Thursday, June 12, 2008

What is freezer paper anyway?

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In case you were wondering, we used freezer paper to create stencils for painting our t-shirts. Freezer paper is a wide, white paper sold in the U.S that has a thin plasticy coating on one side. It is wide enough to cover the front of a medium sized adult t-shirt easily. Larger areas need to be pieced. I don't know if you can get it in the U.K., but I have seen others say they couldn't get it in AU. (If you know one way or the other, please leave me a comment and let me know.) If you can't get freezer paper, I think contact paper will work just as well, maybe better. Just more expensive. Though contact paper may allow you to use your stencil more than once. Hum...

How to:

1) Wash your shirt and dry it without any fabric softener or dryer sheet.

2) Draw or print your stencil on the paper side of the freezer paper. Yup, I use my ink jet printer. Just make sure you print on the paper side. I found the Tardis stencil online, several months ago. I've uploaded the file to my flicker account. You can download it here.



Don't remember where, but it was attached to a tutorial on how to make a Tardis t-shirt. If you know, please leave me a comment and I will post a link.

3) Cut out your stencil. I use my handy xacto knife. Scissors are not really good for this.

4) Lay the paper pieces on your fabric, plasticy side down, and iron them into place. Use the hottest setting your fabric will allow. Check and make sure your paper is stuck to the fabric, especially little pieces.

5) You are now ready to paint. A sponge type brush works best because you want to dab on the paint, not brush it on, or it will seep under the stencil. And less is more here.

6) Remove the stencil, VERY CAREFULLY! Removing the stencil is best done when the paint is wet, so the paint doesn't pull off with the stencil. Just be very careful not to smear the paint. If the paint does dry,which it almost always does for me, just go slowly and try to hold the paint edge in place as you pull. I've found pulling parallel to an paint edge is best. Also, I tend to cut away sections of the stencil as I go to make removal easier, and for me, more successful. I have heard of people removing the stencils whole and using them again. I'm just not that good.

And when you are done, you should have something like this



I learned everything I know about freezer paper from Jennifer at sewhooked.org. Thanks Jenn!


Have fun!

12 comments:

Scarlett said...

Jeez, PJ - You are just everywhere....lol. You popped up on my Crafty Tardis feed.

I totally dig those shirts.

Now that I have a job where I need real clothes, I have discovered the lack of stuff.

I am waiting for Michael's to have a tshirt sale and I am on to go.

Glad to know my buddy, can help me out.

pj said...

Hey Scarlett!

Thanks for the dig. I haven't tie dyed since I was 10, many, many decades ago. It is soooo much easier now, and the results are much better too.

And now that K can do most of the work, painting shirts is easy.

Real clothes, cool! I don't have those. K has real clothes. Hubby has real clothes. I have mom clothes. It's not pretty.

Have you tiptoed through the stencils in the crafts section of the Leaky Lounge? Some very cool patterns there for the painting.

Emma said...

Dropping in from crafy-tardis on Lj. :)

I'm pretty sure that TARDIS stencil originally came from the BBC Blue Peter website. And it was actually intended as a freeware T-shirt stencil, hence the way it's been specially designed to stay in one piece when you cut out the dark bits.

It's been retired from the crafts page, so I can't prove that's where it came from. They do have some more current Who crafts including how to build your own TARDIS out of a milk carton, just in case you suddenly find yourself six inches tall and want to go on holiday in time and space.

pj said...

Thank you! I think that is exactly where I found the stencil.

Oh, a tiny tardis! Might just have to make that. *scurries over to fridge looking for milk carton*

pren said...

ok i am confused. i bought the shrit and washed it. i out the freezer paper and paint but now i cant figure out how to download the pic from your flicker account. thanks! oh ps did you make the adipose stencil yourself?

pren said...

ok i figured it out heres mine :0D
http://tinyurl.com/5skyxkfhpfpd

pj said...

Your TARDIS shirt is fantastic! Love the color! And I love the green shirt you made, looks great. I'll be over to ask about the pattern. :)

K drew the adipose design on Freezer paper, I cut out the stencil, K painted and we both very carefully tore the paper to shreds removing it. Pity, it was a great design. I might be able to take a picture and post it for a stencil pattern. I'll see what I can do.

Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner. We went to the Smokey Mountains for a week of family fun. Had a wonderful, low tech time. It was bliss.

And now we wash.

And tomorrow we pick up our mail! *squee*

pren said...

she drew that! wow its great. i hope you can make a stencil of it i have a great idea for another shirt with that design. so if yu get any time id love it! im glad your vacation went well!

pj said...

The adipose stencil is up!

http://tinyurl.com/65ydto

It's a bit digital, but if you cut smoothly around the edges, it should work fine. Each adipose should have 3 toes, you might have to draw those in.

Sorry 'bout the wait :)

Dixon said...

I've been looking everywhere for the BBC "how-to" Tardis stencil and you have it!

Thanks so much for sharing, now I can get the last of my Christmas crafting done!

Anonymous said...

This is great! The tutorial was really helpful & I've made several shirts with it! Here are 2 of them :)
http://bit.ly/ea2nxI

Thanks & keep up the fun work!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Totally using this stencil for a pumpkin for Halloween!