You can really create some beautiful artwork and patterns by printing flowers with celery stalks or other vegetables. You can use the artwork for Mother’s Day cards, valentines day or for wrapping paper or you can just have fun experimenting with different colours and patterns.
Printing is something that really appeals to kids of all ages and adults alike. We were delighted at just how much the tightly packed stalks of celery resembled a flower. Printing is such an exciting art activity, there is something delightful about dipping your object in the paint and waiting to see what pattern it makes.
How to print flowers with celery stalks – Vegetable Printing
Materials
- Paint
- Paper plate/plate for the palate
- Celery
- Elastic band
- Paper
Instructions for Printing Flowers with Celery Stalks
My boys are older now, so I am more than happy to allow them to use a knife, so they started by cutting the stalks of the celery. Our top tip for this is to place the elastic band around first, so they don’t shift and drop. Oh and I couldn’t find any elastic bands, so used clean hair elastics instead!
For younger children using the heart of the celery is easier. We have a ton of paper plates so I often use them as palates for painting and we add a blob of paint.
it is really important not to put too much paint onto your palate as you will lose the definition of the print and clog up your celery. We had lots of fun just making patterns on paper. It would also be wonderful to decorate a cushion or pillowcase with vegetable prints. We really adored the different effects we could make with it.
Mini picked his colours and I left him to it with some paper.
We used a mixture of acyclic paints and tempera (poster paints). If you have younger children then tempera paint is better as it is washable, whereas, acrylic can stain.
Mini talked about how they were big roses and he turned one of them into a bunch of flowers using watercolour paints.
Taking inspiration from a Cath Kidston print he chose just to add leaves to one of the prints. I can see this all over the a roll of paper and would be perfect for wrapping paper. Whilst I had a play and the darker rose print is mine!
He also printed one on a card, which would be perfect for your Valentine’s or for Mother’s Day.
Today we are joining Playdough & Popsicles for an A-Z Craft Series. Our letter is the letter “V” so we chose vegetable printing.
This is a great series with lots of ideas for kids of all ages. Mini really enjoyed printing flowers with celery stalks and declared it much better than eating it!
When you outline using celery stalks to print flowers it seems so simple, but I never would have thought of that! Great idea Jen!
When you outline using celery stalks to print flowers it seems so simple, but I never would have thought of that! Great idea Jen!
That is so clever, who’d have thought celery sticks could have a better use than diet food!!!!
Love this idea, haven’t used celery for printing before but it looks really great 🙂
These are so gorgeous Jen, who would have thought!
Wow who would have thought celery would make such a pretty print! I can’t stand the stuff to eat so would much prefer putting it to use crafting 🙂 x
I never would have thought of doing this, but they do look just like flowers!
What a lovely art idea, I bet my son would like to do this.
That is fab, so simple but it woudl never have occured to me. I love it. Mich x
That is so simple and yet so effective. I love this idea, thank you for sharing.
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