Everyone has an animal or insect that they have nightmares about. Personally, I hate mice. If we all had the option of an animal or insect printed on our clothes or household fabrics I'm sure a lot of people would not choose mosquitoes or spiders. Many people have their fear of certain animals and insects cured by aversion therapy. Maybe I need to spend more time with mice. Lots of people are not very keen on rats. My opinion of them totally changed when I visited Ghana, Africa and saw people selling huge wild rats on the side of the road. They held up the dead ones by their tails. In fact, my friend who was our host in Ghana, was a rat-catcher when he was a teenager. The rats are very healthy and only live in the forest so they are probably great to eat! I must admit I didn't try one. I stuck to goats head soup, which is a Ghanaian favourite and the name of a Rolling Stones album. When I launched my textile brand Paisley Power, I decided to create a paisley pattern that was very contemporary but still looked like a classic paisley. The result was "Rattus Norvegicus" (the common rat), which was the name of my first paisley design for my brand and also the first album title of my favourite 1970's punk band, The Stranglers. My rat design has been getting increased exposure since I designed it in 2013. This week a new customer in New York ordered a rat pattern apron, another new customer in Pennsylvania ordered a rat pattern pillowcase and tonight a new customer in Slovenia ordered a pair of contrasting rat pattern cushions. I will post the cushions in the morning. Here is a photo of them:
Complimentary cushions with paisley rat pattern designed by Paisley Power.
You can order them from the Paisley Power Shop at Etsy.com. Here is another pic of the black cushion:
and here is the white one:
close-up photo of the white background rat cushion by Paisley Power
You can also order the fabric from Patrick's online fabric store at Spoonflower.com.
Enjoy the rats and let me know if you need a design of your favourite pet or scary animal or insect.