Jeff de Boer poses with one of his mouse armor pieces at a workshop at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, Wash., on Oct. 9.
Suits of plate armor were developed back in the Middle Ages. They served as protection during battle, but they also became an art. Here in the 21st century, one metalwork artist is keeping this ancient art alive, but instead of armoring people, he's creating suits for… mice. Yep, you read that right.
Jeff de Boer has been fascinated with suits of armor since he first saw one as a kid, at a museum in Calgary. Over nearly four decades, he's made a name for himself in the fine art world as someone who has continued this incredible art at a minute scale – learning, perfecting, and teaching it to others.
From ancient knights to armored mice
Jeff de Boer's mouse armor and a few tools of the trade are laid out on a work bench at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle, WA on October 9, 2025.
de Boer's early interest in suits of armor was not just aesthetic – but also about what they did.
"Armor is like one of the first evolutionary defenses against the hostile world. I mean, whatever amoeba has slightly tougher skin can go into hotter water. If you have an exoskeleton, you can survive the bite of some other monster," de Boer said.
de Boer's dad was a sheet metal fabricator, and young de Boer spent his childhood playing around in the shop. He even built a few full-sized suits of armor. But they took a long time – more time than he wanted to spend on a single project.
de Boer ended up at art school studying jewelry making, and as he was working with the tiny tools involved in the craft, he had an idea. He could build a suit of armor in a much shorter time frame if he built it… for a mouse.
"I just remember handing that mouse in, and the teachers were silent. And they said 'Jeff, I don't think you have to worry about making jewelry anymore.'"
His professor's faith in the viability of this artistic pursuit proved correct. While still in school, de Boer took his mouse armor to local galleries and booked his first commercial exhibition. Which led to another, and then another, and then more sales and commissions. Though he still makes the occasional piece of jewelry or sculpture, primarily, he's established a career in making mouse armor (with some cat suits as well).
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