Who would have thought it? Bleach pens + a great colored shirt equals a fantastic result for very little moolah.
SAFETY FIRST: We're no fools. Listen up. YES MAA'M, it IS bleach so take precautions with little ones, big ones and all the "ones" in between. Wear rubber gloves. Remove all important clothing you'd like to keep unbleached and let your kids go to town creating a special shirt for a loved one this Father's Day. (this is also a fantastic "team shirt" option for any day)
What you need:
Darker colored T- Shirt. (Walmart had them for $3!) We went with blues and you can see the varying bleached color results. Anything pastel-- will most likely not show a contrast to your liking.
TIP: We played around with polyester / cotton versions vs. all cotton and really-- saw no huge difference.
Bleach Pen:
TIP: We only used the FINE tip and we barely squeezed.
Poster Board, Piece of Cardboard or a Cutting Board
TIP: Insert this into the t-shirt so that the bleach pen doesn't bleed to the back of the shirt.
How To:
PREP WORK:
Put the cardboard or cutting board inside the shirt.
QUOTE? LET THE KIDS HELP? OR BOTH? YOU DECIDE:
LET THE KIDS HELP!
LET the kids PLAN out what they want to draw or say. My kids came up with adorable t-shirts that I'm sure their father will wear proudly for years!
Darker colored T- Shirt. (Walmart had them for $3!) We went with blues and you can see the varying bleached color results. Anything pastel-- will most likely not show a contrast to your liking.
TIP: We played around with polyester / cotton versions vs. all cotton and really-- saw no huge difference.
Bleach Pen:
TIP: We only used the FINE tip and we barely squeezed.
Poster Board, Piece of Cardboard or a Cutting Board
TIP: Insert this into the t-shirt so that the bleach pen doesn't bleed to the back of the shirt.
How To:
PREP WORK:
Put the cardboard or cutting board inside the shirt.
QUOTE? LET THE KIDS HELP? OR BOTH? YOU DECIDE:
LET THE KIDS HELP!
LET the kids PLAN out what they want to draw or say. My kids came up with adorable t-shirts that I'm sure their father will wear proudly for years!
TIP: Don't be a freak about how it's turning out. I was a control freak and stressed to the max-- but the shirts turned out adorable and I had nothing to do with it.
HOW THICK TO MAKE THE BLEACH PEN LINES:
TIP: THE thicker the line the MORE it will bleed. Stick to thin with some ROOM in between letters. I've taken pictures for you of the ACTUAL bleach pen line and you can SEE how far it bled without any effort. So plan accordingly. It's a delicate dance!
A QUOTE:
Ladies, this shirt can be from YOU! Father's day isn't just for kids and we're certain you have a loved one that has that ONE saying they love to spew constantly! So capture it forever on a t-shirt for them!
HOW THICK TO MAKE THE BLEACH PEN LINES:
TIP: THE thicker the line the MORE it will bleed. Stick to thin with some ROOM in between letters. I've taken pictures for you of the ACTUAL bleach pen line and you can SEE how far it bled without any effort. So plan accordingly. It's a delicate dance!
A QUOTE:
Ladies, this shirt can be from YOU! Father's day isn't just for kids and we're certain you have a loved one that has that ONE saying they love to spew constantly! So capture it forever on a t-shirt for them!
WHERE TO GET COOL LETTERING:
TIP: Print out a quote from Pinterest that strikes your fancy. Or google it! I found some that I loved the font and I honestly, just recreated it myself by hand. I did the best I could and it really turned out nice!
WHERE TO PLACE THE LETTERING:
Arrange the shirt so that it is perfectly positioned the way you'd like the lettering to appear.
TIP: The collar line is not ideal for wording. You can see that we marked with duct tape where to START BELOW. This is ideal for lettering. If you're not sure-- take a peek in your closet or at one of your kids shirts to see where lettering starts.
We also continued to use that duct tape as a guide line.
FINISHED LETTERING? NOW WHAT?
Let it sit for about 1/2 hour. Until it gets a little crunchy (the bleach pen lines.) You'll watch it bleed and hopefully your lettering was thin enough and far apart enough to not be a blobby mess. This happened on one out of 6 shirts so chances are-- you'll do just fine!
Once it's crusty take it off the poster board and over to a sink you don't mind bleach running off into. Using COLD water rinse the crusty parts off the lettering and ring it out when it's all clear the crusty parts.
You should be able to see how it turned out now! Sometimes we got a nice interior color! Other times, it looked totally different! All times, it looked FANTASTIC.
Throw it in your washer on cold with detergent for a cycle and then dry as normal. Your shirt should be good to go and good to give to that special someone. We'd LOVE to see your bleach pen shirts so please upload them to one of our facebook sites if you are willing!
TIP: Print out a quote from Pinterest that strikes your fancy. Or google it! I found some that I loved the font and I honestly, just recreated it myself by hand. I did the best I could and it really turned out nice!
WHERE TO PLACE THE LETTERING:
Arrange the shirt so that it is perfectly positioned the way you'd like the lettering to appear.
TIP: The collar line is not ideal for wording. You can see that we marked with duct tape where to START BELOW. This is ideal for lettering. If you're not sure-- take a peek in your closet or at one of your kids shirts to see where lettering starts.
We also continued to use that duct tape as a guide line.
FINISHED LETTERING? NOW WHAT?
Let it sit for about 1/2 hour. Until it gets a little crunchy (the bleach pen lines.) You'll watch it bleed and hopefully your lettering was thin enough and far apart enough to not be a blobby mess. This happened on one out of 6 shirts so chances are-- you'll do just fine!
Once it's crusty take it off the poster board and over to a sink you don't mind bleach running off into. Using COLD water rinse the crusty parts off the lettering and ring it out when it's all clear the crusty parts.
You should be able to see how it turned out now! Sometimes we got a nice interior color! Other times, it looked totally different! All times, it looked FANTASTIC.
Throw it in your washer on cold with detergent for a cycle and then dry as normal. Your shirt should be good to go and good to give to that special someone. We'd LOVE to see your bleach pen shirts so please upload them to one of our facebook sites if you are willing!
