I love silhouettes, and after I received an awesome package of stencils from Crafters Workshop, I knew that I wanted to pair them with some Jacquard products I recently received to make this mixed media t-shirt.
Here's how to do it.
To make the dye bath, I used Dye-Na-Flow, which is really a liquid paint from Jacquard the is easy flowing and perfect for fabric painting. It leaves your fabric really soft.
I used Salmon and Sulphur green. First, one a large 8 container to mix 2 cups of sulphur green with 4 cups very hot water. Do this in a sink wearing latex gloves for less mess.
Use you get your dye bath mixed, immerse your white t-shirt into the water. You may want to buy a plain white t-shirt from a craft store or thrift store in a size larger since cotton tends to shrink a little in hot water.
Next, remove the t shirt and set it aside. Empty the container and wash it out thoroughly. Mix a bath of 3 cups of Salmon dye-na-flow to 3 cups very hot water.
Dip the top third of the wet t-shirt into the dye bath, leaving the bottom third out.
Remove the t-shirt after 2-3 minutes. Your color will be fairly intense at this point.
To remove excess paint, roll the t-shirt in an old towel, which will remove much of the excess paint and water and leave shades of color that are more like sherbert colors.
The final result should resemble something like this...
Let the shirt dry, iron to set paint, and you have a nice background canvas to complete your tshirt masterpiece.
To create a little interest in the background, I used a script font rubber stamp and staz on to randomly stamp front of t-shirt.
To stencil on the bird silhouettes, I used this awesome stencil from The Crafters Workshop and Neopaque paint from Jacquard.
Now, I am not the best stenciler, so I mixed some baking powder to the paint to make it a little thicker and less likely to run under the stencils. I mixed the paint to the baking soda in a 1:1 ratio. Cornstarch would work well for this as well.
So carefully, using a stencil brush, stencil on the birds one at a time. I have a few pointers for stenciling:
1. Use a brush especially made for stencils
2. Resist the temptation to overload the brush.
3. Use a pouncing motion in lieu of a sweeping motion. Keep pouncing until the desired color intensity is reached.
4. Wash and dry the stencil on both sides each time you move it to another location on the fabric. Use plenty of paper towels to make sure you remove and dry off all remnants of paint spots.
5. Ideally, let the stenciled areas dry before moving to the next area, but if you need to work faster, a heat tool will speed dry the paint as well as help set it on the fabric.
Keep going with the stencil and paint until you have a pleasing collection of stenciled birds on branches.
Let your shirt dry, while you create the rosettes. For these rosettes, I used black cotton fabric and fabric glue. If you are unfamiliar with creating these simple flower shapes from scratch, click here. You can use purchased rosettes as well, if you are not up to making your own.
I glued my rosettes temporarily to my t shirt using fabric glue and also glued acrylic gems in the centers using tacky glue such as E-6000.
Once you have all your rosettes on the t-shirt, use a needle and black sewing thread to sew them in place.
After your paint dries, heat set on low setting with an iron and you are ready to go. I would hand wash this masterpiece in warm water and a gentle soap. To dry, hang dry and iron as needed.
Live Life Creatively,
