A new tinker has joined our esteemed band of 12th scale ladies and gentlemen at Steampunk-Shrunk Towers.
Meet Doctor Romulus Bagthorpe. If you notice a certain similarity to ‘Doc’ Darius, you’re not wrong. When Darius moved away to his new workshop, we searched for the most similar gentleman we could find. As is usual with all our little people, his clothing, hair and – well, just about everything really – were in a very poor state of repair. 
Mrs S decided it would be fun to create a new version of Darius, so the clothes, spectacles and even the X-ray binocular goggles were reproduced as closely as memory and photos would permit.
Despite all that, though, Romulus has his own personality. Each of the figures, whatever Mrs S may do with wigs, eyebrows and face paint, remains resolutely the person they started as. This gent is calmer, more meticulous and an altogether gentler person than his predecessor.
We welcome him to The Steampunk Dolls’ House collection. Please click here if you would like to view him in the Etsy Shop.
The less good news is that we can’t produce any more unless we make the boxes ourselves. Quite possible, but time-consuming, so sadly they will cost a bit more.
or a friend one of these little beauties. For your delectation we have:
Good day to you all. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Professor Darius Robottom, known to many as ‘Doc’ (something to do with resembling a character from some old film, I gather).
A customer called Sarah sent a photo of three items she had purchased, along with the following five star review:
The next review came from a lady by the name of Diane. She had purchased LG, one of the Offcut Robots, for a very particular – and quite splendid – reason. Here is her photo of LG in position and her review, again with five stars, is as follows:
The emphasis on craftsmanship is echoed by the third satisfied customer – clearly a person of considerable talent herself, which adds value to her review. To her five stars, she added this photograph and the review below:
The final review (at the time of writing) is from a purchaser of a bundle of the printable miniature books available from the Etsy shop and craft stalls. She gave the five stars which seem to be awarded to virtually all the shop’s items and commented:
Not your typical pretty-pretty Disney-type fairies of course, but then you wouldn’t expect those from Steampunk-Shrunk! These faeries are darker, edgier and strange.
It started when our gardener found a cache of beads on rusting wires – remnants from a long-forgotten craft project – buried beside the swamp (which was a pond until the badgers discovered it and lacerated the liner with their claws, but that’s another story) in the grounds of Steampunk-Shrunk Towers. The beads had a certain patina of age and once they had been removed from their old wires and threaded on to new ones, a variation on the Offcut Robots started to take shape, with the beads rather than rusty nails for arms and discarded macrame beads for heads and bodies. Chains and curled wire made their locs and the plastic lids used as paint palettes were cut up to create the wings. Torn paper clothing completed the ensemble. There were images of moths on the first one’s paper robe so she, obviously, had to be called Moth, while her copper, gold and yellow companion is Mustardseed. Peaseblossom is drying in the workshop as I write and Cobweb, Puck, Oberon and Titania will follow. Mrs S loves her Shakespeare!
By the end of Day 1, these had emerged.
By the end of the second day ON and LC were finished, with KC well on the way. To be honest, they’re not too steady on their pins, and prefer to lean decoratively in corners, but they have a certain rustic charm.
I opted to stand on the highest point, beside my wonderful astrologium, and we received many admiring glances. One lady almost paid to take me home, but finally decided her funds were not sufficient.
Of course there are customers who take an interest and engage. Most are charming, mildly apologetic that they won’t be buying, but enjoy looking closely at the wares and asking questions. The smiles on the faces of small children allowed to turn the handles of the wobbly mechanical things and make the birds, balloons etc twirl around made up for the lack of takings. Then there was the gent who was walking past and did a double take, recognising Mrs S from quite different circumstances. Having greeted her, he stopped to take in the the stall’s contents. His eyes moved slowly along the six foot table, then he stopped and stared at Mrs S.
Well no, they’re not very steampunk… We’re deviating slightly for a very good reason.
That was a close shave! Just as daylight was fading on Friday night, Mrs S pronounced Ginger Jenkins, our latest arrival, fit to travel with us on the Saturday morning, to the Craft & Vintage Market in Glastonbury Town Hall.
“Just a nip, my dear, to keep me alert,” she insists, but she slid from her chair on numerous occasions. Rather unseemly.
Steampunk - Shrunk! 