Potato prints
Materials
knife (paring)
pencil
potato
saucer or jar lid (large)
shelf paper
teaspoon
tempera paint
Before you start this project, cover your work area with layers of
newspaper. Cover yourself with an old shirt.
Ask a grown-up to help you cut a potato in half.
Pour some thick tempera paint onto several layers of paper toweling.
Use just enough paint to cover the toweling.Cut off a large piece of shelf paper. Place it shiny side down on a
layer of newspaper. You will print on the dull side of the paper.
4 Take one of the potato halves. Use a pencil to scratch a simple
design in the center of the cut side of the potato.
Use the tip of a spoon to scoop out the parts around your design. Only
the raised parts of the potato will print.
5 Dip the raised design on the potato into the paint. Now press the
design onto the shelf paper. You can press the design onto the paper two
or three times before you have to dip it in the paint again. Use the
other half of the potato to make a different design.
6 You can also print with half of a grapefruit, a lemon, or an
orange. Ask a grown-up to help you scoop out each section of the fruit.
Try to leave the thin skin, or membrane, between each section. Squeeze
out as much of
the juice as you can. Then wipe out each section of the fruit with a
paper towel. Dip the cut part of the fruit into the paint. Then print
the same way you printed with the potato.
