Wit-Craft Wednesday

The following is my post on Wit-Craft, Craft: Spud Love

The potato is so versatile and there are few people out there that don't love them but when was the last time you printed with one? It's an easy and inexpensive way to get great results. Something wonderful happens when the paint meets the potato starch and voila, a really nice print.

In the spirit of Valentine's day we are printing hearts on t-shirts. Today I took two of g's plain shirts and turned them into something she can wear on Valentine's Day.

What you'll need:
Fabric Paint
Potato(s)
Cookie cutter (or you can draw freehand)
Knife and spoon for carving
T-shirt
Embroidery floss (optional)
Sheet of paper or cardboard

Cookie cutters work really well, you just simply push them through the potato. We used both the negative and positive sides to print on the shirts. If you are carving the potato you might want to etch the outline of the heart into the potato first and then carve away the heart shape.

Next, spread some fabric paint out on a plate or pallet and stamp the potato in the paint. Do a practice stamp or two on some paper first so that you get the feel of it. Before you actually do the printing, slip a piece of paper or cardboard inside the shirt so that the paint does not seep through to the back side. Once you are ready, carefully press the potato down on the shirt. Lift off slowly so that you do not move or smear the paint.

After our shirts dried, I used embroidery floss to create French knots around the heart. If you don't know how to make French knots there is a nice video tutorial here. c.