Nerdy Craft Time! T-shirt edition!

** I originally wanted to put this up last week, but I wanted to wash the shirt several times in order to see how it held up to wash and wear. I stretched it out intentionally, swam it in scalding hot water for hours, ran through the sprinkler, sat in the sun, and rubbed the design over itself until my hands hurt. I've really put this one through everything I could think of to ruin the design. The results? It held up perfectly. No change in the colors or design at all.**



Wooo for homemade fan shirts!

Just a beginning disclaimer: Always spray paint outside, on a non windy day, away from the walls of your home. Multi purpose spray paint needs to be used in a super well ventilated area, wear a mask especially if you have any breathing or lung issues.
If you can, use fabric spray paint. However, I used regular multipurpose spray paint, which also works. But it's always best to use products specifically made for clothing. If you use fabric spray paint you won't have to go through my elaborate rinsing process which was designed to keep multi purpose spray paint out of my washing machine. Just follow the washing directions on the can of fabric spray paint, if you end up using that, and disregard step 7-10.

Because I'm constantly doing nerdy crafts, and I love sharing them in the hopes that someone else will be inspired to do nerdy crafts too, I have decided we'll have a twice a month "Nerdy Craft Time"!  This will be the T-shirt edition.

I keep seeing this everywhere, tape a paper stencil down, spray it with a generous amount of bleach, let sit, and viola! Awesome custom t-shirt design.

So this was what I thought would happen... I would print off the Dreadfort's flag  (Game of Thrones House Bolton's flayed man, for those that don't know you can check it out HERE) Genius! Then I would take that paper, blow it up larger with the copier and cut it out on the cover of a magazine. Fantastic! Spray it with bleach and done!  Good plan right?  WRONG. 

My printer is out of ink so I can't make a copy. I spent 15 minutes looking through every storage area in my basement trying to find the box of ink dealies that I bought and I guess never used. Do you think I found it? No. No is the answer. Of course I couldn't find it. I wasn't about to drive 45 minutes one way to go get ink, so instead, I had to trace the flayed man onto a piece of saran wrap (you know, because I can't draw...), it felt like a good idea at the time. But now I am currently looking as a screen that has 7 small dots of permanent marker on it. Apparently saran wrap keeps everything out except marker. I traced that onto some paper and made it a little larger. In the end, I figured it out, positioned it, and sprayed it with bleach. I waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing happened. So I waited until it dried. Nothing happened. I sprayed it again and nothing happened. I thought maybe it had to get wet, so I sprayed it with the hose. Nothing.  Horrible plan.

Frustrated, I decided to do what I do best, I used spray paint. I've gotten spray paint on my clothes before and after you wash it, the smell is gone and it moves with the shirt. Depending on the thickness of the paint, you'll have a slight texture, but nothing horrible.


Obviously I used a different guy for my shirt. This was my first choice but, as you can see, he didn't look right. I opted for the flayed man on the Dreadfort's flag instead. But you can see the saran wrap underneath which allowed me to copy it right from my computer screen. You know... because I refused to go get ink for my printer..  I have no idea where this little man came from.  

I got my flayed man to the size I wanted, set him on a magazine cover, and cut him out. Why a magazine cover you may ask? Well, magazine covers are often glossy which wouldn't absorb paint and are thicker then regular paper, yet still flexible, and it's easier to cut out then cardboard.  I also subscribe to quite a few magazines and they were readily available.

The X was made out of cardboard, if I could do it over again, I would have made it all from a magazine cover, much easier then cutting out cardboard for sure. It's also uneven, I'm aware of this and don't really care that much.  

I get my poor little guy positioned on my shirt and I used a little bit of double stick tape to stick it all down with. Then I put my shirt over a box, as if the box was wearing my shirt, to make sure the paint wouldn't soak through to the other side.
Now, using spray paint and spraying straight down over it, don't go at an angle you'll get up under your stencil, spray with a side to side movement concentrating most of the color over your stencil. It will naturally fade as it gets away from the area you are spraying. However, if you'd like to do an intentional fade or would like a larger area out from where you are spraying, you can hold your can farther away from the shirt and spray in super short bursts until you get the color you desire.

The end result, if you want a larger fade area put your shirt on a larger box. Anything that goes over the edges won't be painted. You can see where I taped my stencil down, I went over it with an angled brush and more paint, lightly over the brighter spots on the X to blend them in and clean up the edges, I also put in some muscle lines so my flayed man looked a little more flayed.

I decided to paint words on mine (House Bolton and their family motto), making it a little messy, jagged, and pointed on the ends as if it were carved into flesh. I used a small angled brush and sprayed the spray paint close to a paper plate to get some liquid paint out of the can. Do not do this inside or next to your house where it could splatter onto the walls. It will probably get on your hands. Quick tip about using a brush with spray paint. Don't use a brush you can't afford to lose and as soon as you are done, wash it with dish soap in warm water. If you do that immediately, you can almost always salvage your brush, if you let it dry it's done for. Notice I said ALMOST always. Most importantly, don't use a brush you can't afford to lose.

I need to clean up and even out the words a bit, but this was my first go at it. I let it dry overnight before attempting any more painting. Mostly because I was tired of sitting in the sun and it was 500 degrees here the day I attempted this. Also, it is straight on the shirt, but the way it's sitting on the box makes it look lopsided and I can't retake these photos considering the shirt is done now. Just throwing it out there.

Let the shirt dry, overnight, in your garage. Or if you have to bring it inside, let it dry outside for atleast 6 hours and then leave it in a large open area in your house overnight, such as a dining room or living room. It shouldn't smell really strongly at this point, but if you put it in a room and shut the door the spray paint smell will accumulate pretty quickly.

After it's dried for atleast 24 hours, throw it in a bucket with scalding hot water. You can use your faucet water for this, no need to boil. Unless your water only gets luke warm, then you'll need to boil some water.

Swirl this around a bit to make sure everything is soaked, and let it sit for several hours, until your water gets cold. Pour out the water.

Rinse it with hot water several times, squeezing it out several times. If you aren't getting any paint after the first rinse, just rinse it a couple more times, squeeze it out really well, and lay it in your tub. Otherwise keep rinsing and squeezing until your water is clear or almost clear.

Pour a little liquid laundry detergent over your design. It doesn't have to be enough to cover the entire thing, just get it in that area, maybe a tablespoon's worth. Wet your hands and spread the detergent over the entire design. Then fold the shirt in half, so your picture is folded over itself, and rub it gently to build up some lather. Squeeze it out, as if it's full of water, If you aren't getting any color from your paint then you can go ahead and rinse it in your bucket. If you are getting color, unfold it and rub gently with your finger tips until you stop getting color. (A very small amount of color is ok. VERY SMALL AMOUNT is ok. A large amount of color is not ok, keep washing.)

Once everything is said and done, rinse it twice with the faucet and squeeze it out. Quickly rinse out your tub just to make sure there isn't any residue. If you get a large amount of color coming out of your shirt while you are washing, make sure to rinse your tub often, I'm not sure if it would stick, but you don't want spray paint residue in your tub. Don't risk it. Just work quickly and don't let colored water sit in your tub. I hardly had any color wash out, but I used a relatively light pink, I'm not sure if you would get more from darker colors like black or navy. I didn't have a problem with this staining my tub but like I said, don't risk it, don't let the colored water sit in your tub. That is why you need a bucket for the initial soak.

At this point, if you've gotten all the soap out of your shirt, you can turn it inside out and throw it in your dryer and wear it.
If you'd like to go the extra mile, you can turn it inside out and throw it in your washing machine, and wash and dry it.

You should be done and enjoying your brand new nerdy t-shirt at this point!



Again, it's centered and even, it's just how the shirt is laying that makes it look lopsided. If I did it again, I would have made the paint fade in a larger area. Maybe extend it almost to the sleeves and slightly more downward. But it was a pretty good first attempt.   

 

So just a recap

You will need

• spray paint, multi purpose or fabric, in the color(s) of your choice
• stencil, home made (thick paper or cardboard) or store bought
• double stick tape
• plain shirt
• box or large piece of cardboard to fit inside your shirt

Optional

• angled brush
• large bucket (if using multi purpose spray paint)
• liquid laundry detergent (if using multi purpose spray paint)

1. Get a t-shirt
2. Cut out your design on a magazine cover or cardboard
3. Position and tape your design over the shirt and put shirt over a box as it it's wearing it
4. Spray your design and let sit until dry, an hour or 2, before you remove your stencil
5. Let dry several hours, paint on lettering if you choose or if you use a stencil use it in step 4
6. Let the entire shirt dry for 24 hours, at the very least.
7. Let it soak in a bucket of super hot water for several hours until cold
8. Rinse a couple of times, squeezing out several times
9. Hand wash, concentrating on the design, rinse in hot water until water runs clear.
10. Let it dry, or turn inside out and pop it in the dryer. Or turn it inside out and throw it in the washer and dryer.
11. Enjoy nerdy shirt!

Your new shirt can go in the washing machine, cold wash, but turn it inside out before washing. The design can go in the dryer but dry how your shirt says on it's tag, lay flat, line dry, dryer, dragon, whatever. You don't want to go shrinking your awesome new nerd shirt.

My lovely model and her trusty sidekick being a creeper behind her

The fun part about spray painting a shirt is that you can use any stencil you'd like, you can overlap stencils, or layer the stencils with different colors. (just let the paint dry at least an hour in between coats)
 

I would assume your design will naturally fade slightly over time, depending on how much you wash it. Although I have spray paint spots on shirts that have been there for over a year and haven't faded at all so I'm not entirely sure about fading. This larger, intentionally sprayed area is new to me. Only time will tell.

 

I know with the instructions, it sounds like a lot, it's really not that much work, but it is time consuming. I think if everything had gone right and I had set out to spray paint it in the first place, it would have taken maybe a couple hours not including waiting between drying time. That also depends on how complicated your design is, positioning is much harder then I thought it would be and took quite a bit of time for me.

I hope this inspires you to make your very own nerdy shirt! I'd love to see what you come up with! Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect, it only matters that you love it in the end. That's what Nerdy Craft Time is all about, making something fun with a subject that you're passionate about, something that you love. Just have fun. It doesn't matter if everyone "gets it",  as long as you get it and like it. Go on. Nerd it up!

As always,
Enjoy!