The emergence of craft-based tissue culture works throughout the past decade circumscribes this investigation. In particular, I look at recent works by Kira O’Reilly, Julia Reodica and Tissue Culture and Art Project where craft and folkloric arts are introduced into the laboratory environment. Teasing out juxtapositions within these works, I discuss the contrasting forms of labour they contain: traditional women’s work, or social reproduction, and highly masculinised realms of big science and biotechnology. By evoking gendered conceptions of labour and value, I suggest that these works critique differing levels of value accorded to such categorizations. Through introducing highly visible elements of subjectivity into their biotechnological projects, I also argue that these works begin to unravel scientific conventions of objectivity. Thus focused, this paper traces histories of craft-based tissue culture work and explores the productive potential within these critical artistic practices.