T-Shirt Galore

I may have said this before, but I've always felt that the t-shirts they make for men are usually far more fun than the ones they make for ladies. So, long ago (much like everything else) I got into just making my own. I've had a few designs on the horizon for awhile now, and rather than do one I decided to turn it into a full project. Now, I know that there are plenty of sites where you can load a design, and have the shirt made and sent to you. However, those are usually pretty pricey, so I prefer the DIY method when possible. 

Let me first start by saying, I have yet to find a full proof go-to method. I've tried a few over the years, and none of them are quite perfect in every instance. I started with iron-ons. This is my preferred method of making my own t-shirts because it's the easiest. Unfortunately it may or may not give the best results all the time. Sometimes they don't hold up over time, and are prone to cracking when put in the washer machine. I started with a gray v-neck from Target. I am a little bit of a t-shirt snob, and have become quite particular about the overall feel and quality of my tees. I like mine soft, and unfortunately some of the ones out here feel like you're wearing cardboard.  The first shirt I did was a an upgrade of a current one. I am from Cambridge, MA which has come to be known as "The People's Republic of Cambridge" (for obvious reasons if you have ever been there). I bought a shirt last summer, but one wash and it lost all of its soft, comfort factor. It was also a little plain. So, I spent some time designing one I really liked. I printed the image on a piece of transfer paper, and ironed per the instructions. 

I was a little shocked. The image itself had white lettering. I didn't realize that with this transfer paper that white would not print. Some do and some don't. This one did not. Not the end of the world, but good to know. 

The next shirt was for Radio Raheem. I got this idea, and did the sketch sometime last summer. Then unfortunately Bill Nunn, the actor who portrayed Radio Raheem passed shortly after I finished it. I thought it best to wait a little bit. I didn't want the idea to seem cliche. I started with a dark gray t-shirt. I was a little unsure considering that the transfer was not going to print the white. Originally I thought that it would, which is why I went with the color shirt that I did. A black outline on a dark gray shirt would probably blend, but I went ahead and did it anyway.

Well I was right. Once I ironed the images down, nothing stood out. I also made the transfers too small. I wanted the imagery of this shirt to be dominant, and the current situation just wasn't doing it for me. So, back to the drawing board. I tried it again. This time I went with a white tee, and made the transfers bigger. It turned out so much better. 

I'm kind of excited about this one, and am contemplating making it in different color combinations.

For the next few I'm going to do lettering. Now typically when I do lettering, I use pre-cut iron-on letters. They sell them in a pack of all different fonts, colors, and sizes. The problem is there are only but so many of each letter, and forbid that you need more than 3 Es or 1 K? You're just out of luck. I end up buying multiple packs, just for one or two letters. It's wasteful. So this time I decided to just buy iron on sheets and cut my own letters. 

Cutting my own letters was a lot more time consuming, but definitely more cost effective. I also wasn't limited to specific fonts. For this shirt I'm making a tank top. I started with a black tank, and bought neon vinyl sheets from Etsy. I was going for a fun summer time 90s vibe. 

I got this idea probably from listening to music in the car. DJ Ipod Shuffle sometimes plays old songs, that I have long forgot. Well MC Brains came on. Definitely a one hit wonder, but boy was that my jam in middle school. For the vinyl letters I ironed each word down one at a time. These were fairly easy to apply. Just lay down the letter, cover with Wax Paper (I used Parchment), and then peel off the top layer. The letters were a little transparent and thin. So the black shirt showed through a little.

I got me a total throwback tee for the summer. I'm going to exercise my inner "Suns out guns out" with this one. 

This next project is one I have already attempted. I made this sweatshirt some time last year during my Fall Collection. If you read that blog than you know that I tried something new. I bought canvas fabric, and used Heat-N-Bond sheets to adhere the letters. Well, after washing it some of the letters began to fray and peel up. Then while on a plane, I dropped a piece of chocolate on myself (because I eat like a Kindergartner) and it stained the front. I washed it, but a spot still remains and every time I see it, it reminds me of poo. 

I really liked this sweatshirt, but don't wear it as much as I would like because of the aftermath.  

I yanked on one of the letters, and it seemed to pull completely off. It made sense to just start over. I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased iron-on transfer sheets in white and red. 

I chose a font I liked out of Photoshop, and cut new letters

Before ironing the letters down, I put the sweatshirt on and marked my chest area with pins. Last time I made the letters a little too big, and they extended past where you could see them. I cut all of the letters out, and ironed each word down one at a time. 

You can still see a little bit of the glue residue from where the old letters were, but I'm hoping that that goes away in the wash. If it does not, it will just add extra character.

The last shirt I actually did online. Now I know I said I typically do not do this because it's quite expensive. I also do not like that I can't completely control all of the factors like feel, quality, size, and placement of the design. However, I designed a t-shirt years ago, and it was time for a refresh. It is a pain to iron-on though. The t-shirt is full body, and takes 4 full page transfers. A heat press would have been ideal in this situation, but I have not been able to justify that purchase. So, I made an exception and tried my hand at online. I chose Spreadshirt.com. They had all of the criteria I needed, and they printed on American Apparel t-shirts. I also found a coupon code, so that solidified my decision. I loaded my design, and then waited patiently to get my package in the mail. 

I was quite impressed with the result. I have printed on American Apparel shirts before so I knew the feel and sizing would work. The design was a little small, but not bad. It still gets the imagery across. 

So that's it. I'm pretty pumped about all of my creations. I've already plotted how I'm going to properly rock these in the streets. If these work out I may make a few more in the fall.  

Until then though....It's on to the next project. 

Broken Glass - A NEW MATERIALS PROJECT

I have a bad problem of being excited by many things. Well every so often when I can't sleep I'll watch YouTube. Recently I was looking at videos and came across a guy making things out of cement. I thought...that looks cool...why not. Lately I've been doing quite a bit of perusing, and have come across quite a few things that I want to try. So, I decided to make it a mission as part of my year of returning to art, to experiment with materials that I don't normally use. Sounds fun huh? I think so. First up, glass. I have left over broken glass from an old project, and a box full of Clip Frames.

The first project I want to try is making a glass mosaic. I some how have managed to obtain a small collection of Clip Frames from IKEA. I actually don't plan on keeping this project. It is more of a test to see what happens. If I like it, I may turn it into something bigger. I started with a piece of glass from a 5x7" frame and a piece of scrap wood from my stash. 

I started by painting the wood with Navy Blue acrylic paint. For the glass I  added different shades of blue to the surface, and worked the paint in until it was completely covered. I put both pieces aside and let them dry.

Once both pieces were dry I spread a layer of Mod Podge over the top.

Then glued it down to the piece of painted wood. 

This next part is going to sound weird, but I took a hammer to it.

That's right, I smashed it. The goal was to break the surface apart while still glued down.  

I thought the painted top would separate, and create a cool collage situation. Not so much. It was more like shattered dents. 

A couple of pieces broke off, but for the most part it didn't turn out as interesting as I thought it would. Maybe I'll try it again on a larger scale. To be honest it actually looked nice before I smashed it. So, I could always leave the tools alone, and not be destructive. We'll see. Experiment 1 - COMPLETE.

For the next project I utilized a few pieces of broken glass. I was making a glass top for something, and attempted to cut the glass myself. I was clearly part of team doing too much, and ended up with a bunch of jagged pieces. It was a big mess honestly. Needless to say I have not been able to add glass cutter to my repertoire. 

To start the process I grabbed 2 pieces of scrap wood from the garage. I traced the shape of each glass piece to the top, and cut around it. I spray painted the sides silver, and then sanded and painted the top white as a base. 

For the larger one, I added a few pieces of masking tape to the top. Then I painted the exposed sections black. 

Once it partially dried I removed the tape. 

For the glass, I started by drilling 3 holes into the surface. In order to do that I used my Dremel, and newly purchased Diamond drill bits. 

It took awhile to drill the holes. However, it wasn't too difficult. I just had to take my time. 

Once my holes were drilled, I painted the underside using various colors of acrylic paint. This wasn't going to be handled at all, so I didn't see the need to get specialty glass paint.  

While it dried I added some blocks to the base. I wanted the glass to float over the top, and the blocks serve as spacers. They were also a means of securing the glass to the base. I painted them black to blend in.

With both pieces complete I added the glass to the top

To secure the glass to the base, I used Thumb Tacks and extra glue. Unfortunately the Thumb Tacks did not push as easily into the wood as I had thought they would. I tried to use my hammer, and ended up breaking the glass.

A little frustrating, but not the end of the world. To rectify my issue, I cut a portion of the tack off, and used a liberal amount of E6000 glue to secure it. As for the broken piece, I just put a few dabs of clear glue and adhered it directly to the wood. Not my first choice, but still looked cool.

For the next piece I tried a different technique. I added the paint using straws. I've seen this before, but never tried it. You stick one side of the straw in some paint, and then blow from the other side. It came out kind of cool, and was not that hard to do. Definitely took a few tries to get the hang of it, but once I did I was on to something. I started by adding black to the white base.

For the glass portion I used the same technique, but used the same variety of colors from the other glass piece.

This time though I added the tacks and blocks to the glass first.

Then added the whole thing to the base.

Experiment 2 - COMPLETE

To hang the pieces, I added a picture hook to the back of each one.

I added the finished pieces to my top floor gallery wall. 

So what do you think? I think they turned out nice. I wasn't sure what I was going to get when I started this whole thing, but that's kind of the whole point. This was a fun experiment. Not really sure what the next project or material will be. I do know I need a new patio table though. Hmmm...I'm thinking a good outdoor material. 

....Until the next project

Cabinets and Booze

The magic happened when I built a new dresser. What to do with the old dresser? It was a little haphazard and falling apart which is how I ended up replacing it to begin with. I contemplated just throwing it out, but you know that's not really in my nature. I had an idea. I tossed the drawers, but kept the the base. I had the perfect project...I just needed to get it downstairs. It was too big and heavy to lift by myself. My bright idea was to slide it, slowly down the staircase.

I do realize how dangerous this sounds, but I didn't have much choice. I was just about to take the plunge when I decided to remove the back to make it easier to hold and thus control. Once the back was removed though I realized that it was pretty wobbly. Why you ask? I never permanently bonded the dresser. Everything was being held together with screws and dowels. What a giant relief. I broke it down, and carried the pieces downstairs.

What am I making? I am going to make a cabinet with wood doors. I have had these pieces of 1x4s for a while now just waiting for the perfect project to use them on. First I fixed the dresser pieces up. They had quite a few holes and dings from all the years of wear and tear. I filled in everything with wood filler, and then sanded each piece down. Being that these were originally laminate, I thought it would be best to give them a layer of Zinser Primer for better adhesion. Then I painted everything black using some left over Satin paint I had from the dresser. 

I put all of the pieces together and gave it a coat of Semi-Gloss Polyurethane. Next I assembled the legs. I used pipes that were part of an old desk I used to have. 

Next I worked on the inside. I added 2 pieces to the front sides, and a piece down the middle.  

I added a strip of 1x2s to each side. These would serve as supports for the shelf. 

I secured the shelf supports inside with the nail gun. Unfortunately I underestimated the width, and the nails punctured the side of the base from the inside. 

I had to go over the holes with wood filler, and then more paint. I then cranked up the table saw and cut the last 2 pieces. I used some leftover 1/2" plywood to make a shelf, and a divider for the bottom section. 

I painted all the pieces black, and secured everything with the nail gun. The base was done.

Now comes the exciting part, the doors. This is basically what the whole idea was based around. I had these wood slats from an old IKEA bed that I used to have. The bed is long gone, but I kept the slats thinking I would use them for something later. Well now is later. 

For the doors I am going for a herringbone design. First I had to remove the staples and rope that connected the slats together. I thought this was going to be an awful and grueling task at first, but once I got in a rhythm it was not so bad. Now I had never done this before, so I had to be very careful in lining everything up. I am way too particular to have crooked furniture. I started by cutting a few 45 degree angle cuts on the miter saw. I tested them out, and they didn't work. The piece was now not long enough to reach all the way across. So I tried again. This time stretching the piece all the way across first, and then seeing what angle that needed to be...31 degrees. 

Good thing I paid attention in Geometry. Remember when you always thought Math was stupid, and would never use it in real life. Well here we are. I cut each piece and laid them down one by one. Half way through it was looking good. I couldn't believe this was happening. 

I kept placing each piece until I had covered the entire opening.

At this point I was kind of elated. I couldn't believe how good it was looking. I got real excited. To assemble the doors I started by lightly gluing the pieces together. I laid them down on my work table and used a clamped ruler to keep the straight edge and line them all up perfectly. 

I let it dry overnight so the pieces could get a nice bond. I didn't need a permanent hold, just enough so that I could flip it over. I added 1/4" oak on the inside to serve as an anchor for all of the pieces and create a more permanent bond.  

Now it was time to cut. I was super SUPER nervous about this. The doors had to essentially line up perfectly together. A mistake here could be catastrophic. I held my breathe and measured 4 times before doing anything. The inside pieces were already cut, because that's how I lined them up. I started with the bottom. I had to raise the blade twice. I started pushing the door through the table saw. A 1/3 of the way in I hit a bump. I got nervous, and gently pulled the door out. I turned it over, and went for it again. I held my breathe the entire time, but success! Next I cut the outside edge. Once again success. Before doing the last cut, I laid them down on top of the opening to test that it was going well. I was quite satisfied. 

Actually I almost left the doors just like this. It kind of reminded me of the top of a Decepticon. How cool would that have been. 

Only thing left was to cut off the tops. This was going to be a little difficult. The door height needed to be 31", but my saw only extended to 27". I pulled the guard all the way out, and was prepared to make some sort of extender. Well wouldn't you know, the entire surface was exactly 31 1/8". Friggin' EUREKA! However, that was without the guard (which was very necessary). So, to compensate I added a piece of scrap wood with some clamps to the end creating a barrier. Pretty genius if you ask me. 

I held my breathe again, and went for it. It worked. YES! YES! YES! I now had 2 awesome doors.

I was so excited I could pinch myself. At this point I was on a roll, so I kept going. Next I sanded both doors. I usually hate sanding, but it was necessary in this instance. I started with the back side, and gave it a light sanding with my sanding block. No one would see it, so no need to be perfect. For the front I pulled out my orbital sander. I did one pass with the 150 grit sandpaper, and then another with the 220 to finish it off. I wiped them down, and prepared for stain. I know I don't normally stain, but for this I wanted a different look. I chose Golden Pecan.

Stain is messy, so I put on my messy clothes. I started with the back, and brushed on one coat of stain. They were looking good, and once again I got excited. I wanted them a little darker though, so I did another coat of stain. Now they were perfect.

I repeated the process on the front. 

I let the stain dry for 24 hours. Since I don't normally mess with stain, I decided to google the proper way to seal and polyurethane. Good thing I did because sealing stain is not like regular Latex Acrylic. I could have used an oil stain and that would have helped. However, I only had water based. So, I decided to spray the doors first with some spray polyurethane as a barrier. Then once that dried I went over it with the water based stain. I tried the process on the back first in case anything went wrong. I would have been devastated if I ruined the doors at this point. It looked good. No problems, so I proceeded. 

A friend helped me carry it upstairs to the kitchen. I decided to move it before adding the back and doors. Mainly to cut down on weight. Once upstairs I measured where the doors and the hardware should go. I bought 2 packs of black door hinges. I started by screwing one side to the back of the doors. 

Then I screwed the other side into the base. This was actually a lot more difficult than I anticipated. They lined up perfectly by themselves. Lining them up with the hardware was a different story. Also I think I underestimated how much clearance I needed for the hardware. So the doors plus the hinges were a smidgen larger than they should have been. Not ideal, but not catastrophic either. I made it work, and screwed them in place.

The first time I stood the cabinet up, the doors shifted and over lapped. A moment of defeat, but I wasn't out of it. I laid it back on the floor, and reset both doors. I stood it back up, and VOILA. 

To finish it off I used panel nails to secure the back piece in place. I recycled the back that actually came with the dresser. The outside I painted black, and the inside I spray painted a teal color. No reason, just thought a pop of color would be nice. 

Final piece were knobs. Now, I was completely undecided about this and spent hours online looking for the perfect set. I narrowed it down to 6 of them.

I tested them all, and settled on these large Art Deco ones. Funny thing is I saw these early on and pretty quickly fell in love with them. You know me though, I still spent the next 2 hours looking at every option.

So with that, my new cabinet is done.

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What do you think? I am nothing short of in LOVE. Honestly, I'm quite impressed with myself. I was actually quite nervous upon attempting this project. I had such high expectations. Glad to see it all worked out. Also cool tidbit in case you didn't notice, most of the materials I used was stuff I already had in the house. Go figure! Snaps for recycling. I plan on filling the cabinet with booze. However, its is nice and deep so I can see that possibly changing in the future. 

Until then though...It's on to the next project.