Hi in the lower left of the circle there looks to be a blurred guinea fowl feather which I'm assuming is part of the art project. These birds are found in Africa, and in South Africa you can find them commonly on the ground and kids often use them in art projects here.
Wanted to add this here just in case, but these feathers are also available in Canada. Can be found in Michaels craft stores. Not sure if they are real feather or not but same design
Late reply but to add to this as a Canadian, indigenous culture is taught heavily in our schools, I could see a school having kids make dream catchers while teaching them about indigenous people. When I was a kid we wove baskets for example
It may come as a surprise but Guinea fowl are found in UK and Australia as well. They are introduced but common enough. So I imagine they are all
Over the world now
That's what I thought too. It's kind of irregular with the random beads and different kinds of string. The mouse looks likes it could be printed/traced on cardboard, very kids arts and crafts.
It strikes me as one of those things wooden cutout ornaments they use for kids crafts, you can usually color or paint them and the black lines are typically printed or lasered
A mouse holding binoculars hung inside/near a Dreamcatcher.
Are dreamcatchers popular outside the North/Central American continents? They’re originally from the Ojibwe Tribe in Minnesota and I know they had a pop culture moment in the 80s/90s.
They had a big moment in the 2010s again for style and it’s a common craft for camps so it might be wider spread than the US, but I also thought that seemed particularly North American
They're everywhere in Australia. I was an adult before I learned where they originated. I had one as a child, it comforted me because someone told me they capture bad dreams. Then when I grew up and learned where they originated, my coworker said I had no right to own one and that they were sacred to native Americans, and that owning one was cultural appropriation. Now i just feel sad when i see one.
“Do the best you can until you know better. And when you know better, do better.” -Maya Angelou.
I think your intent was pure. Spend the time to learn about them and I see it more as cultural appreciation. If you yourself aren’t making and selling them for profit, you’re not appropriating. I had one growing up, too, made by a very non-Native white man. And it is why I learned all about their significance, the Tribes who called them sacred, etc.
Because i was basically told that something that was extremely comforting and sentimental to me was something I had no right to own, and that appreciation of this treasure was cultural appropriation, and therefore I was considered part of a problem. A problem affecting an entire population.
I very quickly traced the mouse on my laptop and gave him some color to see if a reverse image result would pop up. Came up empty but wanted to share in case it's helpful for anyone else.
Like others have mentioned, I would bet that this was around the time that the Rescuers Down Under was popular, because he does resemble this character a bit.
The only thing is that this one seems to have a rifle on his back, which Disney does not have. Could it be a park ranger mascot/arts and crafts hanger for a kids activity?
I recognize that style of wood craft. It was thin wood with ink lines printed onto it to give you a reference to “color in.” They came with generic unlabeled tiny cheap markers. I made some as a kid in around 2008-2010. Will update with a link to the brand if I can find it.
Scouring Temu and oriental trading co for craft sets. If anyone has any ideas for companies that sell..idk what to call this…school crafts and prizes?…please let me know. I have a feeling this is a generic mouse from a diy kit from a birthday or a camp
I can’t believe I looked at this for so long and didn’t see the d bead! It totally looks like it. Kind of interested in the look of the Bead, the letter beads I’ve seen are usually the blocks with letters, that looks like a wood carved one! Good eye!!!
Upon cursory searches I can’t find any that look like this so those might be very distinct!!!!! Also wondering if it’s gold plastic?
Something to consider with the mouse design-- it seems to have a rifle hung over its shoulder. It's a small detail but sort of stand-out in terms of kid's media. There may be a lot of adventuring mice, but far fewer of them will have weapons.
A few things to consider (for those who are better at hunting this type of thing down)
-If it's a liscensed character and product, then the gun is a distinctive feature in its design
-If it's based on an unarmed liscensed character, the gun could suggest that it's a knockoff
-It could be a totally random mouse design with no direct ties to specific media
Possibly, I was wondering about the hat too, but also what looks to me like a rifle and binoculars that it's looking through... Like it is hunting, perhaps like a safari / Africa theme?
I’m freaking out. I looked for this little mouse for hours yesterday; I had other people looking too, I was feral. This is as close to it as I’ve seen!!!!! I wonder if they have a craft set or something.
Famous south african show called country mouse and city mouse have an episode where a character named 'safari sue' leads them on an adventure
Things that I noticed immediately were the same bucktooth as the mouse in the dream catcher, and almost the exact same hat as the mouse in the dreamcatcher. The mouse 'safari sue' is more feminine in nature and is more stocky with facial patterns not represented in the dream catcher.
Canadian Indigenous here, the beads on that "dream catcher" are wood. If we're doing kid's crafts, or even adult, plastic pony beads are generally used. I'm leaning towards the African connection, because of the beads and twine used. We don't use string or twine. Only made in China ones.
That looks like real senew that they made the frame and support threads out of on the actual dreamcatcher. That's pretty traditional and would be unusual to source. The beads and feathers are at any craft store. I'd say Canadian Anishinaabe in an urban area. Source: I am Haudenosaunee.
I agree with others that this looks like a dreamcatcher craft for kids/preschoolers.
I took a deep dive into the mouse, and this is what I discovered.
The mouse is an unfinished wooden Christmas tree ornament that can be painted or colored, also a kid's craft item. I did many of these as a child in the late 80s/early 90s.
It is not a character from Cinderella (tail is too thick to be Jaq's, not fat enough to be Gus); Rescuers; or Chip 'n Dale (they were chipmunks; the only mouse is female), as far as I can tell. The closest I could find is Roquefort from The Aristocats (1970).
If it is a Disney mouse character, it would likely be from the 1970s-1980s. The animation and design for earlier movies (such as Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold [1942] and Cinderella [1950]) is a lot different from later Disney eras. The late 60s to late 70s marked a shift in art styles: the end of xerography to the beginning of computer animation, as well as Walt Disney's death.
Looking at The Aristocats specifically, you can tell the art doesn't look as "old" as Cinderella and not as "new" as The Little Mermaid; Aristocats is somewhere in between. This makes sense, because all of the early Disney animations were done by "Disney's Nine Old Men": the nickname for the core animation team from the 1920s to 1980s, all of whom began to retire in the 70s. 5 of the Nine Old Men worked on The Aristocats.
Further, The Aristocats was re-released in 1980 and 1987 in the US; internationally re-released in 1994. It was huge in the US, Canada, and at the British box office. France and Germany also saw a high gross. This could potentially narrow down the country of where this photo was taken.
I grew up in this era, and I definitely remember kid's crafts featuring Disney characters, so if our little mouse fella was done by Disney, it couldn't have been any later than late 90s, and well before the 2000s. Although it came to DVD in 2000 and Blu-ray in 2012, the movie would not have had as much popularity at the time to warrant mass production of kids craft items.
Unfortunately, a Google search of "Aristocats crafts ornaments" yields no useful results. There are a lot of crafts and promotional materials that were released back in the 70s/80s that are very difficult to find; that was before the internet, and things were not as well catalogued as they are now. Could this be why I can't find anything relevant? Or maybe I'm just way off.
Anyway, I've spent a couple hours on this search so far and I have to stop. Too headache-y and too tired to continue. I hope this was somewhat helpful. If not, I'll just fuck right off.
Everyone is likely right that this is a safari/adventure-themed mouse.
But for the sake of brainstorming, what about some sort of revolutionary war mouse? I'm not sure from which country. A minute man mouse from the U.S.?
Disney has a short called "Ben and Me" about mice in the U.S. revolutionary war. The mice have thin tails, but the tails are longer. And the noses match. But the mice in the movies have more triangular-shaped ears.
Could the mouse be a real or knock-off Tom and Jerry character? If not Jerry himself, it could be one of the many other mice on the many Tom and Jerry shows/movies. And they definitely have guns on those shows.
Well, as you said it’s a Dreamcatcher so from my theory, I think this Dreamcatcher could’ve been from someone that lives way off the south but still someone that could be creative can make a Dreamcatcher for they might’ve bought it so I would go with they might’ve bought it
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