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Incredibly Easy & Fast Screen Printing on Tote-bags

Custom mosaic elephant tote-bag How-To

Use coupon code SLOANE15 to save 15% off your EZScreenPrint order at www.ezscreenprint.com

 

Make your stencil according to EZScreenPrint's instructions. Screen printing supplies can be purchased at www.ezscreenprint.com
This tutorial will be using the larger elephant design made on a 8.5"x11" size stencil.

Here is what you need for this project:
1 - completed EZScreen stencil
2 - white tote-bag that has been ironed (no wrinkles)
3 - fabric markers, I used Darvy fabric markers
4 - black Speedball screen printing ink
5 - plastic knife or Popsicle stick
6 - squeegee
7 - thin piece of cardboard
8 - a plastic canvas

Start off by inserting the thin piece of cardboard inside the tote-bag. This will prevent any ink or fabric marker from seeping through to the other side

 

Place the stencil on top of the tote-bag and position it in the desired spot. Blue painters tape can be used to hold the stencil in place, or use a plastic frame sold on ezscreenprint.com
I am not using either in this tutorial, instead I just firmly held the stencil in place with my other hand

 

Start loading the ink onto the squeegee using the plastic knife or popsicle stick

 

From the top, move the squeegee down the stencil, passing over the image a few times to make sure the ink goes through the stencil. Only light pressure should be needed

 

Lift up each corner of the stencil to see if the ink has passed through. If there are any voids, lay the corner back down and go over that area again with ink.

 

Once you have made sure all the ink has passed through, lift the entire stencil off carefully. Place the stencil on a plastic canvas and rinse off with water.

 

Speedball ink has an air dry time of about 1 hour. To speed up drying time, use a blow dryer for several minutes. Make sure to iron the image once it has fully dried. Ironing will heat set the ink and prevent it from washing off in the washing machine.

 

Once the tote-bag has been ironed, start filling in with color using the Darvy fabric markers.

 

The tote-bag is finished!!!

 

I used the same elephant screen print stencil to make a beautiful wooden plaque. The speedball ink and fabric markers can work on wood!
Use coupon code SLOANE15 to save 15% off your EZScreenPrint order at www.ezscreenprint.com

 

View the How-To Video

Easy & Cheap DIY Screen Printing on a Tote-bag You Can Do AT HOME!

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Simple One Color T-Shirt Screen Printing

The big guys at EZScreenPrint let their lovely employees use their materials for personal projects and art. Which is great for the crafty and artistic people and really great for those people who get asked by their friends to make t-shirts *cough cough* like me. A friend of mine has a team in an upcoming dodge-ball tournament and of course I was his go-to gal to get some custom shirts made. I was asked to screen #TWERKTEAM in white on the front of blue t-shirts. Strange dodge-ball team name if you ask me, but I'm here to screen print and not offer team name alternatives :) Here are some photos of my process:

 

NOTE: There is a difference between regular Speedball white ink and Opqaue Speedball pearly white ink. I sort of took advantage of the fact that these t-shirts aren't black, so I decided to print with regular white ink. Right after printing, the white looked amazing on the blue t-shirts. However, after 30 minutes to an hour, after the ink started drying, the bright color started fading and it didn't pop as much as it did freshly printed. In the end it worked for my buddy, because it gave it almost an aged, old newspaper look. However, if you really want white ink to stand out on dark fabrics, even not so dark blues, I definitely recommend opaque inks.

Screen Printing on Paper for Custom Wall Art

I love the look of wall decor to cover up bare and boring white walls. I searched online for items to purchase but it was either too expensive, or not exactly what I wanted. Randomly I came across these beautiful birdcage and chandelier designs and thought, why not make my OWN wall decor? I typically use EZScreenPrint stencils for t-shirts, but I decided to I was going to expand my medium.

Step 1 - I purchased two pieces of water color paper (regular printer paper gets too wrinkly with screen printing ink) and made my stencils with the EZScreenPrint starter kit. You can view the How-To video here: How-To Make a Screen Printing Stencil

Step 2 - I picked out my two colors, Speedball black fabric ink and Speedball opaque gold fabric ink. I screen printed the black ink first, and allowed it to fully dry. View the How-To video here: How-To Screen Print a T-Shirt. You can also speed up the process by using a blow dryer. Once the first color was dry, I repositioned the stencil on the paper, bringing it down slightly, and screen printed the opaque gold ink.

   

Step 3 - Once both colors were dry, I embellished them with rhinestones. I purchased two 5"x7" frames and now have these beautiful pieces hanging on my wall. Not only were they easy to make, but much cheaper than anything I could find in stores or online, plus I have a sense of gratification for making them myself!

"Like" EZScreenPrint on Facebook for more photos, information, and discounts!

Joan’s Valentines Day Creations

 

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner! Create personalized and creative valentine’s day gifts and decorations with EZScreenPrint stencils! View Joan’s blog for her full craft project: http://expressyourcreativity.blogspot.com/

EZScreenPrint products can be found here: http://ezscreenprint.com

How-To Print a Two Color Application

Random fact about me: I’m in a Subaru owners car group based in the city San Luis Obispo, CA. Recently, a few of the members asked me to make t-shirts with our groups logo “SLObaru” for a Subaru event in southern California. I used a two color application process that’s actually much easier to do than it sounds, and whether you are in a car group yourself or just have a design with multiple colors, this process can work for you.


First, I started with my artwork (pictured above) and printed it off on my ink jet printer onto ink jet transparency. It is important that the design be as opaque as possible, as it will result in a high quality stencil. Using the EZScreenPrint basic starter kit materials, I exposed my silk screen stencil for one minute in direct sunlight using my artwork. After letting it soak and rinse out following the instructions found in the kit or video found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU8V_ePdXtk  I was ready to start screen printing my t-shirts.


When following a two color application process, the first step is to block off a portion of the stencil that will be the secondary color. I found using blue painters tape is the easiest solution for this step. For my design, I put painters tape over the portion of the stencil that reads “baru.” I found a Speedball screen printing ink that closely matched the STi “Cherry Blossom Red” which is called, Florescent Magenta. I placed the stencil over my white t-shirt, and using the squeegee provided in the screen print kit, I pressed the ink over the stencil. I lifted the stencil and brought it down over the next t-shirt, and repeated the process until all my t-shirts had the pink “SLO” screen printed on the front.


Once I allowed enough time for the ink to dry, I removed the tape from the “baru” and placed new tape over the letters “SLO” on my stencil. I repeated the same process as before except I used the black Speedball screen printing ink. After all my shirts had the secondary color, I allowed it to air dry then heat set each shirt with an iron.

Sloane wearing the SLObaru t-shirt made with EZScreenPrint silk screen stencils

My friends were thrilled to see the finished results and were extremely impressed with how professional the t-shirts looked without having to pay professional prices.

Easy Way to Screen Print a Custom T-Shirt - EZScreenPrint Step 2

Easy do-it-yourself screen printing on t-shirts using EZScreenPrint silk screen materials.

Easy Way to Screen Print at Home - EZScreenPrint Step 1

The first step to creating a screen printing stencil with EZScreenPrint basic silk screen starter kit.