You Will Need

• potatoes
• cookie cutter (we used a strawberry shape)
• sharp knife
• paper towel
• sosatie skewer
• artist’s paintbrush
• craft paint
• firm cardboard or paper

1 Rinse the potato and dry it well. Cut away a third of the potato lengthwise.

2 Press the cookie cutter into the middle of the potato, as deep as you want the design to be.

3 Use a sharp knife to cut away a thick slice all around the edge of the cookie cutter. Remove the pieces of potato from around the design and then pull out the cookie cutter.

TIP You can also cut the potato in half to make two stamps, but then you will have less potato to hold onto at the back. If your potato is big, you can cut it in half widthways, giving you two stamps and enough potato to hold onto.

4 Blot the potato on paper towel to dry it then use a sosatie skewer to make holes in the design for detail, such as the strawberry’s little indents in our example.

5 Apply a thin coat of paint with a brush over the raised design. We used red for the strawberry and green for the leaves.

6 First do a trial run on a piece of scrap paper before you stamp onto firm cardboard or paper. Always have a clean piece of paper towel on hand to blot off excess paint, if necessary.

Text and images: Ideas