Twilight the Rat, a special order and how she was created; Scratching at the Window, soft sculpture animals by Karen Waschinski

On November 21st, 2008, I received a wonderfully happy and excited email from a collector in California who was delighted to have discovered my rats! It was truly a blessing as my father had just died and I desperately needed the uplifting enthusiasm and energy that poured out of Linda's joyful emails. Very quickly, we came to an agreement that she wanted a special. realistic rat to join her collection, someone with a bit of a Tim Burton twist, and I set to work on creating her aptly named "Twilight".

Our first consideration was the fur. Linda knew she wanted a skinny rat but also one who was decidedly feminine. We selected a rich, milk chocolatey brown mohair with a dark tip from Europe, curly and very soft.

Here's Quin showing all the wonderful furs, each labeled with a color.

Each nail was then formed by hand in differing lengths to try to resemble those on a "real" rat's paw... and the fangs, of course. Since Twilight was to have a bit of a mischievous bent, her nails and claws were made longer than normal, in a striking pure white.

Creating a rat is a rather long process: each rat takes about 30 hours to create, starting with the Fimo nails.

Once all the pieces had been cut out and prepared, the actual sewing began. I always like to do the head first, and then the tail. The head has all the character, while the tail is just fun.

So, above, that's the pile of nails and the head taking shape. I picked out two ultrasuedes for the ears and Linda selected the darker one.

At every stage, Linda received photos to see the progress and make any comments.

Twilight's fur proved excellent to work with and the resulting head was lovely, and we both agreed quite feminine.

Once the head was finished, I could breathe a sigh of relief! The critter has an identity and something to focus on, a character to develop and build.

Here's again where Linda was able to shape her rat's look: the original fabric that I choose for the tail proved to be too fragile, so I had to use something else. I offered her 2 choices: a tan upholstery fabric and a black faux leather. The tan, soft and silky, appealed to her more.

The paws are slow and meticulous work, and you really don't want to break a nail! Twilight came together nicely, her hands being completed in a lovely soft upholstery fabric on the top and a smooth leatherette on the bottom. Look at those nails!

Below you can see the completed hind legs, on their wires ready to be attached to the body.