I know that potato stamping is traditionally a child’s craft, but I’ve also seen some pretty impressive potato stamps out there. With that in mind, I thought that creating a potato stamp for some homemade Christmas cards could be a cheap resourceful and creatively satisfying project.
In case you can’t see it, this is supposed to a star shining over Baby Jesus. After carving it, I envisioned a stack of carefully stamped and thoughtfully composed Christmas cards that would be sent out to our family and closest friends. Upon stamping, however, it became obvious that I had no idea what I was doing. It came out looking terribly gloppy and, well let’s just say Baby Jesus wasn’t exactly looking his best.
What did I do wrong? First, I think I didn’t dry the potato enough before stamping. Second, I didn’t take any precautions to keep the paint on the just the image. I recently saw this video of Martha Stewart making skull potato stamps. In the video, she used a paint applicator which I think would have really helped to keep the print a little cleaner looking. I think my final mistake was not having really clean lines between Jesus and his cradle, so it really just looked like a big blob.
Take 2
My second attempt went much more smoothly. I used a real ink pad instead of paint and carved deep into the potato…probably a good 1/4 inch. I think that made all the difference in the world.
You can see how much cleaner the lines are on my second attempt:
especially when you look at the image.
Potato stamping, and stamping in general, has so many possibilities. I could definitely see myself getting into this more if I had the time to experiment with it in more depth.
If you ever find yourself with a potato in hand and a few moments to spare, go ahead and take a knife to it. It’s more fun than you might think. And, if you’ve read this post (as opposed to just looking at the pictures and moving on) then you should be all set to do it right the first time!
That looks great Chrissy - cool cards!
Super cool, but I’ve almost carved up my hands trying to make these before…
I had NO idea of this. This almost seems doable for someone like me! Very cool!
Oh wow, that is really neat! How creative. Great job and thank you for the tips!