Thursday, August 20, 2009

Potato Print Tutorial

Remember way, way back when we were little and we made our very own stamps out of potatoes? Recently I've wanted to give the technique a try to make some gift tags. This is so easy and there are a million possibilities to how you could use this... think t-shirts, stationery... think about using apples instead of potatoes. Oh, I'm getting excited!
Here are the basic materials. I'd love to hear if you give this a try and what you decide to make.
  • Paint
  • Paper
  • Potato
  • Exacto knife
  • Knife
  • Paper Plate
  • Sponge brush
  • Towel
  • Felt-tip pen
I checked out Print&Pattern to get some ideas for a design that I wanted to use. Here are some of my rough sketches.
I chose to do an elephant. First I cut my potato in half, dried off the potato with a towel then roughly sketched the elephant shape with a felt-tip pen.
Then I cut out the background so that the elephant shape was raised.
Using a sponge brush I wiped a thin layer of paint over my new stamp and stamped away.
Then I made a second stamp for the ear and added those after the body of the elephant dried. After I finished I realized I could have just used my thumb for this step. Oh well.
Here's my little fleet of elephant gift tags! Wouldn't these be adorable bookmarks, or thank you cards, or a stamped table cloth, or a onesie.... you see what I mean? The possibilities with this technique are endless!

7 comments:

CourtneyKeb said...

You're elephants are adorable!
I used this for gifts on onesies. Everyone loved them and they were so cute and simple on the precious little ones.
The only problem is that you have to make sure to stamp it maybe more than once or use a lot of paint because they faded really quickly in the wash. I've attached some pictures of some if you wanted to see. :)
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/MrsKebodeaux/l_58c0d68976fd258c347e5f9d5207309d.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/MrsKebodeaux/m_25d7fa496182b9ab17a331861865520b.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/MrsKebodeaux/m_65e3d6dac3bd9561862f818e999e268b.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/MrsKebodeaux/m_e0435c31cf4599f5ebb4dee89680bd17.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/MrsKebodeaux/m_af39714f6779a272032b8bcee2b5f270.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa229/MrsKebodeaux/l_dd616a27292a92f17183d16aadfcef3f.jpg

Anonymous said...

Amazing!!!!You're elephants are adorable!Everyone loved them and they were so cute and simple on the precious little ones....thanks for sharing such a beautiful idea...
--
Reenee
Are you scared to be alone at home need security

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

I love the elephant! :)

Try fixing acrylic paint on fabric by soaking it with vinegar & then ironing it.

jason and jen said...

Thanks for the idea Sarah! It is so cute!!! I am definitely going to try this with the girls and in my classroom next year! I hope you and your family are doing well!

Unknown said...

Thanks for reminding me of this easy printing technique! The elephants are adorable. Can't wait to try some apples with my little guy.

Deanna said...

I love this idea. I want to use the elephant for Christmas cards. Was thinking of adding a little sprig of holly around his neck to make it festive. Thanks!

Sarah said...

Super cute idea Deanna! I hope they turn out great! You're smart to get a head start on Christmas tags.