When I do live printing I use stencils and ink rollers and then use a heat gun to spot-dry the ink so people can leave with their shirts right then. I’ve never tried a hair dryer!

One other thing I’ve noticed – if you let shirts sit for a month or more they pretty well dry and “set” without heat. It’s not a perfect solution, but if you’re, um, willpower-challenged and don’t want to iron you could just let your shirts sit for a couple months

G

Thanks for writing in!

The brand of the material I use is called “Mylar,” and it’s a sort of nylon paper used for drafting very very fine architectural drawings.

I get it at an art store.

I’m not sure of its generic name, but they should know what you mean by Mylar.

The material is fairly sturdy, stores well if left flat and doesn’t get mushy in ink.

I hope that helps!

Thanks for visiting, and I’m glad you found the tutorials useful!

As for your questions, the ink I use provides enough adhesion to the mylar stencil that it holds pretty well in place. the mylar does shift on the screen – especially over longer runs (10+ shirts, and if you have small, minimally bridged pieces…). This gets tricky because you have to make minute shifts to the stencil while it’s on the screen. Sometimes you get ink on your fingers which can get on the shirt if you’re not careful… sometimes you shift the stencil too much and little rumples form.

Also, the weight of the screen holds the mylar close enough to the shirt that there’s very little bleed – though you have to be careful not to press too hard.

I use what’s called Spray-Mount when I do roller printing (no screen, just stencils and a trim roller… less clean up and I can do it live, at art fairs and galleries). I use the spray mount to keep the stencil stuck to the shirt and minimize bleed. It works well – I haven’t done any tutorials for this method yet.

Let me know if you have any more questions, and be sure to send me links to your pictures so I can post them on my blog!

Garrett

If I understand your question correctly you want to know what material I use for stencils.

The brand name (like Kleenex) is Mylar.

The guys at the art shop had a generic name for it that I can’t remember.

The important thing is that it’s basically a very tough plastic that does not permit liquids to pass and holds up well over time. Also it cuts beautifully with an xacto. I’ve tried transparency plastic but that proved to be too brittle. Back in the day I used brown paper bags but those didn’t last very long.

I buy my Mylar in rolls that cost about $50. Well, I bought a roll a couple years ago and that’s served my needs through about 25-30 stencils and is still going strong.

If you’re asking what I’m cutting on, that’s a cutting mat. It makes all the difference in the world. I used to cut on top of cardboard but that dulls xacto blades very quickly.