Home Crochet baby clothesPotato Print - Making 5 Ideas for Kids + Potato Stamp

Potato Print - Making 5 Ideas for Kids + Potato Stamp

  • material
  • Carving potato stamps - instructions
    • 1. Preparation
    • 2. Carve or cut out
    • 3. Print - Dye stamp
  • Potato print on different materials

When the weather is bad parents want to employ their children in a meaningful and creative way. The good old potato stamp is a good idea that you can quickly realize with simple things that are already present in the household anyway. The children often have fun for a long time with the things that are decorated with potato print.

The potato stamp was used in our childhood only for paper or just cardboard for printing. Today, the children have completely different options, because in addition to practical acrylic paints, which can also be used for the wall decoration, there are simple fabric paints, with which the little ones can beautify their own gym bag or T-shirts. A normal wall paint can also be used by your child for practical potato printing. We show you all variants and possibilities to make and apply potato stamps yourself. This is how a totally rainy afternoon passes by.

material

You need this:

  • knife
  • brush
  • water glass
  • cutting board
  • cutters
  • felt-tip pen
  • Fine sandpaper
  • Acrylics
  • Clearcoat / spray paint
  • kitchen roll
  • Inkbox / Watercolors
  • finger paint
  • Cardboard / old wallpaper as a base
  • potatoes
  • foam rubber
  • toothpick
  • Wall paint
  • Fabric paint
  • construction paper
  • cloth bag

Carving potato stamps - instructions

Stay with it when small children handle sharp knives. Otherwise, in the heat of the moment, a child can quickly be harmed. Even if the little ones still play so calmly and peacefully, the sheet can turn quickly.

1. Preparation

Provide all the tools and lay out a large sheet of cardboard or old wallpaper on the table. Then you will have it easier to clean up later. In addition, your child can print better on a slightly more flexible surface. The required potatoes are cut lengthwise in the middle. If your child is not yet able to cut straight, then you should do this job.

Tip: For small figures, numbers or numbers, you can also cut across the potato in width, then your child has a better grip later, to impose the new stamp.

2. Carve or cut out

For simple shapes, cookie cutters from cookie baking are very good. The mold should be inserted at least three quarters into the potato surface. Then the potato can be carefully cut away around the cookie cutter. Then the cookie cutter can be pulled out. Maybe now should be reworked around the resulting stamp a little bit, so that no loose or protruding pieces ruin the pressure.

Tip: If the children are already older or older and want to carve some more complicated patterns into the potatoes, small pictures of animals or patterns can be cut out. For this, however, the outlines should first be drawn on the potato surface with a thin felt-tip pen. Even for real artists, it's very hard to work completely freehand. Many children have small numbers or letters magnets, which are also ideal as a template. Here the outline can easily be traced. Incidentally, the letters N and Z only need to be carved once, as they are easy to turn. All other letters must be cut backwards, otherwise you get stamp prints in mirror writing.

Free forms are first drawn and then cut straight from above vertically along the lines. This prevents one part of the mold from being accidentally cut off. Only then carefully and slowly around the shape of the excess potato is cut away. If the giraffe suddenly loses its head, it can easily be grown with a second small potato.

Tip: accidents happen once and especially in animal figures is easily chopped off a part of the body that is actually still needed. This is not a broken leg at a potato stamp. Either a second stamp is then used to reprint the missing body part or your child operates as a surgeon and simply connects the missing part with a toothpick again with the stamp. So you can also make wider stamps, if the potatoes are actually too small.

3. Print - Dye stamp

Most colors, no matter what the purpose of printing, can be easily applied with a brush on the raised surface of the stamp. If you want to print a special piece, such as a cabinet or a wall, you should make a test print on paper. Thus, the offspring can recognize whether the stamp has succeeded as desired. In many cases, there are still small inconsistencies that can be repaired.

Tip: Acrylic paint can also be dipped directly on the stamp. For this purpose, the color is added to old yogurt cups and the potato stamp then typed in it. Before each new impression, the potato should also be re-dotted so that the prints are beautifully even.

Mostly not only one color should be printed, but different exciting tones. The potato can simply be rinsed under cold water. Then it is briefly dried with a little kitchen crepe and already the next round can start with a new color.

Tip: If the little ones get tired, you can continue stamping tomorrow. Rinse the potatoes again under cold water. The potato does not have to be made super-dry. Instead, you should wrap the stamp slightly damp in cling film and put in the refrigerator.

Potato print on different materials

Paper was yesterday - today you can print almost everything you can find in the home with special colors. Both acrylic paints and wall paints can serve as well as the usual colors from the ink fountain box very well as printing ink for the potato stamp. Maybe even the children remember something they would like to print on. If you even want to use enamel paint, you should put on the children small disposable gloves, so that the color does not stick to your fingers for weeks.

  • cloth bag
  • T-shirt / fabric shoes
  • Wall / wallpaper
  • Paper / cardboard
  • Boxes / cartons

Tip: It does not necessarily have to be potatoes. If many prints are to be made over several days, you can also give the children good foam rubber. The advantage can then be the size of a stamp of sponge rubber, because the little ones can cut very different large motives of the sponge rubber.

1. Print fabric bag
Thanks to the very durable fabric paints, your child no longer has to let off steam on paper alone. Simple cotton bags, which are available for as low as € 0.70 the piece in retail, can be designed as a gym bag or small shopping bags just with the potato print very nice individually. Your child will certainly be pleased if you continue to honor his work for some time. Depending on the fabric paint, the result may need to be ironed. Newer fabric colors but already adhere by itself for many washes.

2. Stamp T-shirts and shirts
Especially cotton fabrics can be designed very well with fabric paint. So if the potato stamp is painted with fabric paint, it's easy to print your own pattern. For example, put a big piece of cardboard in a shirt first so that the print does not go right through to the back. In addition, your child can then press the stamp better and the printed image is cleaner.

Tip: Children are getting dirty quickly. Many a stain will not work out even with so much effort and stain remover. Have these T-shirts printed by your little Gutenberg. A few stars criss-cross the spots and the spotted shirt has become a designer piece of your child.

3. Boxing - Spice up boxes
With some potatoes, you never have to buy expensive cardboard boxes to store your toys. They can conjure their children out of normal cardboard boxes. If you or the offspring do not like the cardboard color, you should first prime the cardboard with wall paint. After drying, the potato print can then apply a fresh unique pattern to the carton.

Tip: Keep shoe boxes in all sizes at all times. These boxes usually have a practical lid and can be turned into boxes so well. When you're working with the kids, make some boxes for your own wardrobe. Whether for the fine nylon stockings or a special pair of shoes, the boxes are versatile to use.

4. Wallpaper - border and Co.
The wallpapers in the nursery often suffer from the escalating creativity of the little ones. Now the children have the opportunity to remedy damages incurred. Whether you use wall paint or the colorful acrylic paint that can be used for many purposes is simply a matter of taste. However, both colors should not be licked by the child's fingers if possible. If the little ones are still at an age when they try everything, you should also use finger paints for children on the walls. After drying, these colors also look good on wallpaper.

Tip: The situation is similar with wall borders for the nursery, here too potato stamps offer a nice change. Either your child is allowed to complete a wall, or you can, for example, draw a line along the wall and have a parade of giraffes, elephants and penguins on it. For smaller children less complicated prints are of course more appropriate, but also stars and moons make a nursery very individual in different colors.

5. Pimp children's furniture
Even the furniture in the nursery shows after a few months or years often clear signs of wear. Frequently, decals are glued on or small carvings decorate the surfaces. If you are planning a potato stamp day anyway, you can use it to make fun of the furniture. Acrylic paint is also suitable for wood furniture and sometimes even for plastic products. If the stamp prints should last as long as possible, you can first send the children off with fine sandpaper and let the corresponding spots roughen slightly.

Tip: If the stamp print on the wood has dried, you should lightly coat the spot with a little clear spray paint. So your child and the furniture has something of the redesign for a long time. Be careful of a little variety, it seems a bit boring if only moons are in one place and stars on the other side of the furniture.

If your child wants to make a colorful, flat pattern with the stamp on a piece of furniture, let it wait a little before continuing with the next color. So the paint can dry slightly and does not run into each other. The individual prints then become clearer and cleaner.

Tips for quick readers:

  • Prepare tools and underlay
  • Cut potatoes lengthwise
  • Press cookie cutter three-quarters into area
  • Cut potato around the cookie cutter
  • Pull out cookie cutter / make test print
  • possibly rework form
  • to record free forms beforehand
  • Use templates and shapes from nursery
  • first cut the shape from above
  • then carve around the shape
  • Attach separated parts with toothpicks
  • Apply stamp or paint with color
  • Wash potato before changing color
  • Spray furniture prints with clear lacquer after drying
  • Keep the potatoes in cling film in the fridge
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