White Airbrush Paint on T-Shirts

[Maryl Lehman]

Hi All!
I painted around 30 T-shirts at our school's "Fun Night" last Friday nite. I just painted their names in white, on the backs of navy tees. (For more about this on a previous thread, see "White Airbrush Paint on T-Shirts", 3-14-04). I airbrushed them all in cursive lettering. I couldn't paint them fast enough though---I averaged about 12 min. a tee (or 5 per hour), but that included getting them lined up straight and all. They had several kids helping me---taking the orders, money, and also putting the cardboard inside the tees. But it seemed they just couldn't get them straight and I would have to redo them. Oh, well---what do you expect with free help?! (It was free on my part, too, as this was a fund raiser for the school!) But I did come up with a simple eagle design (I made stencils) with a name of your choice across it (last name, "Eagles", or whatever). I got eight orders for the eagle tees and need to paint them yet this week---and this is my profit. I also sold one I had on display, that I hadn't planned on selling! I will try to get some pics posted later today, so you can see them.

~Maryl

[dogdad]

I would be interested in seeing how you did the shirts.Last year at the year end barbecue for the school bus company I drive for,I did temporary tatoos with the airbrush and couldn't keep up.This would be something different to try.
Nick

[Maryl Lehman]

Hi Nick! Yeah, I've done that too---for the school's Fun Nite in the past, and also for Vacation Bible School. I made all the stencils---usually around 20 to 30 designs to choose from. I couldn't keep up----there was always a long line of kids waiting to get painted---usually on their face but sometimes on their arms or legs. I would be totally exhausted by the end of the nite!

~Maryl

[Penny220]

I'm glad this worked out so well for you. It's rewarding putting your talent to good use via volunteer work sometimes. I just signed up for a "wet paint" fund raiser. The artists paint in the park all day and at night the paintings are auctioned off for charity (wet/unframed)

[AlpineAirbrush]

30 shirts, that sounds like about 6 hours! Whew!! But there'll be kids that keep those shirts and remember that night for the rest of their lives. I think that's pretty neat.

[Maryl Lehman]

Here's the pics of some of the T-shirts I painted. I used my Paasche VL #5 airbrush, with Titanium White Golden Fluid Acrylics---straight from the bottle, with almost 80 psi for the lettering. For the eagle, I added a little Golden Airbrush Medium (to thin the paint a little). And, believe it or not, for the eagle and lettering on the black tee, I tried my urethanes! I thickened the paints and put the pressure on about 60 psi, and to tell you the truth---I couldn't tell much difference after I threw them both (the eagle shirts) in the washer and dryer after I painted them! My boys thought the urethanes faded a little, but I think I just didn't spray the white eagle head on as heavy as on the navy shirt. I sure hope the urethanes hold up, 'cause that's the one the lady bought!

I ran out of time when I was painting the tees at the school, so I had to bring a half a doz. or so home with me to paint, plus the eight orders for the eagle shirts. I know I painted for a good 4 1/2 hrs. at the school though. Long enough to be exhausted when I got home! Normally, I can paint for many hours straight, but when I have an audience and am tense, it just wears me out after a few hours of painting! (I must be getting old or something! )

Penny, that "wet paint" fund raiser sounds pretty neat! Let us know how it goes!

~Maryl

[Penny220]

Originally Posted by Maryl Lehman

And, believe it or not, for the eagle and lettering on the black tee, I tried my urethanes! I thickened the paints and put the pressure on about 60 psi, and to tell you the truth---I couldn't tell much difference after I threw them both (the eagle shirts) in the washer and dryer after I painted them! My boys thought the urethanes faded a little, but I think I just didn't spray the white eagle head on as heavy as on the navy shirt. I sure hope the urethanes hold up, 'cause that's the one the lady bought!

It may hold up better on a t-shirt than it did for me on denim but what happens is the paint is so hard it cracks and chips off.

I like your eagle design and I am most impressesed with your freehand lettering. It's not as easy as it looks.

[dogdad]

Very nice!I agree with penny about the lettering.Doing the lettering is the hardest part for me.You did a great job!
Nick

[Maryl Lehman]

Thanks Penny and Nick! I think the reason the urethane tee may hold up is that the paint is not on there so heavy that it will crack----at least I sure hope it doesn't do that!!! There was no base coat to make the paint so thick.

Lettering has never been my favorite thing to do! I was just glad I got thru this. Still have some to paint yet, but at my own leisure and not with people watching me!

~Maryl

[HF AIRBRUSH]

those letters are great!!!..
how do you get them that sharp?...looks really great..

henk

[Caterwallin']

Great lettering Maryl! I'm so jealous! LOL!!!
I can't letter at all!

Sam

[Milo]

Great job and I agree on the lettering, perhaps I should learn calligraphy

[Maryl Lehman]

Thanks Sam, Milo, and Henk! It's really not calligraphy---just cursive lettering. I debated on doing all capitals, italics (which is what I did learn in calligraphy class, many years ago!), or cursive---I decided on cursive because I didn't have to start and stop with each letter; I could just keep going, which I think is faster! The reason it is so white is because I used the Golden Fluid Acrylics straight from the bottle. I did have to go over the lettering several times to get it that white.

I was on another airbrush forum last nite and found out some interesting stuff about painting tees. One thing was, that to keep the "fuzzies" down, you should paint on 50/50 shirts, instead of 100% cotton. And also, you should first spray the tee with a top binder, heat press for 25-30 secs., top binder, then heat set again. This works as a "glue" on the tee, and thus keeps the fuzzies down. I had a real problem with this on the eagles, as you probably can notice, now that you know! So I ordered some of this top binder this morning (T-100 Top Binder, from Aqua Flow) ----we'll see if it helps!

~Maryl

[Penny220]

cloths shavers work too. You can get them at places like walmart, they are sold in the isle that sells the ironing stuff.

[ProfessorGreibowitz]

Maryl,

Those look great! I would be terrible at lettering. My handwriting has always been terrible. Maybe airbrushing them would be different.


But as henk asked, how'd you get the edges of the letters so crisp? ALmost looks like you used a soft mask like mylar taped in place.




Tim