T-SHIRT JAM

So I haven't updated in awhile, but I have been either lack-lustre, or busy as shittt.

Last week I was in Newfoundland and took 3 PHOTOS. what the shit!? i forgot to bring my camera with me pretty much anywhere i went. what an idiot. so pretty though. i love the little houses.

Anyways, yesterday Alex, James, and Jenner came over for 4:20 Sunday, aka T-SHIRT JAM.

The idea was to make some shirt which we could wear next weekend for the most positive weekend ever:

HATER FREE FRIDAY (and jenner's going away party!)
SUCKER FREE SATURDAY
4:20 SUNDAY (but the ACTUAL 4:20)













Jame's taught us this awesome technique for making t-shirts without having to break out the silk screen! We used FREEZER PAPER which is basically like a wide parchment paper. One side of it is lightly waxed, and the other has a smooth tooth to it, perfect for drawing your stencil directly on to. The idea is to make your stencil out of the paper, and then with the wax side DOWN, lightly iron it onto your shirt (med-low heat).

The wax will lightly melt onto the shirt making the perfect seal for stenciling! It doesn't bleed through when you roll on your fabric pigment, and once the pigment is dry, gently peel off the stencil! It definitely makes the best t-shirt or fabric stencil I have used without a screen, with great results. You can even do intricate designs and iron on the little pieces too (such as the centers of fonts- usually you would have to plan out letters such as "B" or "R" without the centers of the letters since you couldn't make it in one stencil).

The other great thing about freezer paper is that because it is slightly transparent, you can make registered multi-colored prints. You can trace through them and make sure it is all aligned when designing your image!

Here are the tips we collectively decided we learned for making these shirts during this craft jam:

1. Use different rollers for different colors, or make sure your roller is REALLY dry before you switch colors. Although we all agree that Jenner's "PARTY ME" shirt looks dope with the bleeding, if you want a crisp print use a DRY roller.

2. If you are using an older, thinner shirt, be sure to use a piece of cardboard on the inside of your shirt, and behind it on the surface you're printing on. Ideally, you should do this regardless though.

3. Use thin, light coats of screen-printing pigment when rolling onto your stencil. You can use a hair dryer to dry the coats in between layers if you're going for multiple colors or a really saturated print. Be careful of a high heat hair dryer on the wax though.

4. If you're really careful, you should be able to reuse your stencil at least one more time, but you can also just save it to trace onto another sheet of freezer paper to use another time!


HAPPY H8R-FR3 CRAFTING!