Spicing up the look of a plain-colored T-shirt may seem like a task that only professional T-shirt printers can do. But did you know that you can use some simple materials at home to bring life to your t-shirt? Adding custom prints to your shirts need not cost you a lot, and with these simple T-shirt decorating ideas, you can make your very own designs, and only your creativity will be your only limit!
Paper Stencils
You can make use of paper stencils to transfer simple designs onto your shirt. Take a sheet of hard paper, but make sure it isn’t too thick. Board paper or some thick construction paper will do the trick. You can transfer your designs by using a sharp cutter for cutting shapes right onto your sheet of paper without having to cut from the side like you do when you use a pair of scissors.
This technique would usually work when you have simple designs that have solid outlines. Letters and shapes can be achieved through the use of paper stencils. If the design has some complicated interior parts which need covering (think of the letters A, B, and D as examples) taping the interior covering part onto the shirt can be done.
You can use paper stencils with air brushes or spray paints to have your desired print on the shirt. Simply place the stencil over the shirt and make sure to spray paint only on the areas covered by your stencil. Do not move the stencil around during this process, and spray evenly all over the cut out areas. Once you remove it, your design will look neat! If you don’t have airbrushes or spray paints, you can use a sponge with paint on one side. Simply dab it onto the shirt until your paint saturates the fabric.
The Differences between Using Airbrushes and Spray Paint
Spray paint is easily accessible and you can buy it in crafts shops or even in hardware stores. Spray paint bottles have nozzles which may or may not be adjusted. Because of this, you have less control over the amount of paint sprayed onto your shirt. Airbrushes, on the other hand, give you better control over the amount of paint as well as the size of the area covered by what you’ll be spraying. These are, however, a bit more expensive and would require a bit of practice before you get your designs right.
You can use both airbrush and spray paint along with paper stencils or other forms of stencils. They come with a softer look because of the feathered out effect that the spray lends them, and because of this, you can experiment with blending colors to achieve more depth. When you feel like coming up with finished products that look like detailed paintings, using spray paints and airbrushes will help you out. You can use acrylic paint or even thinned out fabric paint for airbrushing masterpieces onto your shirt.
Have you ever tried any of these t-shirt decorating ideas? Did you find them difficult to do? Sound off at the comments section below!