Tinkering primes the creative juices

“The Art of Tinkering: Meet 150+ Makers Working at the Intersection

of Art, Science & Technology”

by Karen Wilkinson & Mike Petrich (Weldon Owen, 223 pages)

Are you a tinkerer? Do you enjoy taking things apart and putting them back together? Or maybe you get a kick out of repurposing disassembled bits and pieces? If you said “yes” to any of these questions, I’ll hazard a guess that this week’s book, “The Art of Tinkering,” just might tickle your inner “fiddler.”

What exactly does “tinkering” mean? Karen Wilkinson and Mike Petrich, the authors of today’s book and co-directors of the Tinkering Studio in San Francisco’s Exploratorium Museum, provide a cool explanation of what tinkering is all about: “The word was first used in the 1300s to describe tinsmiths who would travel around mending various household gadgets … [Now] it’s fooling around directly with phenomena, tools, and materials. It’s thinking with your hands and learning through doing … It’s whimsical, enjoyable, fraught with dead ends, frustrating, and ultimately about inquiry.”

Presenting highly imaginative and artful creations from more than 150 artists who have worked hands-on in the Tinkering Studio, “The Art of Tinkering” celebrates the creative abilities of a broad range of dedicated tinkerers.

What can you expect to find in this tribute to fiddling and dabbling? Automatons, for one thing. These mechanical, self-operating machines have been around for centuries, but the toylike, hand-cranked machines displayed on pages 140-149 reveal a true tinkering “joie de vivre” through their wacky, sometimes absurdist subjects (a man eating spaghetti in a bathtub, for example).

Then there are the animatronic wonders created by tinkerer/artist Asia Ward, who uses stuffed animals, moldable plastic, and odds and ends to make creatures fit for a Frankenstein zoo. Described as “humorous, a little unsettling, and incredibly endearing,” her fantastical critters scoot and squawk, making curious movements with their hybrid limbs.

Or how about the “Ocean Edge Device” created by artist Walter Kitundu? Very Rube Goldberg in appearance, this large contraption cleverly uses water and wind to power an accordion, a melodica (sometimes known as a blow-organ or key-flute), and a record turntable which together produce “a curious music with each upsurge of water and gust of wind.” Now that’s what I call extreme tinkering!

One of the really fun aspects of this week’s book is that not only do you get to read about super-tinkerers and their inventions, you can indulge your own tinkering tendencies by trying out one of the many projects included in each chapter. Using basic supplies — cardboard, straws, hot glue, foam and a few other things — get ready to impress your friends and co-workers with your very own automaton. Interested in textile-tinkering? Turn to pages 86-87 to learn how to create a fabric bracelet that lights up. Worried you’re losing your marbles? Keep them together with a do-it-yourself marble machine, designed to guide and propel those pesky marbles through an arcadelike device.

Thanks to “The Art of Tinkering,” monkeying around with stuff never looked so entertaining!