This Mouse King plush is the villain of The Nutcracker: a gray rat in a gold crown, a white collar and a royal blue cape. We sewed him by hand from pictures of the Bolshoi Theatre's staging of the ballet. He was made to order for one customer, and every toy on this site starts the same way, with what you send us.
Every December the Nutcracker gets the ornaments, the wooden soldiers and the shop windows. The Mouse King gets a sword fight and a quick exit. Ask around, though, and plenty of people will tell you the rats were their favorite part, especially when the king looked properly creepy. Some of them danced a rat themselves as kids.
Mouse King or Rat King?
Both. E.T.A. Hoffmann called him the Mouse King in his 1816 tale, where he has seven heads. Tchaikovsky's ballet opened in December 1892 at the Mariinsky. Plenty of fans simply call him the Rat King, so a lot of people search for a rat king plush. The Bolshoi has danced Yuri Grigorovich's version since 1966, with sets and costumes by Simon Virsaladze. Our toy follows that stage look, one head included.
What we sewed
- A gold crown sitting between his round gray ears
- Red eyes, a black nose and two white buck teeth
- A faux ermine collar: white faux fur with black tails stitched in
- A royal blue cape with a black lining that spreads out when he sits
- A gold star medal on a gold cord and a black belt with gold trim
- Long fingers, long feet and a long bare tail
He sits with his cape around him or stands with one hand out, like he's giving orders to the troops.
Your Mouse King, your version
Want him bigger, in a red cape, with a sword, or with the Nutcracker beside him? Tell us. We start from the photos, program pages or drawings you send, and you see photos of the finished toy before it ships. If you need a much bigger pair, we also made a life-size Nutcracker and Mouse King. For more ideas, look at our book character plush or the Christmas plush page.
We're an independent studio. This is a handmade fan piece, not an official Bolshoi Theatre product.
The Mouse King is made from safe, eco-friendly materials. Most of him is a soft gray fleece: head, body, the long arms and legs, the tail. It holds the shape of his narrow snout and still feels soft when you pick him up.
The costume is where the fabrics change:
- A shiny royal blue cape lined in black, so it looks rich from both sides
- A collar of white faux fur with black tails stitched in, like the ermine on a king's robe (we only use faux fur, never real)
- A gold metallic crown and a gold star medal on a gold cord
- A black belt with gold trim
Prefer a red cape, a taller crown or darker fur? Ask. We can also add extras on request, like a sound module, lights, or arms that hold a pose.
A Mouse King like this usually takes 2–4 weeks to make.
The rat comes first: a pattern for the long snout, the ears and those thin arms and legs, which have to be sewn and turned without puckering. Then the costume, which is almost a second project. The cape is cut and lined, the collar trimmed, the crown and medal made to scale.
The face goes last. The red eyes and the teeth decide whether he looks sly or just silly. The time frame includes a small reserve for handmade surprises, so tell us your date in your first message if he's for Christmas or a performance.
We ship worldwide. Delivery usually takes 7–20 business days, depending on your country and the carrier.
The Mouse King is a Christmas toy, and December is exactly when couriers slow down. For Christmas, order by November 1. That leaves room for the making time and for delivery during the busiest weeks of the year.
Giving him to a dancer after their Nutcracker season, or to a friend who always roots for the rats? Add the making time and delivery together and count back from the date.
Before he leaves the studio, we send you photos of the finished toy. Then we pack him so the crown and cape arrive in place.
We've been sewing custom plush since 2009. Most of what we make are characters nobody sells, and a stage villain in full costume is a good example.
If you know the ballet well, you'll notice every detail, from the collar to the medal. So you see photos of the finished toy before it ships. If you don't love it, you get a full refund within 14 days, for any reason.
Questions about the colors, the size or which production to follow? Ask before we start. A detail is much easier to get right in the pattern than to fix later.
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Custom toys start from $350.
A bigger size or extra details can cost more.
Why?
No ready-made pattern. Your photo or drawing doesn’t come with one. Our artist builds the pattern from scratch and turns a flat picture into a 3D toy. It’s the hardest and slowest part.
Materials picked for your toy. The right color, fur length and texture. Sometimes we order fabric just for one project.
Sewn by hand. Every piece is cut, sewn, stuffed and finished by hand. The face takes the most time: move an eye a millimeter and the character changes.
You approve it first. When your toy is ready, we send you photos. Something looks off? We fix it before shipping.
One toy, not a thousand. A factory spreads design costs over thousands of copies. Here, all that work goes into one toy: yours.
That’s why prices start at $350. And on a personal order, if you don’t love your toy, you get a full refund.
