The Culture and Craft workshops continue with week seven and eight focusing on the theme of re-cycling. The challenge was ” to make creative and/or functional items out of recycled material”. Everyone brought in something from home, with the result that there was a wide variety of material to choose from. Not being specifically an art or craft workshop, this recycling workshop seemed to foster a more laid-back approach; it was more like play than art or craft. After the first session some of the women brought materials home with them to finish off their pieces, as well as to experiment and practice designs and techniques for next week’s workshop.

The interesting effect of the Recycling Workshops is that the whole process is adds a new dimension to creative thinking for the participants. They are achieving their goals by trial and error without worrying about doing something ‘wrong’. This is mainly due to the fact that, unlike the craft and technique-based workshops, these recycling workshops are actually more about creative resolution thinking. The women are free from both the fear of the result not being ‘perfect’ as well as the fear of perceived ‘failure’ and much fun is being had by all.