Making A T-Shirt Part 1
Gatehring Materials and Making The Stencil

The aim of this guide is to teach you my method of making DIY T-shirts. They make a great conversation peice and they are one of a kind. Plus, they sell if money\’s what you\’re after.

Here are a few things you will need:(specifics will be discussed later in the egg, be sure to read on.)
-White Out(optional)
-Paint
-Glue
-Cardstock
-Paper
-Blank T-Shirts(buy a few in case you #%!@ it up)
-An X-Acto Knife
-A Painting Mask(if you use spray paint)
-A Hairdryer or Iron(If you use Acryllics or Screen Printing ink)
-Mini Rollers
-Masking Tape

What Paint To Get?
There are several types of paints you can use. It is the single most important thing in determining the quality next to the stencil. You get what you pay for here, so buy the best you can afford.

Spray Paints

These just suck ass for fabric, stay awasy from them if you can. If you have no other choice, get the most expensive stuff you can, and be ready to do a whole lot of coats. I don\’t reccommend this at all, it\’s good for tagging if you\’re into that, but otherwise completely avoid it. Only good thing is that it\’s cheap..

Acryllic Paints w/ a Textile Medium

My paints of choice. These are just ace and they are realatively inexpensive. Mix 2/3 acryllic with 1/3 textile medium. It cracks a little, but no more than any T-Shirt you buy would over time, I like the cracking anyway, it gives it some character.

Speedball Screen Printing Inks

This is the best stuff you can get, if you can afford it GET IT. This stuff is durable, and it looks exactly like a professional T-Shirt.

Brsuhes/Rollers
This is mostly preference. Just experiment until you find what feels right.

Stencil Brushes

These are the best if you can master them. The trick is to use barely any paint and dab it on, it\’s very time consuming but very rewarding.

Paint Brushes

These work just as well but are easier to use, the only downside is that they occasionally leave brush strokes.

Mini Rollers

These Are THE ABSOLUTE EASIEST to use. They tend to take a toll on your stencils, it makes them curl if you use thin material.

I prefer to first apply the paint using paint brushes and then using a dry mini roller for more evenly distributing the paint and getting out the brush strokes.

Knives
These are for cutting out stencils.

Really your only option is X-acto Knives. I uses Testors because I already own a set, they use the same blade and that\’s all that matters. They are very accurate and they get the job done. Here is a photo of my set:

Nice eh?

You could always use box cutter if you don\’t care about how shitty it\’ll look, you\’re probably using spray paint too you cheap bastard.

Cardstocks
Cardstocks are what you use to make the stencil on, preferrably rigid, but not too thick.

Greeting Card Paper
This is the printable paper you get for printing greeting cards out on your computer. It works fairly well, but it can be a task to cut through cleamly sometimes.

Contact Paper
Its Paper with a sticky backing, usually comes in rolls, you just cut it to size before you print it. It works excellently for fabrics because of this, but durability is sacrificed and you will probably only squeeze 3 or 4 uses out of it before you have to throw it out.

Overhead Sheets
Those plastic sheets your teachers use on the overhead, just print your stencil on regular paper and use superglue to bond the two together, then cut.
These last forever but you will need masking tape or spray adhesive to keep it from sliding around.

Manilla File Folders
I like these the best, they last a long time and they are cheap.

Making the stencil
Stencil making is a realatively simple process, no artistic ability is required.

First google for the image of whatever you want to put on it, keep it simple. I\’m going to do this box. It\’s interesting and it\’s very simple.

Now you will need some sort of image editing software besides paint. If you want a good free one you can use the GIMP
Just download the first to, install the second one first.

Open up the image in GIMP. Go to tools > color tools > threshhold



Adjust the sliders until you come out with something that has a good amount of detail, but not too much.


If you have more black than white invert it by going to layer > colors > invert.

Go to image > print size and adjust it so it will fit on the paper. Then print it out.

Take out your glue or tape and glue or tape your stenclil onto your cardstock.


This next step is optional. You may notice spots where there are areas you need to cut where there are \’islands\’ or areas that are going to be cut off with a certain area but you want them to stay, I\’ll explain with images since it\’s hard to put into words.

Remember that you are cutting out the black parts. I used white paint to bridge the gaps.

Once you\’re happy with the bridges you are ready to cut, take out your knife, set the stencil on a semi-soft surface such as a binder or a chink of wood.

Here\’s what I got:

Not perfect but good enough.

It\’s a good Idea to test it out before you put it on a shart, we\’ll go over peainting in detail in part 2.