Fabric Printing with Vegetables!
This project is a quick and easy way to get stuck into printing. It’s brilliant for children and just as good for grown-ups too! If you’re stuck in a rut with your printmaking, try this quick project to reignite your imagination and get those creative (vegetable) juices flowing.
Raid the fridge for a selection of vegetables and fruits – the weirder the shape, the better.
Slice the veggies in half to reveal the most interesting profile. We’re working with celery, gem lettuce, radishes, apple, pepper, potato, sweetcorn and broccoli. After they’re been sliced, lay them face down on a few pieces of kitchen roll to remove some of the moisture.
Handprinted Fabric Paints are the perfect consistency for printing like this onto fabric. They’re washable when heat set with an iron too so we’re using them to print a tea
towel. We selected Lavender, Mushy Pea, Red, Plum and Kiwi.
Use a Paint Applicator Sponge to cover each vegetable with fabric paint.
Press the vegetable into the cloth. Using a padded surface such as a blanket stretched over a board underneath your fabric can help achieve a more even print.
Try printing with different vegetables, switching and blending colours as you go to build up rows of prints.
The end of a bunch of celery can be sliced off and printed with.
Sweetcorn can be covered with fabric paint and rolled along the fabric.
Build up your rows of prints until you have a fully covered tea towel! When dry, iron the prints on a hot setting for a few minutes to set the paint and
hang on your oven door with pride.
For this easy printing project you will need:
- Assorted vegetables sliced in half
- Handprinted Fabric Paint
- Paint Applicator Sponges
- Inking Tray
- Padded surface
- Tote Bag, Teatowel or other fabric to print on
- Iron