How To Make A DIY Placemat With Free Kitchen Patents

Did you know that Google has a search engine for old patents? They have had one since 2006, you can find it here. It is a fun tool to play around with and I used it to find kitchen and dining-themed images to make a DIY placemat.

The trouble with the Google patent search is that there are over 87 million patents in the database so it can be difficult to find what you are looking for. In the past, I curated a collection of retro patents prints for scouts and campers.

As I was making DIY placemats with these patents I thought a kitchen/dining theme would be more appropriate. I searched for vintage cutlery and crockery themed patents in particular.

Decoupaged Dining Themed DIY patents

After sifting through the Google patent database I managed to find some pretty cool vintage patents for spoons, forks, knives and plates. You can download them for free below.

The patents on the Google database are printed in black and white. However, using the magic of Photoshop I changed the background of these patents for the DIY placemats. I used blueprint background for the vintage patents as I thought they would look fun on the dining table. Also, I'm a big fan of the colour blue.

You can also download these for free and follow the tutorial for the DIY placemats.

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The Vintage Dining Themed Patents

The black and white kitchen patents are available to download below. The blueprint patents are with the DIY placemat tutorial.

These vintage prints would look fabulous framed and displayed as a gallery wall in either a kitchen or dining room.

Just click on the numbered linked below to download one of the above kitchen themed patents.

1. Two teaspoons patent
2. Two large spoons patent
3. Spoon and Fork Handles patent
4. Dinner plate 1. patent
5. Dinner plate 2 patent
6. Dinner plate 3 patent
7. Knife and blade patent
8. Pair of Knives Patent
9. 3 Knifes Patent
10. Goblet Patent
11. China Pieces Patent
12. Forks Patent

How To Make A Fun Blueprint DIY Placemat

What You Need

• Old placemats to upcycle or corkboard cut to size. Often you can pick outdated placemats up very cheaply in local thrift/charity shops.

• Blueprint kitchen patents printed out to the size of the placemats.
• Decoupage glue such as Mod Podge
• Foam brushes
• Some sort of waterproof sealer or varnish
• Craft knife and mat

The Vintage Blueprint Kitchen Patents

Choose which blueprint kitchen patents you want to used for the DIY placemats from the picture below and then click on the link to download.

1. Two teaspoons blueprint patent
2. Two large spoons blueprint patent
3. Spoon and Fork Handles Blueprint Patent
4. Dinner Plate 1 Blueprint Patent
5. Dinner Plate 2 Blueprint Patent
6. Dinner Plate 3 Blueprint Patent
7. Knife and Blade Blueprint Patent
8. Pair of Knives Blueprint Patent
9. 3 Knifes Blueprint Patent
10. Goblet Blueprint Patent
11. China Pieces Blueprint Patent
12. Forks Blueprint Patent

How To Make An Upcycled DIY Placemat

1. First, print out the chosen blueprints. Make sure the print out is large enough for the DIY placemat. Lucky for me the placemats I choose to upcycle were just slightly smaller than A4 paper size.

I was able to print them on my home printer. One thing to note is that if you use an inkjet printer instead of a laser printer the blueprint might smudge when the sealer is applied at the end. You can always test a print out before you begin or just spray the blueprints with a fixative first.

*Some hairsprays works well as a fixative and are much cheaper than artists fixative.

2. Next, using a foam bush apply a coat of the decoupage glue to the top of the placemat. Then, cover the backside of the blueprint with a layer of the glue.

3. Next, place the blueprint on top of the placemat. Gently squeeze out any air bubbles. I find sweeping a credit card over the top of the paper helps moves the air bubbles out to the edge, where they can escape.

4. Once the glue has dried. Place the mat face down on a cutting mat. Then using a craft knife cut away any excess blueprint paper.

5. All that is left to do is to seal the DIY placemat. This can be done either with decoupage glue sealer or a varnish. If the placemat is going to have direct contact with food then use a food safe varnish. If the placemat is going to be used as a heat mat to protect the table then use a heat proof varnish. However, I find regular varnish sealer works well for me and I can simply wipe clean the placemat if needed.

If you would prefer a different patent art theme for your placemats I show you how you can search for Google patent art prints here. I have even curated a collection of guitar patent prints which would be a great theme for musicians.

If you would like seasonal placemats there is a collection of Christmas patent art hear in a festive red colour.

However, if you want a theme other then patents for your DIY placemats how about making easy map table mats or some collaged natural history placemats.

For more fabulous DIY placemat ideas visit favecrafts.com.