Book Review: Lotta Prints

Lotta Prints: How to Print with Anything, from Potatoes to Linoleum by Lotta Jansdotter

I keep going back and forth on if I would give this book 3 or 4 stars. The style of the prints, the photos, the set up of the book - inspiring. Just lovely. The actual instructions to techniques used - lacking. Most of it is basic printing information that is found online or in other books - with better instructions. So it didn't give me any new ideas as far as techniques but as far as inspiration - yes it did! Really easy designs that would leave anything you print on looking so pretty. One such inspiration I can't wait to try is the wall hangings. They were ceiling to floor simple cloth wall hangings with a simple print on them. Very pretty - giving a room a splash of color with a minimalistic approach. Another plus to this book - many of the print designs could go for either male or female. They are very unisex friendly. Often prints books I have seen are very hearts, flowers and sunshine type designs but this book often has geometric designs put together in a very pleasing way that would work for any gender. I don't know if it is a book I need to own but I do think it would provide me inspiration on print design if I had it on my shelf but wouldn't teach me anything new about print techniques.

HANDMADE GIFT IDEA: Take plain tea towels, ties or totes and do potato printing on them. Here are a few links with how to's and also inspiration: Craftzine Tater Stamping, Creative Kismet Potato Printing and Creative Kismet Lotta Inspiration