The mystery is solved!

Over the last few weeks I have noticed something strange happening in my studio.  I normally store my coated mandrels in a pot filled with rice (this stops them from sticking together and means that I can put my hand on the right size straight away)  but after turning on my torch one day I noticed that all my mandrels had fallen over as the rice was nearly all gone. 

Well after wracking my brains I just couldn't figure out what was happening, was I imagining it?  Were my kids trying to play a trick on me?  Was there a secret 'rice thief' in the area that I didn't know about? Then one evening when I was working late the mystery was solved.

My new friend!  (sorry about the poor quality photo)

I'm not sure who was the most scared - me or him!  He just sat there watching me for a while, probably disgusted that I had ruined his midnight snack, before scuttling off back to his home.

Luckily mice. spiders and creepy crawlies don't really bother me, I quite liked the idea of a little friend visiting me, however, he was causing me some problems with my work so unfortunately I decided that he just had to go.

Last night we put a humane trap in to catch him along with some scrumptious rice and even a little sweetcorn!  This obviously worked a treat as we found him cowering in the back of the trap this morning.

Mouse trap on the desk by my mandrel pot

So, did we release him?  Well, fortunately for him, he was faster than us and managed to jump out and scuttle off under the bench before we had a chance to move him.  Attempt number two anyone?