Making stamps using potatoes is such a simple and inexpensive way to create whatever image you like! Last weekend we used a potato stamp to decorate tea towels.
What you will need:
- potato
- paring knife
- fabric paint
- paint brush
- blank tea towel
- brown paper
- iron
How to do it:
First you need to make your stamp
Cut a large potato in half lengthways. You can use a cookie cutter to cut a nice clean shape, but I drew my shape onto a piece of paper and cut it out to make a template. Place the shape on the cut side of the potato.Carve around the shape with the paring knife (cutting in about 2cm deep) and remove all of the excess potato around the edge of the shape.
For extra grip (and to save paint going on fingers) I like to carve a little into the other side of the potato to make a handle, like in the image below.
Now to stamping it onto the tea towel
You can purchase fabric paint in all different colours, but I find it more flexible to use acrylic paint and mix it with a textile medium for fabric painting, which will be available at your local art supply store. Follow the instructions on the pack but it’s basically as simple as mixing two parts acrylic to one part medium.
Use a paint brush to coat the stamp with paint. This makes for a more even spread, not to mention less mess on your fingers, which could potentially transfer to your fabric.
Stamp your shape onto the tea towel as many times as you like!
The possibilities are endless. You can make as many stamp shapes as you like. We only had one potato left in the cupboard, so we just washed the paint off between colours, but we also used some large foam alphabet stamps and a bottle top to make more shapes and words. Look in your cupboard – you might find lots of things you can use to make a shape.
Leave the paint to dry for 24 hours.
You’ll need to set the paint onto your fabric
Place a piece of brown paper in between the decorated parts of the tea towel and the iron. Following the instructions for your fabric paint (which may be slightly different to this) iron the decorated area for two minutes on a low non-steam setting.
My daughters, aged five and 10, and I had so much fun stamping on these tea towels that everyone we know will be receiving these for birthday and Christmas presents right up until the end of the year!
What other household items could we stamp with?
More craft ideas:
- Leaf print craft from firstpalette.com
- Corncob printing from familycrafts.about.com
- Handprinted napkins kids can make from the craftycrow.net
