devices – Steampunk

That Flock of Clockwork Birds

Posted on November 21, 2022 by janonlife

They’re still here, you know – that flock of twittering clockwork parts we bought for a birdsong from a local noticeboard about eight years ago. Certainly there are less than there used to be. Many have been sold as parts for other makers to play about with. Dozens of others have been turned into little steampunk-inspired mechanical wonders by Mrs S and the team, to be snapped up by eager buyers around the world.

The trouble is, the company who made the little cardboard boxes that the motors fitted into perfectly has stopped making them! We’ve searched high and low, but no one else makes that size of sturdy craft box, and we need them to be just right.

In a recent clear-out of the stockroom (aka spare bedroom), we found four of the boxes lurking in forgotten corners. Amazing how many forgotten corners one room can have. So the good news is that another clutch of mechanical birds has been made. Clockwork Songbird Automaton with Vintage Mechanism Working image 1 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.

In the meantime, do head over to our Etsy Shop and get yourself Clockwork Songbird Automaton with Vintage Mechanism Working Bronze or a friend one of these little beauties. For your delectation we have:

Little Blue (Mrs S loves listening to The Beautiful South)

Coggle (The purple one with all the cogs and clocks)

Tailfeather (With added feathers, obviously)

and Bronze (named for her colour, and after Lucy – one of our favourite footballers)

Lots more pictures (and a little video on some platforms) on the shop site.

Oh, and for those new to these ingenious little models, there’s a tiny brass whistle with bellows built into the mechanism, so the birds twitter away merrily as they twist and turn.

Lots more amazing gift ideas in the shop. So do take a look around.

The Astrologium

Posted on May 30, 2022 by janonlife

How kind people can be.

Mrs S, like Shakespeare’s Autolycus, is ‘a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles’. Not, we hasten to add, that she is a petty thief. Quite the reverse, in fact. Friends and acquaintances approach her, proffering handfuls of strange, broken or discarded trinkets in the hope that we will be able to upcycle them and produced new miniature wonders.

“Ah,” she said, spreading one of the latest collections on the desk. “We appear to have an astrological theme emerging here. Could someone send for Evadne?”

The tall and haughty figure of Miss Capricornius was seen hurrying along the corridor moments later. For a millisecond her eyes travelled to the items on the desk, but she quickly re-fixed her gaze upon the middle distance and trilled, “I came as soon as I was summoned, my dear. I have no idea why I was called, of course, but Jupiter’s aspect in my chart today suggests a gift or opportunity of some kind. Not that I would presume to suggest the two facts are in any way connected…”

“Quite,” said Mrs S, shortly. “However, by chance, a few objects have come into our possession which may be of use to you.”

Evadne continued to stare ahead, waving a hand dramatically before her face, as if trying to remove a cobweb.

“I see the sun!” she exclaimed. “Yet how could I receive the sun? How strange these visions are! And – could it be the constellation of libra? Surely not! Why and now the planets are showing me -”

“Yes, yes. No doubt they’re indicating an amber pointer,” Mrs S sighed, glancing down at the desk. “If you can make something interesting with these, Evadne, then take them. I’m sure the brothers will be on hand to help with construction, should they be needed.”

She then left hastily, before Miss Capricornius could feign amazement at ‘discovering’ the trinkets.

Needless to say, my brother and myself were commanded to construct all manner of working parts for the ‘Astrologium’ she had decided to create.

“A rotating disc, darlings, about so big … no, not like that! Tilted but roughly horizontal, obviously! And this bead to turn it. Why, it so clearly resembles a galaxy, don’t you think? The holographic clock will require two more hands, in addition to this stunning pointer. They must be huge and magnificent. Bronze, perhaps and silver. Oh, and a decorative but sturdy set of railings across the front. Children can be so irritatingly curious!” IMG_20220530_145039_resized_20220530_025129821

So it went on for days, but I have to say, Charles and I are very impressed with the result. To be honest, we did all the work. ‘Her majesty’, as she’s come to be known, simply handed out the orders and then settled to write a book about her creation. And do we get a mention in it? Well I’m sure you can guess the answer to that.

Molly informs us that Miss Capricornius has been ordering more astrology-related items. It sounds as if she’s decided to create a whole series of astrologiums.

Maybe mercury will go retrograde and her order won’t arrive…

How not to be a craft market customer

Posted on March 29, 2022March 29, 2022 by janonlife

Well that’s another craft market done and dusted. Business was slow – all the stallholders agreed. A fair few people wandered into the town hall and did the circuit, but most appeared to be either exercising their dogs (yes, really) or deliberately aimed their line of vision just above the height of displays and sellers as they walked very briskly and left with wallets intact.

Ah well, we’re used to days like that. Cost of living rises and all that. We roll with it.

Fortunately we did shift plenty of the badges and knitted nightingales Mrs S was selling for Ukrainian refugees and – let’s face it – their need is far greater than ours.

IMG_20220326_105649_resized_20220329_112816967 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.

“You made these?” he asked incredulously. “What, ALL of them?” when she had smiled and nodded.

He paused for a long while, shaking his head as he clearly made far reaching adjustments to his opinion of our stallholder.

So yes, customers like that are just fine. We are not expecting everyone to buy and bear them no malice if they don’t, but there are a few who needlessly raise the hackles of those trying to sell their wares.

Please:

Don’t bring your dog to an indoor market if it is likely to forage around the displays, scent mark the table corners or yap continuously.
Don’t look pointedly at a stall and say, “Did you make all this? Yes? Hmm, well done.” in the patronising tones of a schoolmistress from the 1950s.
Don’t allow your child to finger anything unless the stallholder specifically invites them to do so.
Don’t tell the stallholders they should have made particular items into earrings/brooches/tea cosies if they expected you to consider buying. (These people always smile graciously when politely thanked for their opinion and walk away convinced that they have done a great service.)
Finally, and above all, don’t smile at the female stallholder selling items created with wood, metal and resin and ask if her hubby made them. We quail when Mrs S replies icily that she does not have a ‘hubby’ and if she did, she wouldn’t let him anywhere near her workshop!

Mechanical Miniatures

Posted on March 7, 2022 by janonlife

“It’s been a while since we turned our hands to anything mechanical,” my brother Henry said, rather wistfully.

We started exploring piles of promising-looking items in the workshop.

“Wheels?” I suggested, holding up some circular wooden blanks. “Hard to get the hole for the axle right in the centre though.”

“Cams!” he replied jubilantly. “Drill the holes off-centre and we can make some cam-operated wind-ups.”

IMG_20220221_094042_742_resized_20220303_101756693 (1) And that was all it took. He started to put some sturdy little boxes together, the ladies decorated them and I (Charles) got to work on the cam mechanisms and handles.

The first was a multicoloured dancing tree, made from twisted wires, sequins, beads and charms. Next we raided the vintage watch parts for some springs and gears to put together with coiled copper wire. Then we became more ambitious and produced a tiny hot-air balloon, complete with top-hatted magnificent men to fly it. 100% upcycled junk! An old Christmas tree bauble was covered in plastic mesh which held Mrs S’s garlic, a few beads and jewellery bits added for the basket and the gents were fashioned from cotton bud stalks with tiny shoe eyelets for their hats! Many hours of exacting work, of course, but we’re very happy with the finished result and now planning a series of dancing birds, octopuses and who knows what…

Proud to say that this week they have been the most viewed item in our Etsy shop. Here’s a quick link, in case you’d like to take a look.

Heart, Flag, Ukraine, Kyiv, National Oh, and while you’re on Etsy, we’d recommend searching for printable items produced in Ukraine. Our fellow sellers there have been forced to shut their regular shops, due to the war, but still receive money direct to their PayPal accounts if we buy their digital artwork.

Stranger than Fiction

Posted on May 1, 2020 by janonlife

Travel, naturally, is quite out of the question. Here we were, isolated in Steampunk-Shrunk Towers, wondering what to do with ourselves.

Mrs S – who is around the same size as yourselves, dear readers – claims that the building is a small and fairly cramped cottage, but since the rest of us (due to a certain, er, accident involving a spacetime anomaly which we prefer not to mention, Henry…) currently find ourselves shrunk to one twelfth of normal size, the residence appears positively cavernous. Walking from one wing to another can easily serve for our daily exercise.

Nevertheless, time had been hanging heavily.

Imagine our delight, then, when Molly hit upon the idea of opening her Literary Emporium to one of us each day. It is an exceedingly small establishment, so social distancing does not permit more than a single individual to enter the building at any time. Each of us has been issued with a card stamped with the dates for our visits and everyone is thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to peruse the many fascinating volumes available.

Only one thing marred our pleasure. Several upstanding and usually trustworthy members of our community mentioned catching glimpses of a tall, shadowy figure skulking around the Emporium. Rumours abounded as to the identity of this personage. This lockdown seems to make everyone a little jumpier than usual and some had claimed it was a creature conjured up by Dr Kopp, our resident mad scientist, who was recently seen taking an extreme interest in certain passages in the ancient Grimoire.

I didn’t for a moment believe such poppycock.

Oh goodness – manners! I failed to introduced myself. Abject apologies. That is me above and to the right – Gwendoline Thrustington-Clawhammer, tea-duelling district champion 1885, 1887 and 1891.

Yes, I know.

I did mention that it was a spaceTIME anomaly.

Anyway, my turn in the bookshop finally came around. I became quite mesmerised by the Book of Spells and lost track of the time. Fearing that I’d be late for an afternoon tea appointment, I rose quickly from my seat and at the same moment heard a definite sound outside the shop. I had the distinct feeling that someone had been spying on me and that my sudden movement had startled them.

“Ava?” I called, “Is that you?” (Madame Ava Brassfeather is most prone to sneaking around the place, so naturally I suspected her.) Then I recalled the stories about the mysterious stranger. For a moment, I blush to admit, I considered screaming. Thankfully I quickly came to my senses and hurried out to see who was there.

I was just in time to see a tall and muscle-bound gentleman trying to duck behind the far wall.

“You there! Halt at once and reveal yourself!” I cried, in my most imperious tone, hoping earnestly that he wouldn’t misinterpret my hurried command.

The figure turned to face me and although he cut a commanding presence, I noted that his eyes looked calm and, indeed, rather sad.

“Ah,” he said, softly. “Ma’am I do hope I didn’t startle you unduly. Please forgive my intrusion.”

His accent appeared to be that of an American gentleman, from the southern States, I suspected. His gentle demeanour mollified me somewhat, but the fact remained that he was undoubtedly a trespasser.

In a slightly quieter tone, but still – I hoped – with a certain air of authority, I replied, “I am not easily startled, Sir, but I wish to know how you come to be in this private residence and what your business is.”

“Yes Ma’am, of course,” he responded. “I can see that my presence here must look most suspicious. My name is Clark Obadiah Jackson III. I’m searching for someone who is – very dear to me. The honest truth is, Ma’am, I can’t rightly explain how I came to be in this building, exactly, unless you are in any way familar with the notions of – uh – time travel and teleportation?”

He was fingering a device attached to his left wrist as he spoke. I suspected (correctly, it later emerged) that he was considering activating it in some way to vacate our particular time and space if he met with too much hostility.

Now that I studied his face more closely, I realised there was something faintly familiar about it. I knew he did not belong in Steampunk-Shrunk Towers and was fairly certain our paths had never crossed, yet that slight memory or familiarity could not be discounted. I realised that I did not wish him to leave as suddenly as he had appeared. On the contrary, I was extremely curious to hear his story.

“I am – unfortunately – more familiar with time travel and teleportation than I would wish to be, Mr Jackson,” I assured him. “Indeed, all the residents of Steampunk-Shrunk Towers have personal experience of its uses and often rather unfortunate side effects. I suggest we take a seat in the Emporium whilst you recount your story.”

“Well that’s mighty civil of you, Ma’am, in the circumstances. I truly do appreciate it.”

He doffed his hat to me in the most charming way and followed me into Molly’s little shop.

I lit the oil lamp and waited with considerable excitement to hear of Mr Clark Obadiah Jackson III’s adventures.

To be continued.

Automaton Tutorial

Posted on February 9, 2020 by janonlife

Something different today.

for sale on Etsy at SteampunkDollsHouse — Some I made earlier

For quite a while now we have been selling little vintage clockwork motors and birds from our Etsy shop, together with the fixings needed to turn them into pretty little twittering and swooping automatons. They come with a copy of the ‘instruction sheet’ I inherited when I originally bought them. It was written in the 1980s and is – to my way of thinking – heavy on hyperbole but light on helpful information. It took me many hours of trial and error to figure out how the various tiny parts went together, but then I’m not very mechanically minded.

It was quite heartening when a customer who had bought several was struggling to make them work and asked if I could explain how I do mine. I decided to put together a tutorial for her, and anyone else who wants to try making one. What follows is probably laughable for anyone who understands mechanical bits and bobs, but it may be some help to fellow bodgers and tinkerers who would enjoy building their own automaton.

As well as the parts supplied, you will need a box or housing of some kind. Mine are little card boxes about 8.5cm/3.25 inches square and 4cm/1.5 inches deep (2 for £1 at The Works in UK at time of writing) but you can pack any spare space with foam board or folded card if your box is a bit bigger.

Drill a hole in the top of the box. Fig 2 shows the template for the hole, usefully placed on the back of the motor. Check bush fits snuggly in hole. I glue it in place or wrap it with a piece of double-sided tape.

Check fit of motor in box and pack spaces but check mechanism works OK. Don’t fix it in place yet.

If you want a stop/start bar, push the bar through its two slits and press it hard against the back of the box to make a dent (fig 4). Take motor out and cut a slit where your mark is (fig 5). (The bar provided isn’t long enough for my boxes, so I make one out of plastic packaging.)

I think the pictures (figs 6 to 10) work better than words for attaching the bird. Very fiddly and you may need to adjust position of motor to get the arm moving freely. Lots of trial and error!

A true artisan would have crafted a wooden box and screwed the motor into it. Me, I’m happier with glue, so here’s a picture of where you can safely spread glue without gumming up the mechanism.

Fig 12 shows the finished all-singing all-dancing bird. You can buy the kits from our Etsy shop at this link https://www.etsy.com/…/…/small-vintage-clockwork-motor-with…

Letter From America

Posted on February 3, 2020 by janonlife

The shimmering airship positively purred as it landed in the grounds of Steampunk-Shrunk Towers. Airship, Floating Islands, Sails, Castle

Charles and Henry – the resident tinkers – were almost tripping over one another to reach it first and see it at close quarters.

With a faint hiss of air from a piston somewhere, a ladder descended and a young lady who (Henry later remarked) shimmered almost as beautifully as her ship, climbed down.

She laughed at their expressions and said, “Well, I reckon y’all must be Mister Charles and Mister Henry, from what I’ve heard.”

The brothers looked – if possible – even more astonished. It was Charles who remembered his manners first.
“Charles Fortescue at your service, Madame,” he said, “And may I introduce my brother Henry? To what do we owe this honour?”

“Delighted to meet you both, I’m sure,” the pilot smiled. “My name is Leticia. We have a mutual friend, gentlemen – a charming young man called Jasper Coggleford. He told me that if I flew Bluejay here it would be you who came out to take a closer look.”

“Little Jasper?” spluttered Henry. “Jeremiah’s boy? But how…?”

“Jasper and his father have recently moved to my neighbourhood,” Leticia explained. “We struck up a conversation and when I mentioned that I was about to fly across to the West of England, Jasper was most insistent that I should come and make your acquaintance. He said your eyes would pop out of your heads when you saw Bluejay! Oh, and he also asked me to hand deliver this letter to you.”

To be honest, the Fortescues were so enchanted with both the airship and its pilot, that it was only several hours after Leticia had finally declined any more tea and biscuits and reluctantly headed off to her appointment in Bristol that Charles remembered Jasper’s envelope. With a pang of guilt, they sat down to read his letter.

Dear Mister Charles and Mister Henry,

I hope you like Miss Leticia and her airship. I bet you will!

Me and Pa are nicely settled in at our new home in America. So are Mr Augustus and Mr Bjørn. The people here are real nice, as they say around here.

There is one problem, though. It seems part of our work over here involves battling with a Kraken or two. Pa is being ever so brave, but I can tell he’s nervous and I am terrified. I mean, we have some woodworking tools, but what we need are proper weapons. I don’t know anyone as good as you gents at inventing and tinkering, so I thought maybe you could have a try at making some monster-maiming gizmos.

Miss Leticia is coming back at the end of the month, so if you had anything prepared by then, I know she’d be happy to pick it up.

I know you won’t let us down.

Please say hi to everyone there.

Kindest regards,

Jasper Coggleford

“Hi?” muttered Charles. “The boy is certainly settling in over there.”

“Yes, yes, but the weapons!” exclaimed Henry. “They need our help. Let’s make a start at once!”

There was a marked reluctance on Charles’ part, Henry noticed. He’d rummaged around and found some swords in an attic, so had set about making armoured leather scabbards. However he spent rather too long admiring himself in the mirror, whilst brandishing one sword after another and shouting things like, “Have at ye!” and “Take that, vile sea dog!”

“Swords!” grumbled Henry. “You might slice off a leg or two, but the mouth will still be coming at you. We need something more, ah, mechanical. Something to blow the creatures to kingdom come.”

He stood for most of the first day surrounded by what you or I might think of as junk, carefully trying out different combinations and attachments. By the end of the third day there was a veritable arsenal surrounding him.

“Is that one of Mrs S’s Christmas tree baubles?” asked Charles, suspiciously eyeing the end of one of the largest guns.

“That’s tinkering for you,” was all Henry would reply.

“And that thing with the rotary saw -”

“The Sawful. Yes, isn’t she a beauty?”

“Try walking around with that dangling from your shoulder and you’ll slice your own leg off!” Charles snorted. “Hand it over – carefully, man. I’ll make it a protective carrying case.”

“Then they’ll need small pistols,” mused Henry. “They won’t be able to carry these things about all the time. Young Jasper probably couldn’t even lift one.”

Charles didn’t speak.
Henry looked long and hard at his brother. “You don’t like weapons much, do you, old boy?”

Charles shrugged. “Not a great fan, if I’m honest,” he said quietly. “I mean the swords are fine, man-to-man combat, fair enough. But blasting some dumb creature out of existence with one of those – things… Hardly cricket, is it?”

Henry grinned. He clapped his brother gently on the back and nodded. “I do see your point. The thing is, I don’t think monsters play by MCC Laws. How would we feel if we heard little Jasper had had his head torn off by some ravaging beast? We need to give the poor lad a sporting chance. Suppose you work on making some belts and holsters, if I work out how to make the pistols?”

“Thanks, old chap. Appreciate it,” nodded Charles and he headed off to find some more leather.

And when everything was finished and safely packaged, ready for its long journey over the ocean, Charles had one final item prepared – a peacock blue pistol with matching holster as a gift for the pilot of the Bluejay, because, as Charles explained, you just never know when you might need to protect yourself against an attack from some dreadful creature of the skies.

The Black Door

Posted on January 16, 2020 by janonlife

It’s possible that the ancient black wooden door at the front of Steampunk-Shrunk Towers is as old as the building itself. Certainly there is a huge iron key that looks to be many centuries old.

What comings and goings that door must have seen. And certainly there have been plenty in the present month.

Just imagine our amazement when the infamous Dr Oskar Kopp and his ‘enhanced’ assistant Bjørn arrived. They had left us several years ago to accompany a reknowned storyteller and share their tales with her audiences. Now, it seems, the good lady is moving to another continent and asked whether she could return these gentlemen and their laboratory to us.

If you are unfamiliar with their story, you could go to this link and its successor and read about them.

The doctor, we noticed, looked somewhat older and perhaps slightly frail. Bjørn, on the other hand, appears to be thriving with his mechanically enhanced brain and strong clockwork heart. We look forward to hearing about his research into alchemy, when Dr Kopp is out of earshot.

However there have also been some departures.

Augustus Robottom has clearly become disillusioned with the little robots he has been creating. He grabbed a copy of The Time Traveller’s Companion and announced that he was relocating to Alabama.

“But what about these small, er, devices of yours?” Mrs S enquired.

“Confound the things!” he said gruffly. “I suggest sending them over to the Magpie. I think they would fit in well there.”

“Ah yes. Excellent idea,” agreed Mrs S, and she began packing them up to take to the rather wonderful Vintage and Curiosities shop she supplies in Midsomer Norton.

The very next day, Mr Coggleford the furniture restorer and young Jasper, his son and apprentice, told us that they intended to follow in Gus’s footsteps and would be taking one of the time machines as well as one of their finest cabinets with them.

All three will be sorely missed here, but we applaud their ambition and hope that their life in the New World will be most successful.

Now we hear rumours that more ladies and gentlemen will be joining us to once again swell the ranks of Steampunk-Shrunk Towers’ inhabitants. Today, though, with storms raging outside, the massive black door remains firmly shut.

Professor Erazmus’s Gifts

Posted on December 2, 2019 by janonlife

High in one of the attic rooms of the famed Steampunk-Shrunk Towers, Professor Erazmus keeps himself very much to himself. This is partly because he prefers his own company, but mostly because he does not wish anyone to interfere with his Scrying Machine – a contraption of such sophistication and complexity that its clockwork mechanisms are built into the very walls of the building.

With this astonishing device, the professor is able to peer into the homes and lives of any of his acquaintances and – more especially – those of his many wards. These young people have now left the safety of Steampunk-Shrunk Towers and moved on to make new lives for themselves in all corners of this world and a few others.

However Erazmus still keeps a keen, fatherly eye on each of them and uses his machine to check that all is well in their new homes.

At the approach of the festive season, the professor begins to prowl around the many workshops, inventing rooms and creative corners of Steampunk-Shrunk Towers in search of the perfect gifts for these much-loved young people to whom he has been guardian for so long. It is with great care and delight that he selects the perfect gift for each of them.

Of course, because of the clever construction of the scrying machine, Erazmus has the added pleasure of being able to watch the reactions of his wards as they open their parcels, no matter how far away they are now living.

Here is Ruby, who moved away long ago. For her the Professor has chosen one of these delicate holographic scrying mirrors.

He hopes that this will encourage her to keep in touch and let him know what she is up to these days, but he’s not sure that his plan will succeed.

a young showman This is young Rufus, who moved away to begin a career as an inventor and travelling showman and was a great favourite of Erazmus’s.

To this enterprising young man, Professor Erasmus has chosen to give this time machine, as soon as it’s finished.

Milly, the steampunk housekeeper robot Young Henry, here, travelled to the East Coast of the United States some time ago and promptly changed his name.

The professor has decided to send him a robot to assist with the routine jobs involved in working the time machine.

Lost in a book Little Molly has, he knows, gone to an excellent new home in North Wales. However he has decided to send her some more books, as she can never have enough.

The content of this post is now on sale in miniature book format in the SteampunkDollsHouse, with even more illustrations. It can be bought either as a finished book or as a downloadable DIY page, which can be printed out and made up, with full instructions.

The Professor and his Scrying Room are also available there, at this link.

Chestnuts roasting on a Steam-Powered Engine?

Posted on November 27, 2019 by janonlife

Steampunk Christmas? The words don’t go together too well, do they?

Vague images of a brown and black clad Santa in a filthy coal-fuelled sleigh, hauled by robot reindeer, or a rusty artificial tree made with cogs of diminishing sizes…

on sale at Sheampunk-shrunk stalls Nevertheless, we do have our own line in suitably eccentric tree decorations. The Wild and Wonky Decorations are a splendid mix of beads, coiled wire, charms and curiosities. The odd vintage watch cog, key or teapot may be thrown in for good measure.

Let no one accuse us of having a bah humbug approach to the festive season.

We were delighted with the number of people (mothers and daughters, mostly) who rushed at our recent stall at the Glastonbury Folk Craft Market, crying, “Oh look at those robots/ time machines/ gadgets! Dad/Uncle Jim/your brother would love one of those.”

Many an item was purchased to be hidden away for Christmas.

Customers also seem to love our tiny items – amulets, potion bottles, scrying mirrors, miniature wax candles and so forth to use as cracker gifts or stocking fillers.

Last but by no means least are our tiny 12th scale books. All were written in house and each has a full text and coloured cover. Several are also lavishly illustrated. There are steampunk stories, a catalogue of Robottom’s robots, a time-traveller’s companion, as well as books of spells, charms and potions. If you’ve left it too late to have them posted, many are also available in Do-It-Yourself format as instant printable downloads. All you (or the recipients) need is a printer, a glue stick and a pair of scissors or craft knife. Full instructions are provided.

Browse the Steampunk Dolls House for all titles available and if you like a bargain, do check the very special price on our DIY book bundle, with a selection of 5 books for less than £1 each.

One customer bought a bunch of these to hand around the dinner table instead of Christmas crackers, so that all her guests could make and go home with their own miniature book. All titles are suitable for children as well as adults.

Of course there is the usual range of Steampunk figures, furniture, time machines, watch cog jewellery and far more besides at our etsy shop, but please order early, as we have much travelling to do in December.

Festive greetings to all our kind followers and customers.