MetaChat - How to stencil a t-shirt.

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01 November 2005

How to stencil a t-shirt. →[More:]This is a down and dirty (in the literal sense, like a cornucopia) tutorial on how to stencil your own t-shirts. I can vouch for the fact that it works. I pretty much follow her tute to the t except that I use a little foam roller instead of a brush. The basic gist is that you draw something freehand on cardstock, or you find a great illustration online and enlarge it and print it out on cardstock, cut out the outlines with an exacto knife, and then paint it onto a shirt. Warning: stencilling your own t-shirts is an addiction.

They make great gifts, too. And imperfections just make them better, so don't worry about them.

post by: iconomy at: 08:09 | 8 comments

So, what kind of nifty printers are you guys using? My printer is dead in the water, and wouldn't have printed on card stock anyway... So when I manage to get a new one, I 'd kind of like to get one that could handle this.

posted by taz 01 November | 08:15

I have a Canon i560, which is just a personal printer for home use...nothing exceptional. It's a real little workhorse, though. But sometime within the next year we're going to get a new setup, and I definitely want a better printer myself.

posted by iconomy 01 November | 08:17

I never would have though of stenciling shirts as gifts but it's a neat-o idea. Thanks for the link, iconomy.

posted by LeeJay 01 November | 08:18

You're welcome! I forgot to add to try a flat cotton t the first time, not a ribbed one. You can stencil those too, but the flat ones are easier.

Cool gift: stencil solid color pillowcases/sheets with a band logo or comic book/anime characters or words. Guys love these. I make a sheet set for my teenage nephews every Christmas and they go nuts.

posted by iconomy 01 November | 08:25

It may just me, but that tutorial seems really obvious. Maybe thats from having a crafty mom, though.

posted by puke & cry 01 November | 14:23

No, you're right - it is obvious, to crafty types (and their offspring ;)

I like to see photos of things before I attempt them, though. I'm really visual, but it helps me to see how someone else did it. Once I see that, I can take it and run with it, but I need someplace to start.

posted by iconomy 01 November | 15:54

Or...you could go with the cheap screen print tutorial.

posted by cali 01 November | 18:28

Looking at that "cheap screen print tutorial", for the amount of effort and pain that would go in to painting in all those finicky details in glue (?!), I'd say it's worth the $25 or whatever to get a basic and shitty screenprinting kit. Plus, using a squeegee on a decent-sized screen will always give you better and more even ink coverage than dabbing stuff on with a paintbrush. If you're going to be doing a bunch of shirts, or a bunch of designs, it's _really_ worth it to do screenprinting the real way [or to spraypaint the designs on, if screenprinting's too much.]

I would've thought the stencil thing was too obvious to need a tutorial also, puke & cry, but I guess I do a fair amount of art, so I'm not the target audience.

posted by ubersturm 02 November | 08:35

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