Lotta jansdotter

I recently had the privilege of attending a printing party at the studio of textile designer extraordinaire Lotta Jansdotter. It was beyond fun, and I was in craft heaven for the evening! She set up a large table with all the tools: strips of cotton fabric, fabric paint, linoleum block stamps, stencils, stippling brushes, sponges, and carved potatoes (yes I played around with potato printing!) All in all, the experience opened my eyes to how easy it is to create your own patterns on fabric. Really, truly, you can do it. The party brought to life a few of Lotta's incredibly inspirational (and doable) ideas in her new book, Lotta Prints. I just adore the simple, organic vibe of Lotta's aesthetic.

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Lotta Jansdotter has been something of a universal design crush in the blog (and print) worlds for years now, and her latest contribution to the field is almost like a public service. In her book, Lotta Prints: How to Print with Anything, from Potatoes to Linoleum, she puts the power of production in our hands, and shows us the completely sophisticated (and expensive-looking) results you can get with the most 7th-grade-arts-and-crafts-class materials. The projects she shows are not the least bit intimidating, requiring no fancy, pricey equipment or specialized skills, and every one of them is something I would pay good money for if I saw it on the shelf at a store. She's even included 8 ready-to-use stencil pages, if you're not so confident about your drawing skills.

One of my favorite projects in the book is the potato-printed throw pillow design shown here. Lotta has generously allowed us to reprint the instructions for potato printing here; why not give it a try, and then go pick up the book to learn about rubber stamp printing, leaf printing, iron-ons, stencils, lino block printing, and screen printing, with ideas for customizing everything from wrapping paper to window sheers.



Lotta's Instructions for Potato Printing: Read More »