It is Idaho after all. And since the weather was so dreary most of last week, I decided to break out a timeless classic. I'll have you know Huck did potato printing completely pantsless. Thank god he didn't get any crazy ideas. He's definitely the kind of kid who will be sitting on a Xerox machine one day.
The concept is very simple and there are plenty of detailed how-to's online. I was reminded of the idea by this post on the ever-inspirational Crafty Crow. Here are very basic instructions for the intrepid artiste who wants to just jump in and figure it out on the fly.
Materials:
1 big ole bag a taters (I bought Idaho Russets and we had loaded baked potatoes for dinner, too)
A couple of knives
Some paints (we used these washable tempra paints)
A pie tin or similar for a palette
paper
Cut a 2 inch end off the spud. Boom!--You got a circle. Cut that in half. Shazam!--A half moon. Cut a french fry shaped piece and there's a square on one end a long rectangle on the other. You get the idea. You can get as detailed with shapes as your skills with a pairing knife will allow. Mine allowed for a star and leaf shape and that was about it.
It was loads of fun and I think our next round of greeting cards (we made these for Christmas once and have been using these for birthdays all year) will be made using this potato printing technique.
