This past weekend, I designed t-shirts for my niece and nephew – inspired by a technique I learned from the StencilGirl herself, Mary Beth Shaw. I saw her demonstrate this process both in person and in her DVD – adding gel bleach to stencils on scrap fabric and batik. This got my wheels spinning, and I envisioned doing this on shirts!
First, I washed both shirts as directed, and then dried them without a dryer sheet. This removes the sizing from the shirts.
I spread the t-shirts out on a table and put one StencilGirl envelope inside each shirt to keep the bleach from bleeding through to the back of the shirt (you can use cardboard cut to size, too).
I placed a stencil on each t-shirt and taped around each stencil with blue tape to keep the stencils in place and to keep my bleach from extending past the outside of the stencil, too.
(which is what I’m accustomed to stenciling with). I also like that the gel bleach reacts more slowly that liquid bleach.
I didn’t feel rushed at all during this entire process.
When the shirts were bleached to my liking, I carefully removed the cardboard envelopes from the shirts and washed the shirts in the washing machine and dried them in the dryer.
· Try washing and drying your shirt again (without a dryer sheet) to remove any remaining fabric sizing.
· Make sure to shake your Clorox Gel Bleach Pen before using.
· Be sure you’ve purchased your Clorox Gel Bleach Pen within the last 6 months.
Bleach does have a shelf life I learned.
· And if you do get a few random dots of bleach on your shirt where you didn’t plan, don’t stress…
it will still look cool!
I felt like I was breaking the rules…taking away color instead of adding it…and that made it all the more fun!
Thanks, Mary Beth, for the inspiration!
Have a good week!
Mary^