no, but far away from that. Sight looks often stupid, because of how I painted the pupils. But it's hard to paint eyes well for a rat doll.

But because my doll seemingly was a metalist, he also deserved fitting jewellery. Or, I could say, nice metal pieces to decorate his already weird face. He got a nosering and a chain attached to his ear. A hook attaches the chain to the nosering too, all is detachable.

Naked dolls are poor to see, so this guy got a warm vest and a skirt. As and attachment he has a safety pin (huge for him). The skirt stays on with a stupid hook thingy. Because my dolls have tails, the jackets and vests I make need to have a notch who allows the tails to go naturally under them. He got also a giant necklace thingy, a metal piece hanging from a neck chain. Things got changed later, from that, though.

So my tutorial doll is a black metallist dude. His artist name is Viiskytkin, who practically has no meaning. Viis is five, kytkin is switch. Fiveswitch? Originally I got it from a name list I have, to save all ideas. Viiskyt is 50 in dialect. And -kin is a way to mean "also" or something like that, so it could be "Also 50" too.

When I publish this, I have updated his vest a bit and gave him a camera (customized dollhouse cam).

He is about 30 years old, healthy, moving man. Good rider too. Viiskytkin owns already two rats: Marjasateen Unikko and Sananjalka, red-white brothers. He even walks them with a leash, what's weird... But boys seem to like it, so it could be OK then.

As all black animals are most of the time, also Viiskytkin is difficult to photograph well - especially if you need to capture him perfeclty while the another, lighter or even white animal should also look good in the pic. His messy hair does not help.

He has skill with reactive horses, and others say he should start training for showjumping, but he doesn't want.Viis is not interested of competition riding, he only wants to roam around nature, photograph and enjoy outdooring from horseback.

He has no own horse yet, but he leases C from Asko and keeps like his own. In plans Viiskytkin has to buy a friesian, someday, and we can't know what happens with C until it... Or what we know if he gets more than just one friesian?

He is tall... Compared to C who is, I guess, average heighted warmblood.

As said earlier in this post, his hands are tricky and don't hold that well things. I still like to try set reins to Viis' hands and then photograph that... Especially when he tries to ride with double bridles. Another problem is that he doesn't sit so well as he should. We really need some saddles, some who are not made by me! Although I can think that a saddle does not teach a doll to ride still...

Although he's not that perfect at riding - as a doll - he's really good in handling and showing horses. As a tall man Viiskytkin has no problems although a horse keeps head up, he can still hold the rope quite closed to it. He's also too photogenic not to photograph when he's showing horses. (And Remu is perfect horse for pictures like that.)

Ignore the "saddle". That's what you get when you don't know what you are doing.

This and second few pics are going to be published later, among many others, in their whole own text.

Argh, I so much wish I could make realistic hands.

Hupi rides, Viis walks Remu, again because of new tack and a possibility of a danger.

Well, I have a bad habit to photograph many of my dolls only because of their own selves, no matter what they were doing... As you see. From previous and second pics is also visible how different cameras and settings I have used. Better photos are taken with a system camera and worse with a pocket one, and I use a softening tool (for flash, made from paper or plastic bag piece) with only system cam because of things. To mention, my homemade softening tools are harmless for the cameras.

Well, Viis, you should look to the camera if you want to take good photos... Oh sorry, you're a rat, and the camera is made for humans. Blergh.

The writer's childhood in a leash (and classic scale horse halter). The dino is old Schleich triceratops (1993?).

NOW it looks like a photographing one.

Yes, the camera is a system one, but - automatic setting, no flash, no tripod, no good lamps in the room = pure fail. I simply do not want to photograph with flash every time, but I seem to be forced to...

Flash softened with a piece of thin, white plastic bag. Yes, a piece of plastic bag. Colors are OK, although the contrast is set to be quite strong. 

From staring the doll and to publish it in blog, Viis took more time than anyone else from my dolls. Not nice, but better late than never... I almost gave up with this text, but today I decided that I publish this (and the Roz's text) and then I do NOT write anything new for a while... I can publish some texts I have finished to be posted after these, but they don't count. I just have no writing brains here now, it's difficult and I struggle to create anything new although I surely have ideas.