The previous attempt, now a wrinkled, smelly reminder of failure

With the first potato printing experiment having gone slightly awry, I decided to return to the medium with a slightly more focused process.

However, more focus doesn’t necessarily mean a cleaner table.

Always start with a clean, ordered surface

With my controlled mess all present and correct, I decided to work on much simpler two-colour illustration than my first attempt, crucially adding some rudimentary registration.

For want of a better term - the red potato 'plate'

The illustration was then separated into red and black transfers, to be run and carved into two halves of the same potato.

The black 'plate'

Rather than solid registration marks, this time I opted to cut both potatoes into identically shaped ‘plates’, the thinking being I could easily align each potato’s outline onto one piece of paper.

The two potatoes inked up and ready to go

Failed registration!

This, however, was more difficult than I thought.

I printed one failed registration after another and slowly watched as my kitchen table began to resemble an Early Learning Centre, circa 1985. Thankfully I had enough scrap paper and old newspaper too see me through the trauma.

Nearly there...

Testing the registration...

It was fun to watch the two colours become tantalisingly close to matching with each successive attempt. For me, this has become the real fun of the medium. Obviously potato printing is certainly not the most accurate printing process to deal with, but with so many factors you have to throw to the wind, every result feels like a surprise.

At the end of the printing session my potatoes were knackered - now I didn't think I'd ever say that

Once I’d figured out that my wonky registration needed some coaxing, I was able to produce a fairly decent run of about 10 prints before each potato slice, sorry ‘plate’, became too knackered to print.

Success!

I’m fairly pleased with the result, much more so than my previous attempt, but I still think there’s one more attempt left for this experiment – something to give the humble potato the reputation it deserves. If this exercise was part of a trilogy, this second attempt would be the set-up to an awe inspiring CG finale.

While I can’t promise a cast of thousands, or a thrilling, unexpected revelation, I think I’ve got one last potato print in me.

I’ll keep you posted.

Previously: Potato Printing – First Attempt