Last week I said I would talk about stenciling, so this week’s project is all about it. Stenciling aside, who hasn’t gotten frustrated over bleach stains on great t-shirts?  You can use bleach with your stencils to ‘dye’ your Goodwill shirts and from now on use those marks to your advantage.

First you’ll need an image to transform into a stencil.

Consider looking at artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, whose work is graphic and stencil-like, to find inspiration.

Or Bansky a famous, English graffiti artist.

At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) last week, this African mask grabbed my attention. It’s so expressive!  If you are using a color photo, like this one, you will need to convert it to black and white (not grayscale, just black and white) using photo editing software.  You will want to up the contrast and adjust the lighting once you are in black and white mode until you get an image you are happy with.  (You can also print your image and make adjustments with a Sharpie that way.)

Once you’ve got your image the way you want it, you will print it onto a piece of freezer paper, use an iron to attach the paper to your shirt, and then spray it with bleach (or ink). Contact paper will also work, but wax and parchment paper will not.

Step 1: Cut out an 8.5x11 inch sheet from the roll of freezer paper, and make sure to print on the non-glossy side.

Step 2: Use an X-Acto knife to cut out the parts you want to be dyed/bleached on your shirt. (Make sure to buy cotton or 50/50 cotton polyester shirts at Goodwill for this project, because the bleach will eat away synthetic fabrics.)

Step 3: Iron the freezer paper to your shirt (shiny side down.)

Step 4:  Dilute the bleach to about 1:1 bleach to water, or less if you want less of the bleaching effect. Spray your shirt with the bleach water and let it set for about 5-8 minutes, or until you like the effect.  Don’t wear anything you like while doing this; you are likely to bleach it, too. Also make sure to work in a well-ventilated area, because bleach fumes can be hazardous.  Don’t let the bleach set too long or it will eat away your fabric and make holes.

Step 5: Remove the freezer paper and wash the shirt with water and detergent to remove all of the bleach. Let dry.

The stencil I used became more frightening than I had intended.  It looks remarkably like a cosmic Chewbacca.  The spray has a tendency to get under the stencil and blur some of its lines. I just happen to like this variability.  If you would rather have more control, you can use gel bleach and paint it over your stencil with a brush or use fabric paint instead of bleach.  Because the freezer paper adheres so well to the fabric, you can get pretty good accuracy if you use fabric paint and a brush.

While we’re on the star wars theme, here are some more meticulous examples that other bloggers have tried.

With that hot summer around the corner you’ll want cool shirts for the beach, gym, garden, or going out.  Give it a shot and see what you think.

-Many thanks to Carter Eggleston for his help and for inspiring this project.