Paint-Stamped Shirts

by Kiki Clark

Okay, here's another fearsomely easy project that will make you say, "She gets paid for this? Oh, wait. She doesn't." I'm way ahead of you, chickadees. Let's just say you're likely to have everything you need in the house right now. Which is good, 'cause it's too hot to drive.

What you need:

Step 1: Laundry

Wash the shirt, and dry it in whatever manner you will be drying it in the future. Washing the shirt gets rid of any chemicals that might cause the paint not to stick. I know...I'm tricking you into housework. You'll also have to iron, later on.

Step 2: Measuring and Stuffing

Lay your shirt flat on a big piece of cardboard. Take a ballpoint pen and draw an outline of your shirt, about a half-inch (1.3 cm) larger than the shirt itself. Now cut out your shirt shape. This piece of cardboard will keep your shirt stretched slightly, so it stays smooth, and will also keep the paint from seeping through onto the back of the shirt. If the cardboard has a horizontal fold down low, that's no big deal. If it doesn't quite reach the bottom of the shirt, that's all right, too. What you need is for the area you're going to be stamping to be very flat and a little taut.

Put the shirt on and measure where you want the center of the design to appear, using a tape measure, piece of tape or piece of string. I centered my designs about 5.5 inches below the collar of the shirt.

Iron the front of the shirt (take it off first) so it's nice and smooth. Stuff the shirt shape inside your shirt. This is starting to sound like a tongue-twister, isn't it? (My shirt was shaped, I shaped my shirt, my shirt shape slipped and hit the dirt.) With the cardboard-stuffed shirt flat on the floor and ready to stamp, lay your string or tape down to show where the center goes, and then shift it to one side. You could also use a water-soluble, felt-tipped pen to make a bitty mark.

Step 3: Stamperoos

The first time I did this, I cut out dog and bone shapes from cardboard, taped little cardboard handles to the backs, and used those. They worked great. This time I went to the wall-stamping and stenciling section in my craft store and found some cute stamps. Bold shapes are easiest. That daisy stamp was a little on the small side. You can use more detailed stamps if you put almost no paint on them and are prepared to fill in the rest with a brush.

Step 4: The Paint Part

Put some paint in your plate or lid. I'm pretty sure any acrylic paint will work. I've used both the pourable craft paint and artist's acrylic. Got some cans of acrylic house paint cluttering up the garage? Give 'em a try.

Using the paintbrush, brush paint onto your stamp. You can paint different parts different colors if you're quick. It's better to use too little paint than too much. I usually wind up filling in faint or blank spots by painting directly onto the shirt with the brush. The stamp is to get the shape on there. Press it straight down, using firm pressure. Watch for seepage around the edges. A lot of seepage means you have too much paint or are pressing too hard.

Putting the stamp down isn't hard. Pulling it up can be. Cardboard shapes don't stick to the material much, but when I pulled those foam stamps up, the fabric came with them. When it released, little specks of paint flicked onto the shirt. I recommend holding the shirt down just beside the stamp, and pulling up very slowly from one edge. This is another good reason not to use too much paint. If you get spatters, don't panic. Just incorporate them into the design. See the cute dots I put around the top of the flying saucer, above? They're covering tiny spatters. There were three spatters where that largest dot is. And the flower stamp turned out terribly when I pulled it up, which is why I broke out the glitter fabric paint and added all those leaves and stuff.  Mistakes and the things you do to cover them are what make the design uniquely yours.

Step 5: Removing the shirt from the cardboard.

Even if you've used a lot of paint, the T-shirt should be dry enough to take off the cardboard after an hour. The paint will probably have stuck the shirt to the cardboard slightly. If you let things dry completely you might have trouble getting it loose. I can never wait that long anyway. My shirt always feels a little dampish when I pull the material loose from the cardboard. Run your fingers gently between the painted design and the cardboard to detach it. Then let it dry some more. If it feels wet, stop detaching and let it dry longer. Once you take the shirt off, the cardboard may be puffy or damp. Dry it with a hair dryer before you make your next shirt, unless you have enough cardboard to make multiple shirt shapers, you lucky sod.

Step 6: Waiting and Heating.

Let the painted T-shirt dry overnight. Awwww....do we have to? Yes, because otherwise the paint might stick to your ironing cloth in a big way. Put the shirt on your ironing board so that you are ironing only the front part of the shirt, with the design face up. Lay your piece of sheet or other thin cloth over the painted part and iron on medium.  Don't use the steam setting. Just to make sure, I'd dump the water out. Basically, this is like an iron-on transfer. If you iron the paint for about two minutes, it should set well. If paint from the design adheres to your ironing cloth, the iron temperature is too high.

You'll be amazed at how durable these designs are. I have some from about ten years ago, and the designs are only a little faded. You can wash your T-shirts on anything but hot, with the design turned inside. Dry them with the design inside, if you're using a tumble dryer.

Congrats! Your shirt is done and you can pop it over your head. How cool are you? Very cool, unless you popped it on still hot from the iron, in which case your front is all warm and happy.

Important Tips:

Dark colors on a very light shirt work best. If you're stamping on a dark shirt, you almost have to paint a light-colored base design first. That's why I put a white circle under the yellow chick. It took three coats of white paint applied with the brush before the red didn't show through. I let the white dry completely before I stamped the chick on, then let the yellow dry before I outlined in black. There's a lot of paint on that shirt, but it will soften up after a couple of washings. This was the only shirt that didn't get splattered when I pulled the stamps off. The cardboard stamp didn't stick to the shirt, and the foam stamp didn't stick to the painted base design.

The initial stamp needs to be filled in...	As shown here

Here's a good place to get T-shirts: Cheapest Tees. I bought the HYP Catalina Tees. These shirts use Junior/Missy sizing. I bought mine a size larger than I normally would. You can always shrink them in the dryer.

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Cooking in the Back Country
by Lee McKenzie

Meals are the biggest challenge in backpacking and backcountry camping with a family. Since everything we're going to eat has to be carried along with our camping gear and clothing, our food dehydrator runs non-stop for a month before we leave. The cost of home-dried foods is a fraction of the price for pre-packaged meals, and I can control the ingredients. I plan a menu for the whole trip, pack each meal as compactly as possible and label the outside of each meal packet with the amount of water to be added, cooking time, etc. This is one of our favourites.

Backpacker's Stew

Stew Ingredients:

At home, pack the following ingredients in a large Ziploc^® bag:

1/2 to 1 cup dried diced potatoes (about 2 whole)
1/2 cup dried sliced carrots
Dried onion slices (about 1/2 of a whole onion)
Dried celery slices (1 to 2 stalks)
1 to 2 tablespoons dried parsley
1/4 to 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
4 to 6 strips crumbled meat jerky (We make our own.)
1 to 2 tablespoons flour, if you like a thicker gravy

Flavouring:

1 tablespoon of Lea & Perrins in a film canister or 2 bouillon cubes

Dumpling Mix:

1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons shortening
1/4 cup instant skim milk powder

At home: mix first three ingredients in a bowl, cut in the shortening, and stir in the milk powder. Pack in a medium Ziploc^® bag.

In camp: add 3/4 cup water to the bag, zip it up and knead gently until mixed.

Preparation instructions:
In camp, put everything except the flavouring and dumpling mix in a pot. Add water to cover, bring to a boil, and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes so everything can rehydrate. This reduces cooking time and fuel consumption.

While the stew rehydrates, we have hors d'oeuvres. Seriously. I splurge on things like gourmet crackers and canned pâté.

When we're ready to cook the stew, we add more water, if necessary, and the flavouring, and bring it to a boil again. Drop dumplings by small spoonfuls onto the bubbling surface of the stew. Simmer for about 15 minutes, covering for the last 5 minutes so the dumplings cook through. This recipe serves four.

Backpacker's Stew goes well with a glass of red wine. By planning ahead and conserving on weight and space, I have room to pack a good bottle of wine and a couple of small pewter goblets that won't break. I prefer red because it doesn't have to be chilled, but if you're camping near a mountain stream, the water will probably be cold enough to chill a bottle of white. After all, this is a vacation!

To read last month's Stuff to Make article, click here

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