Upcycler Alfie sanded off his own thumbprint while crafting for a charitable cause – but he still loves transforming old furniture.
Alfie Ianetta is one of the founders of the Tayside Upcycling & Craft Centre.
And he has made some big sacrifices for his craft.
“I sanded around 32 chairs [for this project],” he said.
“On day three, I had been working all day. Then I went to open my phone and realised I had sanded the thumbprint off my thumb and I couldn’t open my phone!”
“It did grow back, eventually…
“But it meant that I was locked out of my phone – I couldn’t remember any of the codes.
“Sarah (Alfie’s wife) fashioned this wee thumb glove for me, so that way at least, the skin could grow back while I worked.”
But for Alfie, it’s all worth it.
Upcycling to be proud of
One of Alfie’s favourite upcycles is a collection he worked on for the MacMillan Coffee and Gift Shop in Perth.
“We did this wonderful job for MacMillan Cancer Support,” he told me.
“It’s a fantastic place, mostly staffed by volunteers.
“They asked us if we could redo their chairs for them in the MacMillan colours.”
It became clear that it would be quite costly to upcycle so many chairs, so Alfie came up with a solution.
“We opened it up to our customers whereby they could actually sponsor a chair.
“And we put wee wooden plaques on the back of the chairs that showed who they were sponsored by.
“We donated our time to do it.”
And – in the end – Alfie donated the skin on his thumb too.
Alfie offers his top upcycling tips
Sometimes you can hit an unexpected snag while upcycling, he explained.
“There was this one classic,” Alfie said.
“There’s a certain brand of mid-century chairs called Cintique.
“Most chairs that you buy, they usually have lots of springs on the base.
“That’s how you get the give when you sit down.
“But when it comes to Cintique, they have this really complicated set of springs.”
The springs were removed from the chair and put into a bag. But that meant the upcycler didn’t know how to put it back together again.
“It was the hardest job in the world to piece all of it back together,” Alfie said.
And Alfie has another handy upcycling tip to avoid falling into difficulty.
“If you’re taking apart anything complicated, make sure you have a photo of it completed first. That way, you have a record of what you need to get back to.
“Otherwise, you can completely forget what it looked like in the first place.”
Ever against waste, Alfie has a final tip for you.
“Out of the journey I’ve been on the last few years, what I would say [is] never throw something out.”
Alfie was working on an upcycle recently that was missing a key – his hoarding proved useful.
“I spent ten minutes going through our keys and there was one that fit perfectly.
“There’s a benefit to not throwing things like that out.
“Believe it or not, they will come in handy.”
We hope you enjoyed following along with us this month with upcycling triumphs and travesties in Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Fife and Angus.
Have you experienced your own triumphs or travesties when upcycling? Get in touch so we can celebrate or commiserate over your creations.
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