YES WE CAN!

I'm going to try and keep this post to a strictly craft post because I know I can go on and on for days on the subject of the upcoming election.

With that being said I decided to make a t-shirt for the Obama rally I attended yesterday. I wanted something simple that showed my support but wouldn't offend others- especially after McCain's remark in the third debate that Obama supporters were wearing negative t-shirts at Obama rallies.
My quest began at the dollar store nearby which has a clothing rack full of factory reject t-shirts. I managed to find a shirt on the rack that did not have a mystery stain on it, just a faint dotted line going across the chest which I attemptedto cover up -unsuccessfully- with some white paint. I used a stencil I found online (type "Obama Stencil" into Google's image search and you'll find it) for the front part of the shirt, and the back image I just quickly made in photoshop. I used the mod podge screen method again, and the end result was great.

{Front}

{Back: Printed the black outlines, then hand painted the interior parts of the letters}

I got a whole bunch of compliments on the t-shirt, as well as a lot of questions about the dotted line across the chest (Is it symbolic?) I'm still waiting on getting some action shots of the rally from my friend so until then take care.

Project Manchild part 4

So close I can taste it. Today I did the face image on the back of the shirts, they came out pretty well if I do say so myself. Now all thats left is to let them dry heat set and wrap it all up. What else can can I tell you?

Project Manchild part 3

Okay, so I managed to so something with my first printing mishap (see part 1). After getting the right black ink I printed the Manchild logo in the big gray blob. Then I filled in the letters using one of the shimmery jacquard fabric pants and added some white paint just because I can.


Its okay, I guess, but I personally feel its a little too "homemade" rather than "hand crafted"

I've managed to rebound from this mistake quite successfully though. I took my time, I had all my supplies at hand and I'm very happy with the result.

Time to get back to work

Project Manchild part 2

Last night I was able to accomplish making a new screen with smaller text that won't go off the shirt (yay!). This morning upon waking up and drinking my coffee I made a quick test print of the screen on a plain navy blue tank that I got for 3 bucks just a few days ago. Somehow I feel that by the end of this project I'm going to have an unofficial merchandise line due to the test prints I've been making. I know I could just do test prints on a piece of paper, but wheres the fun in that? now that I'm looking at it I'm thinking I should make another screen so I can do a nice semi-professional looking 2 color print.

New Screen


Test Print on a ribbed knit t-shirt

Thats all for now, I've got to start working on packing the apartment up.
Toodles.

Project Manchild part 1

Next weekend I'll be heading down to the city with the BF to see a friend of ours for his b-day. Our friend has recently started out his own business- Manchild Skateboards, and we figured he would appreciate some D.I.Y. shirts. As such it seemed only right to use this as an excuse to try out the mod podge/embroidery hoop method of "screen printing. I took his logo from the website, loaded it up and made a simple black and white image of the text and the face thing, then printed it out. Not really thinking at the moment I started to trace the text onto the screen (neon green fine mesh nylon given to me by the bf, formerly a green screen). Once I finished tracing "manchild" I realized skateboards was too long to fit horizontally. I thought I was pretty smart and started to trace the letters vertically, having the words intersect at the "A", but once again realized that it wouldn't fit. New solution...smaller text...heh.
{shown: screen of "Manchild" and part of "skateboard"


My impatience is most certainly my down fall. I had planned and planned to do a test print prior to printing on the actual shirt I tossed that plan right out the window. Curses!
My impatience led me to discover that I bought the wrong black ink. I picked up a fabric dye rather than a printing ink. It bleed, oh how it bleed through that knit cotton fabric (at least I printed with something in between the front and the back side of the shirt). The other colors I picked up will work just fine, but now I'm left with a little (big) mistake.

For the moment its hanging up, I'll take a look at it later and see if it could possibly be salvaged. I managed to get to the local art supply store and pick up the proper black ink.

First thing I did upon returning was make a test print on a ratty old t-shirt of mine. From the looks of it I just need to take my time and apply a nice even coat. Well, heres to seeing what tomorrow brings.