Wirecutter - Using potatoes to pop the question

Michael Hession

Still, I went into my experimental craft with low expectations. In the past, I’ve found the Cricut difficult to master—there’s definitely a learning curve that requires plenty of patience to work through. Using the design software was tricky (I’ve watched many, many YouTube tutorials). There were countless times when I used the wrong settings to cut my designs, resulting in lots of wasted cardstock and vinyl. And now I was attempting to work with the gritty texture of potato skin. I wasn’t even sure the vinyl would adhere, but I wanted to try.

So I set out to do a trial run: I cut out each of the letters and carefully stamped them onto a potato. It worked so well that I was initially suspicious. The process of applying the vinyl sticker was tedious but doable. I let the potato sit overnight, curious to see if the letters would lift and curl off the surface, but they stayed in place.

Time to make the rest.

At the grocery store, I searched for russet potatoes. They were about $1 a pound, so I spent $7 on eight potatoes. Not bad.

Once I was home, I scrubbed my spuds. (I specifically chose russet potatoes that were large enough to display the entire message and flat enough on one side for the sticker to adhere.) And then I left them to dry while I went to work on the actual stickers. All of the materials I used for this project were leftover scraps from previous crafts, so I was able to make the stickers without purchasing anything new. If you’re going to try to trick out your own potato, you’ll need a roll of permanent vinyl and transfer tape, assuming you already have the Cricut, a cutting mat, and a set of weeding tools.

Elissa Sanci

Applying the stickers took the longest. I used a scraper to firmly press my vinyl into the transfer tape before slowly peeling the tape from the backing, trying my hardest not to leave behind any letters. It was a slow and meticulous process, one that required me to use a pair of craft tweezers (included in the tool set) to rehome lost letters and punctuation marks. The same issues plagued me while I transferred the sticker from the tape to the potato skin: I kept losing letters and, most frustratingly, the tiny dot above the “i”.

But within a few hours, all eight potatoes proudly bore my message. I paired each tater with a Greetings from Idaho postcard, which contained all of the important upcoming dates and a handwritten note. I posted a video to my Instagram, if you’d like to see the finished product.

The Cricut let me turn my far-fetched idea into a reality—and it can likely help you create whatever wacky craft you have in mind, too. I was able to DIY bridesmaid proposal boxes that perfectly captured everything I wanted—something memorable and sentimental. And it cost me just $20, a trip to the grocery store, a few hours of craft time, and a lot of patience.

The potatoes were a smash, by the way. Not only did my friends love their surprise spuds, but almost every person made something different with their bounty after peeling off the vinyl: a mashed side, the base of a lunch bowl, homemade gnocchi, even a pie. Another friend is considering planting her potato, which has started to sprout around the vinyl sticker she still hasn’t removed. The versatility of the humble potato—and the mighty Cricut Explore 3—can’t be overstated.