Momo t-shirt

Here's a project from last summer during my screen printing class.

It's Momo from Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is taken from one of their short episodes.


The project was to do a multicolored print.


As you can see in the close up I wasn't very good at it. After several tries I realized that the paint wasn't drying enough before I applied the next layers. I was already having trouble lining up my layers and now it wouldn't dry correctly. In the end, I made some t-shirts with only the black outline.


I'm not sure what to do with the colored ones, since I think they're too ugly to wear.

Late Night Infomercials

Recently during late night infomercials I've been catching this one product called the Yudu. It's a do-it-yourself-at-home screen printing machine. It has everything. I mean everything. The machine does everything you would ever need for a simple screen printing job. It reminds me of a PCS (printer/copier/scanner). I can see its appeal. Who hasn't wanted to screen print a few shirts? Heck, I've wanted to screen print for as long as I've been crafty and I've recently taken a screen printing class just to squelch the obsession. And it looks simple and easy to use. But I'm not sure I'm ready to fork over $300 just yet. I think I'm going to stick to my ghetto ways for a little longer. But I have to say those infomercials are good. I've come close to falling for their siren's call.

Screen Printing 101

One of my projects from my summer screen printing class.

My projects were simplistic but I was aiming for understanding rather than trying to print my own art work like the other students. It also helps that I don't have my own artwork and have no drawing talent, which I need to work on. I only say that it helped, because some students got so caught up in their art they didn't have time to finish their projects. So their art became a hindrance.

I've only taken pictures of one project so far. I'll have to dig out the other ones.

This is one of my later projects. Art was done by a friend who requested this shirt.


Shirt: Koalas are 8's because they're telepathic and can control the weather

What's the meaning behind the shirt. I don't have first hand knowledge, but it's supposedly based off of a movie called The Nines with Ryan Reynolds, who my friend is a huge fan of, hence why this shirt was made. If you want to know about the meaning click on the link, I don't know if I can properly explain it since I've never seen the movie.

Thailand T-shirts and Screen Printing

Last year in May I traveled to Thailand for a friend's wedding. One of the souvenirs I brought home were t-shirts made by local artists at Chatuchak Market Bangkok (aka Weekend Market). It was stuffy and a bit claustrophobic but really fun.


I was drawn to the artwork. I love the whimsical and off beat nature of the pieces that have a dash of steam punk surrealism mixed in. And I'm all for supporting local artist.








If you all haven't noticed I've been interested in screen printing for a while now. If the Tako Shirt and all those links at the side didn't give you that indication.

So after all these ghetto screen printing trails and tribulations, I decided to take a Textile Screen Printing Class over the summer. It was a short intense 4 week class, but I had a lot of fun. I'll have to pull them out of the garage and take pictures of them.

Tako Shirt

Even in the midst of all my draping I still have time for some fun projects. Here is a quick project that wasn't planned at all. I've been trying to convince Grip N Flip about the greatness of screen printing with freezer paper.

It was hard to find freezer paper in my area but finally the Wal-Mart (I know it's evil but I have my reasons for shopping there) closest to my house stocked it.

Up until recently Grip N Flip and I were screen printing with nylons & glue. Which is also a good method, but for a quick and dirty screen print method for a more impetuous crafting moments this is great.

I found this picture on deviantART by Vieje of a cute Tako (that's japanese for octopus). It had the clean lines and cute features I was looking for.



I had an old t-shirt that I wasn't using anymore. After screen printing the shirt we decided to cut it up to make it more Tako worthy.



Here's Grip N Flip wearing the Tako Shirt. And the black/white glove was something I made her randomly months ago. I think this was a great break from my draping projects. It's nice to not have to sit and think so hard on a project once in a while. Fun and random!!

Bill Skirt Finale . . Finally

So most of you might have already forgotten about the Bill Skirt. And so did I, until I found this picture of Grip N Flip in the Bill outfit in it's entirety.


There is the skirt you've seen several times already, I also made the long gloves. They came from an old shirt that my stepmom didn't want (recycle reduce reuse!!!). The short gloves came from Hot Topic. And the piece de resistance is the shirt she screen printed herself of Bill's Face. I have some links of the tutorials we used on the right.

Strangely enough since she made this shirt Bill's band Tokio Hotel has gotten air play on MTV. I was very surreal to see them there when months before most people, me included, had never even heard of this German Band.

Apparently the main vocalist Bill and lead guitarist Tom are twins. At first I thought fraternal twins . . but no IDENTICAL. But Bill is so pretty how can they be identical twins you ask?? After careful consideration and observation the answer to that question is: dreadlocks are disgusting and dirty.