Printing T-Shirts

[OkaCrisis]

Inspired by the RevLeft stencil database, I want to print some t-shirts. I was out buying the means of production yesterday, and noticed that fabric paint is pretty outrageously priced. Plus, it requires ironing, which means that I will also have to buy an iron.

I have a sweater that has had a yellow oil paint stain on it for almost 7 years! Through many hundreds of washes, the yellow paint persists. Is it a bad idea to just use oil paints to print shirts? They're cheaper, and I also just happen to have some lying around my house... :)

I've also heard that mixing fabring paints half with acrylic paint will work, and lessens the cost of paint.

Share your t-shirt printing wisdom!

[An archist]

hmm, oil paint eh?
that might actually be a good idea, graifit is also very useful, but I've never thought of oil paint.
Tell us how it works out will you?

[Knight of Cydonia]

Originally posted by [email protected] 14, 2007 03:16 am
I've also heard that mixing fabring paints half with acrylic paint will work, and lessens the cost of paint.


i think this idea might be work... better then using oil paint. ;)

[OkaCrisis]

Just finished stenciling my first shirt ever =D

I used the oil paints, and I'll keep you guys posted as to whether or not it fades after I wash it.

I found this site, which offers some helpful advice about Doing it Yourself:
http://www.stencilrevolution.com/tutorials/

I honestly found the whole process very easy, not very time-consuming, and pretty cheap. I spent $10 on a cutting mat, and $1.19 on an exacto knife. I happened to have transparencies lying around, and oil paints. If I have to buy more paint, that will cost more, but overall, a very cheap process, and I got very good results! I'm no pro-star artist or anything, so I encourage anyone with an interest to print their own shirts.

After all, you're never going to find a shirt that says "Fuck Law" in a store, no matter how cool your local anarchist proprietor may be. So, DIY :D

[Delta]

I'd be interested in seeing your designs if you'd like to put them up :)

[OkaCrisis]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13, 2007 05:59 pm
I'd be interested in seeing your designs if you'd like to put them up :)
Well they aren't my designs, they're all from the database :blush:


I did three, and this one definitely turned out the best:

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7467/thiswillworkar7.jpg

The oil pant took forever to dry- and I was afraid that it wouldn't at all, but after some time on the radiator, it seems to have set.

I'm pretty happy with it!

[Comrade Marcel]

Hey comrade, how's school?

Back in my [Young Left (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Left) days, we used to use the whole silk screening process. The silk screen set-up cost us about $350 or so, and I bought t-shirts at $2 a piece for white, and $4 or so for red.

We sold them from $10-15-20 a piece, depending on who/where we were selling them to.

The only thing I would worry about with the oil paint, is if it spreads to other fabrics in the wash and stains them. Try washing it with an old sheet or something and see what happens.

[An archist]

So actually, in your younger days, you were a capitalist?

[Comrade Marcel]

Originally posted by An [email protected] 15, 2007 10:00 am
So actually, in your younger days, you were a capitalist?
Buying and selling predates capitalism dumbo. Market economies existed even before nations did.

And since the funds all went to the Youth Organization, it hardly makes me a capitalist. I didn't get any of the surplus. :rolleyes:

[OkaCrisis]

Originally posted by Comrade [email protected] 15, 2007 12:05 am
Hey comrade, how's school?

Back in my [Young Left (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Left) days, we used to use the whole silk screening process. The silk screen set-up cost us about $350 or so, and I bought t-shirts at $2 a piece for white, and $4 or so for red.

We sold them from $10-15-20 a piece, depending on who/where we were selling them to.

The only thing I would worry about with the oil paint, is if it spreads to other fabrics in the wash and stains them. Try washing it with an old sheet or something and see what happens.
Hey Marcel! It's going... Obviously, with enough spare time left over to start a t-shirt printing hobby, ha. But it will pick up soon enough, and again, I'll disappear into the depths of the thousands of pages of text they claim I have to read and write in order to 'graduate'... It's the same bullshit as ever.

Anyway, I'm currently looking for a place to buy shirts cheap, and preferably sweat-shop free. But I have a feeing that the best I'm going to be able to do is search second-hand stores for acceptable 'blanks'.

About the wash, yeah I'm going to do it the first time "by hand in cold water" like they say you should. I bought fabric paints and spraypaint today, so I'm going to experiment and see what works/is cost effective.


So actually, in your younger days, you were a capitalist?
What? You never made and sold lemonade as a kid?

What's funny about this is that I want to make a shirt that says "PROLE.", but if I ever sell anything I've made, then I will have become, by definition, "bourgeois" =D

Anyway, unless we're employing and thus exploiting other people, I don't see anything wrong with producing anything and then selling it. It's just one more way to make ends meet in this world (and, more importantly, to get people to wear shirts with anarchist and communist propaganda on them!). I certainly don't intend to become 'rich', or even minimally sustain myself, by selling t-shirts to comrades. After all, I got involved to jazz up my own wardrobe.

[Comrade Marcel]

Even if you sold them for money, to be a capitalist you would have to have labourers who you exploit for surplus. An archist is so far from any theory it's not even funny.

I guess technically your tools for making t-shirts cold be considered a means of production, or means of surplus and you could become petty-bourgeois if it was your full-time occupation and sole means of income.

But I wouldn't say, for another example, someone that works and sells things on e-bay in their spare time is magically shifted from working class to PB. Ridiculous.

[An archist]

Oi, it was a joke.
Of course it's not capitalist to make stuff and sell it for profit, how else would you be able to survive?

[Comrade Marcel]

I didn't think you were joking because you didn't put a smiley or anything after. ;)

That's the problem with text communication, no tone of voice. :)

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

will acrilic paint do?

[OkaCrisis]

Originally posted by Y Chwildro Comiwnyddol [email protected] 16, 2007 10:59 am
will acrilic paint do?
We'll soon find out. ;)

[razboz]

Originally posted by OkaCrisis+January 17, 2007 05:43 am--> (OkaCrisis @ January 17, 2007 05:43 am)
Y Chwildro Comiwnyddol [email protected] 16, 2007 10:59 am
will acrilic paint do?
We'll soon find out. ;) [/b]
It cracks and eventualy comes off.same with spray paints. they dont last for ever. If your a hardcore artist oyu might have Gesso lying around. that works too though its expensive.

[Comeback Kid]

spraypaint is best for jackets and jumpers that arnt washed often. unless you are a dirty hippie/crust punk then it is perfect.

[lithium]

I used red acrylic paint on a pair of jeans. Worked grand, and still sticks after hot washes.

[Y Chwyldro Comiwnyddol Cymraeg]

I just made a T with a hand s on the front and "Revolutionary Marxist" on the back......its worked well (acrylic) il post a pic of it soon

[bcbm]

They make fabric ink... most paints suck, although I'd never thought of using oil. That just sounds crazy...

[OkaCrisis]

Update: Oil paints rock my socks off. There's no cracking, fading, or otherwise adverse affects. I went out and bought fabric paints after all though. I just finished stencilling a shirt using them, and I must say that I didn't get great coverage.

Oil paints: 3 shirts, all wicked.
Fabric paints: 1 shirt, less than ideal coverage.

I think there's a clear winner. Although the fabric paints do come in snazzy formats, like "metallic" and "sparkly". I got one metallic one (white) and used it with normal fabric paint to make metallic pink, and it looks pretty neat.

Anyway, my friend took pics of some shirts for me with her digital camera, I'll post them when she sends them to me.

[anarchista feminista]

I make patches and tops with fabric paint. I get my stencils from stencil punks but I've started making my own. For a small tub of paint, I'm not sure how much is in it, maybe 250 mL but it lasts forever if you use it sparingly. It hasn't come off anything yet. I posted some pics in the graphics forum, something about DIY clothes, can't be bothered finding the thread. They were my first patches. On crappy calico and horribly sewn on. I now have a sewing machine and because I'm planning to start my distro with anal filth we should be able to make some decent looking things. We're doing our own designs for underwear, singlets, stockings, patches and other things maybe in the future if it works out. She has a screen so maybe I can learn to screen print. I'm not looking to make much money out of it, just enough to cover the cost of paint. We found a place to pick up cheap junk in Sydney and we may possibly 'liberate' the clothing. I'm looking into buying non-sweat things in bulk though. Making your own clothes is the best fun, and you get better at it in time. It also saves alot of money on buying clothes. :) :D

[OkaCrisis]

Here's one of my latest (anarchy oi, you'll like this!):

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9417/bag010pt2.th.jpg (http://img143.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bag010pt2.jpg)