Tinkertopia - Destination for Creative Reuse + Alternative Art Supplies

HEY KIDS, Meet Rerun the Tinkering Crab! Rerun the Tinker Crab: a Robot? an Abstraction? a Dream?

A destination for teachers, students, artists, crafters, inventors, makers, hackers, and tinkerers (of any age) in search of unusual materials for any creative venture.

In store MAKE & TAKE workshops or at home TAKE & MAKE kits! Imagine...

  • DIY Game Prototypes games
  • DIY Rube Goldberg Machines machines
  • DIY Science Experiments science experiments
  • DIY Puppet Theater puppets
  • DIY Inventions Sonic Bubble Gun?  Flux Capacitor?
  • DIY Costumes Cosumes, Cosplayer
  • DIY Spy Gear Secret Spy Gear
  • DIY Interior Design Interior Decorating
  • DIY Dioramas Dioramas
  • DIY Action Figures Action Figure Toys

How Our Creative Reuse Center Works

Most materials are sorted and sold in bulk by the bagful. Customers can choose from 3 different bag sizes (plus tax):


  • HUMONGOUS $19.95

  • Large $9.95

  • Small $6.25

In the GREEN GALLERY™ you will find weird, cool and cheap items which we get in limited quantities and are thus sold individually. More About Us

We also stock surplus art supplies for emergencies including: pencils, pens, erasers, ink, paint, paper, sidewalk chalk, charcoal, locally made sketchbooks and knitted cupcakes. * At this time we sell neither popcorn nor potbelly stoves.

Optional Memberships

Individuals and families can become members to save money on workshops, parties, bulk materials, and to use our tool library. Discount cards are available for schools and organizations to enjoy similar benefits.
Quarterly Individual Membership $25, Quarterly Group Membership $100, One time group visit $50.

Local Alternative Arts & Craft Supplies

Hey there, Tinker Patrol Deputies! Don't let these materials go to waste! Give 'em a home at Tinkertopia...

  • Animals
  • Antlers
  • Axles
  • Bags
  • Baskets
  • Beads
  • Beakers
  • Beanbags
  • Bearings
  • Bells
  • Bendies
  • Biscuits
  • Blinkers
  • Blocks
  • Bobbins
  • Bowling Pins
  • Brackets
  • Bricks
  • Bugs
  • Buttons
  • Buzzers
  • Caps
  • Cards
  • Cars
  • Cast Offs
  • Chains
  • Chimes
  • Clamps
  • Clappers
  • Clips
  • Clocks
  • Corks
  • Crystals
  • Cubes
  • Dice
  • Dinosaurs
  • Doodads
  • Dowels
  • Erasers
  • Fabric
  • Fat Quarters
  • Feathers
  • Flaps
  • Flowers
  • Fossils
  • Funnels
  • Game Pieces
  • Gears
  • Googly Eyes
  • Holes
  • Hooks
  • Hoops
  • Horns
  • Hoses
  • Keys
  • Knobs
  • Lenses
  • Letters
  • Lights
  • Logs
  • Magnets
  • Magnifiers
  • Marbles
  • Medals
  • Mirrors
  • Models
  • Motors
  • Nicknacks
  • Nozzles
  • Numbers
  • Paints
  • Paper
  • Pellets
  • Pencils
  • Photos
  • Pins
  • Pinwheels
  • Pipettes
  • Plugs
  • Poppers
  • Propellers
  • Punches
  • Puzzles
  • Pyramids
  • Rainbows
  • Reams
  • Reflectors
  • Ribbons
  • Ringers
  • Rings
  • Rolls
  • Rubber Bulbs
  • Samples
  • Scraps
  • Shapes
  • Shells
  • Spools
  • Spoons
  • Sprockets
  • Squirters
  • Stickers
  • Stones
  • Stoppers
  • Strings
  • Stuffing
  • Suction Cups
  • Swatches
  • Tacks
  • Tape
  • Test Tubes
  • Threads
  • Tidbits
  • Tiles
  • Tins
  • Tops
  • Trains
  • Traps
  • Trinkets
  • Trophies
  • Tubes
  • Washers
  • Weights
  • Wheels
  • Whistles
  • Windups
  • Wires
  • Yarns
  • Zippers

About Us - Creative Reuse Specialists

Tinkertopia, LLC. works with local businesses, capturing safe, reusable materials from the wastestream, and reimagines these as unusual arts and craft supplies for kids, teachers, makers and tinkerers.

Founded by two Tacoma artists (Ms. Darcy - Creative Reuse Specialist one a preschool art teacher, the other RR Anderson - Creative Reuse Specialist a political cartoonist), Tinkertopia promotes an definitive sense of planetary resource conservation working with local industries to divert safe+clean remnants, seconds, scraps, off-cuts, discards, misprints and overstock from the waste stream, then redistributing these goods as low-cost arts & crafts supplies. One person's junk is another person's bonanza of materials for early education art classes, learning games, science experiments, crafts, costuming, and other expressions of creativity. You'll see a variety of innovative uses for everything we collect on display throughout the store. Tinkertopia is designed for everyone, regardless of skill level. Let your creativity flow in our inspiring studio/work space suitable for birthdays, field trips and craft parties.

Spaceworks Tacoma Creative Endeavor

Tinkertopia has been awarded special Creative Endeavor status under Spaceworks Tacoma, a joint non-profit of the City of Tacoma Arts Commission and the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce! Spaceworks is working to activate Tacoma with destination-quality artwork, art projects, and arts-based business. more about Spaceworks

TINKER PRESS: Tacoma Weekly | Weekly Volcano