Across Australia, repair cafes and tinkering spaces are equipping communities with power tools to fix and upcycle broken goods
The dictionary defines tinkering as “to attempt to repair or improve something in a casual or desultory way”. But there is nothing desultory about the members of The Tinkerage, a community venture in Shellharbour on the New South Wales south coast. Every Friday, the place – a no-frills industrial space, adjoining the local recycling facility – hums with quiet but deliberate purpose.
At one workbench Pam is making a table out of a piece of recycled timber and applying a coat of shellac to its surface. At another, Pat is using a nib burner to complete a pokerwork sign spelling out the name of her neighbour’s property on weathered palings, before drilling them together as a gift. Tanya is finishing her first attempt at mosaic and thinking about a plant stand as her next project. Sharyn is assembling broken tiles from a box of donated materials to create decorative edging for her garden beds. Terry is making a gumboot stand for her grandchildren out of discarded and varnished chair legs.
Continue reading...from Lifestyle | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2MEEbV8