Potato printing

There's something wonderfully Tramp Art-y about using wine crates as decor elements, and really, what other throwaway material can look so good in so many ways? We've already covered the $220 designer version of the plain wooden box, so now let's see what creative folks all over the web are doing with the free version (you know, the kind that you sweetly convince your local liquor store owner to give you).

1. Make a pet bed. Lola Serrano of Dolamakes stuffed a cute plaid pillow into a wine crate and Little Lo just can’t get enough.

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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 »