How To Make A Cool But Temporary T-Shirt Design

May 5, 2011

The other day I came up with a good way to make a temporary custom t-shirt design. Here are the steps you can use to make one too:

1. First you will need the following items: an idea, masking tape, razor blade, sharpie pen, ballpoint pen, smooth board or cutting surface, t-shirt and  cup of coffee.

2. Have a drink of your coffee. Then lay your cutting surface out flat. Make sure it is clean. Lay down strips of masking tape. Slightly overlay each piece. Smooth them onto the surface so it becomes one flat surface of tape.

3. With your Sharpie, or other permanent marker, begin to draw your design. I drew a bald man for my design. You can draw anything you like: bears, dragons, a swirly design, naked women or a talking pumpkin. You choose.

4. When you are complete with the drawing, take your razor blade carefully in your hand. Start to cut around the border of the illustration, leaving about a 1/4 inch blank area around the circumference. Press hard enough to cleanly cut through the tape.

5. When you have cut around the image, start to peel away the tape strips. Be careful not to pull apart the image. If the image is attached cut a little more.

6. Continue to pull away the strips until your image is free. Then slowly and carefully separate it from the cutting surface.

7.  Sit the image aside. Lightly lay it down so it will not stick to any other surfaces.

8. Take your t-shirt and find the center. You can do this by trying it on and marking the center line with a piece of tape where the image would look correct. Take the shirt off and wrap it tightly around your cutting surface. If anyone is around you let them know you will be taking your shirt off. They could be offended by your partial nudity.

9. After the shirt is wrapped tightly, you should locate the center line. Remove your tape you marked the image with. Then you can carefully lay down your masking tape design on the shirt. Gently but firmly press it down so that the whole image has adhered to the shirt. Slide the shirt off of the cutting surface board. Take a look. Is it even? If not you will have to carefully remove it and try to locate the center again.

10. Try your shirt on. Be cool (I am still working on this part). Enjoy. Finish your coffee.

-kyle