There are just a handful of people left here at Steampunk-Shrunk Towers who remember the touring days. The rest of us listen with a mixture of respect, envy and terror as they tell us tales of being bubble-wrapped, boxed and thrust into Mrs S’s trusty old wheelie suitcase, then trundled away on journeys lasting many hours.
“Ah,” they say, “but when you finally arrive and are unpacked – then it’s all worth it! You’ll be placed ever so carefully in just the right spot to display your fine costumes and intricate details. Fairy lights and spotlights will illuminate the stall and people will come to stare, to gasp, to admire… and sometimes to buy and take you off to a new home.”
We had almost given up hope of experiencing a fair ourselves, but now we have FOUR to look forward to before the end of the year!
The months of lockdown in the Towers have been pleasant enough. The visits from the plague doctors and others were diverting, but to see Mrs S dusting off the suitcase and searching out her stocks of bags and boxes… Well we can’t deny that we are more than a little excited.
Charles decorated the stages, creating backdrops, curtains, wings and so forth. I set to work with copper wire, coffee stirrers, cocktail sticks and pins to create the movement. Soon we had several little theatres with beechwood sliders to move Lucy’s figures across the stage, rocking swings and even a metal balancing beam for a tumbler to turn around on.
The good people of Clockton-upon-Teas and all the inhabitants of the Towers came to watch our performances. Ava found some splendid musical renditions to play on her phonograph and while Charles and I moved the sliders back and forth and twiddled the knobs, the audience gasped and applauded in a most gratifying manner.
Steampunk - Shrunk! 