CHAPTER SIX: City Rats Unveiling of a rodent Of all the city creatures, the rat is the undisputed king. Due to its extraordinary climbing habits, rats make easy work of trees, power and telephone lines, and even gutter spouts to facilitate its access to homes [Bird]. If you live in the city, there are rats living with you, whether you see them or not. While there are several species, the two most well know in North America are the Roof rat and the Norway rat (also known as subway rat, sewer rat, alley rat, house rat, or common rat). They originated in Manchuria, spreading to Europe by foot and eventually sailed along with colonial settlers on ships to North America in the mid-1700s [Haupt]. The war between humans and rats will go on for some time. The discovery of effective and economic …show more content…
The rats in this print are somewhat hidden, and you really have to look to know they are there. In that way, you could be wearing a garment with a rat pattern on it, but from afar it just looks like a damask pattern. I began sketching four rat scenes with pencil, only drawing half with the intention that it would be mirrored in order to form the damask pattern. I completed them using microns and tried to connect all the lines so that it appeared like a paper cut, with the option to be laser cut. This motif is mainly inspired by sewer rats. Here the rat is standing on a pipe, perhaps about to get a drink of water. There is also a water tower in the background to tie in the urban setting. For the second motif, I wanted to show a rat that might come into a home or building. I’ve included dandelions in all of the motifs to show a look of overgrowth, and possibly abandoned places. In third motif I chose to use a chain-link fence and an old fire hydrant to render a vacant or abandoned