Sunday, May 07, 2006

New Fun Thing...



Freezer Paper Stencils!

Like everyone else in the universe, I was smitten by Angry Chicken's cool little elf shirt. I followed her links for the instructions at Craftster - and thought that I might try my hand at it someday.
Then Michael's put t-shirts on sale this week for $2.50 each, and I figured that this was a sign that I needed to try it now!

But first...what to do???

Schecky has been taking a class on Saturdays called "How to Draw Your Own Comics".* And he's been cranking out lots of product, a great deal of which I am just smitten by! Admittedly, I am biased...

So I selected one of the more simple drawings - this little cranky jellyfish guy- just in case this project proved to be more difficult than advertised....

Pleasantly enough, it was all pretty straightforward...
I reproduced his drawing by just redrawing it on the freezer paper's rough side (so it's not an exact copy of his) and then I cut it out with an X-acto knife. However, if I were to do it over again, I would use a copier and copy his exactly. I was just too lazy and too eager to start to take the time to take this and copy it. Also, you can supposedly use freezer paper in your printer.

Then I ironed the freezer paper to the shirt, and then applied the fabric paint. Voila!

The original image Freezer Paper Stencil - Materials


Things I did that were good:
The big thing is that, like Angry Chicken, I ironed a second piece of freezer paper on the inside of the shirt to help stabilize it all. Also, I did a careful thin coat of paint, then let it dry and did a second - I think that this really helped prevent "bleeding" of the ink.

Things I did that I would do differently next time:
After searching through the Craftster archives for additional information about this project, I decided to apply a layer of packing tape over the freezer paper before cutting it out. The idea behind this was to make a more sturdy stencil, and provide for more precise cutting. It did add sturdiness, but when I went to iron it on, I found that it made it more bulky and it wanted to buckle and wrinkle. Plus, I had to use a pressing cloth so the packing tape did not melt - and this made it more difficult to iron the freezer paper on. I would not bother with this step again.
Additionally, I think I would just use regular scissors to cut out most of the design - I would have had more control over curves etc. than I had with the X-acto.

In short - I don't think this is perfect, but I can live with it. Particularly given how quickly I whipped it out! Schecky, on the other hand, thinks it's wonderful and has already stated that he's wearing it to school tomorrow....

*No, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Bubba is so proud he could burst!

4 comments:

laura capello said...

I know this is definately something I want to try soon!

Anonymous said...

I love this! I love the shirt and the helpful tips you shared. Great artwork Schecky!

shizzknits said...

Cute jellyfish! FWIW, you can also just trace over the drawing with the freezer paper. That's what I did with my little guy's robot drawing- I just put the FP over the original drawing, taped them both up to a window (for backlighting) and traced. Worked great.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

3 to get ready said...

That looks great! So glad someone else is trying this. I have everything I need but the shirt b/c I'm looking for 100% cotton. Can't wait to try it!