Spray Paint T-Shirts

This was one of those things we did with our very last days of school when there were very few students left in class. Grades were already done and the kids were asking for something fun to do. Several students kept asking to do some t-shirt designs so we gave it a go. This was purely for experimentation and not for a grade but we got some fairly descent results. I'm not sure how I would tackle something like this with an entire class, but it is fun with a small group. 

I got the idea to try spray painting the t-shirts from this site. http://blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-custom-t-shirt-stencil-design

Materials:

• cardboard (to go inside the shirt to prevent paint bleeding through)
• Spray adhesive
• Newspaper or scrap paper to put at the edges of the stencils
• Stencil (handmade or store bought)
• X-acto knives for handmade stencils
• Some poster board to create stencils on
• Fabric spray paint or fabric spray dye ( I liked the dye better because the spray didn't last long) You can find a lot of fabric paint options at Hobby Lobby including fabric markers.

Process: 

1. You can start by making your own stencils. We used poster board and x-acto knives to create ours.
2. Take your 100 % cotton t-shirt and put a piece of cardboard inside to prevent paint from leaking.
3. Spray a lite layer of spray adhesive across the shirt.
4. Lay down stencil and make sure its attached securely. Put scrap paper at the edges to prevent over spray.
5. Carefully begin spraying the shirt. Start off the stencil, continue across, and finish off the stencil. We found that when you are using the spray dye that it's important to only spray just enough to cover the area because if you spray too much it will bleed through. 

You'll need to a place to set the wet stencils once they've been used. I took some large white paper and rolled it out at the front of the classroom to keep everything out of the way.