Making Class B T-Shirts for Webelo Scouts

How to Spray Paint a T-Shirt

I wanted to get some Class B uniform shirts (t-shirts) for my Webelos. "What is a Class B uniform?" you ask.  It's basically a t-shirt for your den or pack that you use when you are doing things that would be hard on a Class A uniform (your regular one). This site had a good explanation of how a Class B t-shirt is used.  I thought these would especially helpful for Webelos as we do a lot of hiking, running, swimming and sports.    There are some Class B t-shirts available from the scout shop, and there are a lot of independent places online where you can design and print shirts for your den, but my problem (as is often the case in scouting) is I had very little cash, and I didn't want the families to have to fork out even more money.  So after doing a lot of internet research I decided to give spray paint t-shirts a try.

Here is what you need:

A drawing of the stencil you want to make
Some sort of stiff, yet flexible plastic (I used a plastic folder)
Spray on adhesive (cost me around $6.00 at the walmart)
Spray paint.
Square of card board (to stick in the shirt)
Tape
Newspapers
t-shirts


Step 1: Decide on your design

This first step can be as simple or as complicated as you wish. It could be as simple as buying som stencil numbers at the craft store and laying them down on your shirt. Depending on what you want, you could  find an image on the internet and just print it and use it as-is.  It's up to you how complicated you want to make this process.  The simpler the image, the easier it will be.  The image I chose was somewhat complicated.

Draw your design

Our den mascot is the dragon so I started searching on the internet for dragon stencils. I tried to find one that was very simple and had only the negative and the positive. I found a lot of tattoo sites that had just what I was looking for, but ended up choosing a logo from some high school some where.  I didn't like some parts of the image, so I printed the logo and then put a piece of trace paper over it. I then traced the parts of the logo I wanted and then free handed the parts I wanted to change.  I wanted to add some sort of scouting symbol in there, so I free hand drew the "W" for webelos under my dragon.

Scan your design into the computer.

After I had all that drawn, I scanned my trace paper into my computer. And then in Microsoft Publisher (you could use any editing software) I added my pack numbers.  Be sure to use the "stencil" font when adding any  numbers or text, as you'll have to cut this out.   Then I saved the whole thing as an image file.  Now I can make the file large or small and print it out at will.



Step 2: Cut out your stencil

Tape your design over your plastic.

Print out your design the size you want it to be.  Then tape your design onto the plastic you are going to use for your stencil.   (The first time I did this I cut my stencil out of a cereal box. It worked great the first shirt, but on the second and third shirt the cardboard started to rip and stick.  Online someone recommended that you use one of those old overhead plastics to make stencils with, but I didn't have anything like that lying around.  What I did have is one of those supple plastic folders, so I decided to give that a try.)

Cut along the lines with your exacto knife

Use an x-acto knife to carefully cut out your stencil. I put my plastic on piece of corrugated paperboard (cardboard) and then on a cutting board. This made it easier for me to cut all the way through the plastic sheet because the cardboard beneath was soft and forgiving. Be careful!








Step 3: Prep your shirt

Slide a square of cardboard inside your shirt.

Slide a square piece of cardboard into your shirt. This both smooths out the shirt, but also protects the back of the shirt from the paint soaking through.

The spray paint I chose faded after a few washings. I'll try a different brand next time.

Step 4: Spray adhesive

I don't know that this is a critical step, depending on how crisp you want the lines to be on your stencil.  If you don't mind a little fuzziness, you could just tape your stencil down right on your shirt.  But since I was looking for sharp lines, I used spray adhesive to stick my stencil to my shirt.  Follow the directions on the can for a temporary bond.  The product I used instructed me to spray the stencil and then wait for 60 seconds before sticking it to the shirt.

Spray adhesive stuck to the shirt

Note: If you add too much adhesive or leave it on too long you can sometimes get spray adhesive gunk stuck onto your shirt.  If you do, do not despair. I've had great luck removing the gunk with Goo Gone and following the instructions in this video.  The trick it to add the solvent to the reverse side of the stain.



Step 5: Protect your work area

tape paper around the stencil for overspray

Cover the rest of your shirt with newspapers.  I've found that I have to tape them on around the edge of the stencil.  Unless you are looking for a more splatter type look (like you see at this website), then you might consider using the over spray as part of the design. 



Step 6: Spray paint your shirt

Spray you stencil flat so that the paint doesn't run.  Use short controlled bursts.  Wait 20 minutes between coats. I used four coats on my shirts.

spray flat. use several coats

After allowing another 20 minutes to dry, carefully peel off your stencil. Since I'm making 15 shirts, I want my stencil to last as long as it can.  Once you tear the stencil you'll have to make another one.

Finished shirt!

Step 7: Wash your shirt

After 5 washings the paint is fading. 

Wait 24 hours before washing your shirt. Wash inside out in cold with other dark colors, tumble dry low.   I've had no problem with paint running or sticking.

I have had a problem with fading.  After the first washing the shirt faded about 50%.  In the picture here you can see what the shirt looks like after 5 washings.  For me, the fading isn't that big of deal. These shirts only have to last a year and will not be worn all that often.  If fading is an issue for you, maybe a more expensive brand of spray paint might be in order.  I read one blog where they were using "Testors" brand spray paint and they reported very little fading.

 If you give this a try I'd love to hear about it, so leave a comment.

*Update*

I found this product "Stencil Spray" at our local craft store and thought I would give it a try.  It cost $6.00 and is a really small bottle.  After doing one shirt it feels a little more than half full. So I may get 3 shirts out of this bottle.  It had a spray paint like nozzle, but it sprayed more like thick snake venom then spray paint. It was a sticky tar like substance and at first I panicked because it kind of globed on and I worried that it would just soak through everywhere.  I ended up smearing the stuff around with my thumb, because it just didn't spray on.  The good new is it only took one coat, and after letting it dry I was able to peal away the stencil.  It dried with a plastic like quality.  And has a smooth, thick like texture.  You can see especially on the numbers how it dried kind of thick and dimensional on the shirt.  

Overall I think it looks pretty good. I haven't washed it yet, so I'm not sure how it will wear.  The biggest down side for me was price. At $6 a bottle, and it doing 3 shirts at the most, that is more than I can pay, as I'm trying to do the shirts for more like $3 each.  But if I were making just one shirt for a special reason, I would consider using this product.  

***A Year Later Update****
Edit:  A year latter the shirt I made with the Stencil Spray still looks like the day I made it.  I've used this spray stencil stuff now for several other project including painting over bare spots on black vinyl shoes and repairing rips in black vinyl furniture.

Also, I bought one of those Yudu t-shirt makers at a garage sale for 50$, and I printed another 15 shirts on it for this year.  Wow was that so much easier!   If your going to print a lot of shirts, this may be the way to go.