By Amelia Tarallo
Hometown Weekly Staff
The Medfield Public Library’s crafting groups continue to thrive in their virtual format.
The list of supplies for the most recent library craft contained a number of unique items: a paring knife, paint, a washcloth or towel, kitchen sponges, and, surprisingly, a potato. With no context, this list may look like an evidence list from a murder trial.
Rather, it was the materials to do some beautiful printmaking.
Adult Services Librarian (and crafter extraordinaire) Bri Ozanne began the class with a demonstration of some stamps she had already made before the start of the session, constructed entirely out of potatoes. Ozanne explained how to make certain shapes and what certain carvings would look like once printed. Fellow crafters took note, planning out how they would carve their own potatoes and what designs they wanted to see in their prints. “You don’t have to remove a lot to have a good stamp,” advised Ozanne as she carved out a potato of her own.
Virtual attendees jumped into making their potato stamps. Crafters carefully whittled their potatoes, perfecting them to the best of their ability while Ozanne provided additional tips. “You can embrace your potato shape if you want, or if you want something that’s more clean and geometric, you can just cut the edges off,” she noted as she continued working on her creation. While most crafters stuck to the traditional russet potato, others cut into white turnips and vibrant carrots for their prints.
With each line carved into each potato (or choice vegetable), the image of each crafter became a reality. Ozanne was focusing on making a heart-shaped stamp, which came out a bit smaller than expected. “I’m the Grinch in reverse,” said Bri, referencing Dr. Seuss. “My heart shrunk three sizes that day.” Other crafters stuck with the heart, adding in lines to give their own versions some unique traits.
As they blotted their potatoes with ink, the crafters finally saw the results of their carvings. “Mine came out like a shoe!” laughed one attendee, holding up her print that resembled a sandal. Another crafter noted that her own had also turned out like a flip-flop. Yet another crafter explained that she had used a potato and a carrot to make a birds’ nest stamp.
“I did what my wife tells me never to do, which is to just go simple, don’t go complicated or it’ll turn into a disaster. It actually didn’t turn into such a disaster, so I made a heron, and then I blotted it so it looks like it’s in motion,” said the crafter.
Before ending the session, attendees took the time to show off their final pieces of work. Almost every crafter came up with a unique spin on the project in only an hour, each print turning out far differently from everyone else’s. Some attendees observed that some paint had smudged on a number of the prints, making for a cool effect on their final product; they urged their fellow crafters to “embrace the ooze.”
The real wonder came in this case from the journey of carving potatoes and showing off the final product in the end. “Show and tell is my favorite part of the class. Everybody always comes up with such different things, even though we’re doing the same project,” explained Ozanne.
“Bri really encourages it and encourages us. There’s no such thing as the way you’re supposed to do it. We all have different experiences and talents,” said Nancer, one of the crafters.
The craft club proved once again that you don’t need a lot of materials to create an artistic piece. Sometimes all you need is a vegetable, a knife, some paper, and ink, to make something wonderful.
Watch www.tiny.cc/medfieldlibraryevents for further crafting sessions at the Medfield Public Library.
