Stencil Bleaching T-Shirts
This happened to me recently. I spent months collecting t-shirts from various outlets (on sale) with a plan to bleach them. I had my designs planned, drawn out and cut into stencils. I'd done a test run on an old shirt, I liked the results. Everything had been planned out and was ready. I even has a back-up plan - If the bleach ran or the pictures didn't come out as sharp as I wanted I'd paint over with fabric paint.
In the end all I needed was the bleach. I think it took just as long for me to buy one bottle of bleach as it did to collect all those t-shits.
Finally I did buy bleach and I DID stencil those t-shirts and , I'll tell you, its not as frightening as you'd expect.
What You Need
- Bleach
- Thick cardboard
- Craft knife/blade
- Spray bottle
- Spray tack glue (optional)
Method
Step One
You can draw a picture freehand or, if you're not really into drawing, you can trace a picture or print something off the internet. (As long as you're not making t-shirts to commercially sell that's cool)
I pilfered all pictures I used from Google Images. Let's use Hogwarts as an example for this tutorial.
Trace and cut your chosen design out onto thick cardboard.
Trying out different dilutions of bleach to water etc.
I tried using clear book covering, masking tape, and thick cardboard as stencils.
The clear book covering was terrible, the bleach soaking through.
As long as the masking tape didn't get too wet/soaked it worked fairly well.
By far the best player was the thick cardboard. Stopping the bleach from soaking through, leaving behind clear crisp lines. I used an old t-shirt for this test.
Step Two
Step Three
*TIP* I sprayed the back of stencil of the stencil with a little spray tack glue to help keep the stencil in place. This part is entirely optional.
Step Four
You can use bleach at full strength, no need to dilute. Obviously the stronger the bleach solution the stronger the effect, if you want a lighter touch dilute bleach with water.
Step Five
And that's it. Done! the bleach shouldn't bleed or run in the wash.
Extra Notes
It goes without saying that black bleaches better than any other colour but you don't need to limit yourself to only black. Any dark colour will bleach.
Below is a dark blue t-shirt I bleached ...
Light colours don't bleach at all well.
Below I tried bleaching a pale grey t-shirt, nothing much happened so I switched the bleach out for fabric paint
Wash after bleaching, before painting.
The t-shirt below was very thin and developed multiple holes after washing. I covered these with small stars.