So here's my second item, a little tote bag! I don't know how to silk screen, so I did this my own way. I thought I would share my process in case other people want to achieve a similar goal without spending a fortune to have a printer do it. Here's how I made this:
1. Design your image on the computer and print it out the scale you intend the finished product to be. Lay this out on a cutting mat and tape a piece of clear acetate over the top. You'll be using your print as a guide to make a full sized stencil, so make sure your acetate is large enough to cover the print with a bit of extra room around the edges.
2. Carefully cut out the design using an exacto knife. This is the most time consuming part. Go slowly! Don't worry about things like counters for now, we'll get to those later.
3. Once the stencil is complete, use a repositionable spray adhesive on the back and let it dry for a few minutes until tacky (not wet). Then carefully place your stencil on your desired fabric. Make sure you smooth it down well so there are no gaps for paint to escape. At this point you may also want to place a piece of cardboard under your fabric if you are working with a shirt or a bag. This will keep the paint from bleeding over to the other side.
4. Mix up the paint color of your choice. Here I'm using acrylic paint blended with a fabric medium, but you can also buy regular fabric paints. Either will do fine. Take a sponge, pouncer, or stencil brush and lightly start to dab the paint onto the fabric. Again, go slow and do multiple layers. Too much paint at once can bleed into the fabric, which will make the end result messy.
5. See my close up photo below the stencil? When I removed mine, it was fuzzy around the edges. The texture of the canvas made the stencil not adhere very well, which lead to some sloppiness. Since the bag was white, I salvaged it by using white paint and touching up all of the edges. You won't usually have to do this!
6. Once this has completely dried you can go back and add the counters and small details. For this step I took another piece of acetate and cut out all of the counters, then stenciled them in white on top. The cat's face was very small, so I painted it on with the tip of my exacto knife. Not ideal, but hey, whatever works!
7. Let this dry overnight, 24 hours is even better. This is to ensure the paint is completely dry and free of tack. Now you can turn the piece inside out and iron it lightly on the back to set the paint. I like to keep a piece of parchment paper between the print and the ironing board, just in case.
And there you go! If anyone has any questions about this process, please feel free to ask. I'm always more than happy to help!
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