Around this time last year my friend Frank and I had the brilliant idea [and not a time consuming idea at all, lol] to make custom concert t-shirts for ATB's concert in Scottsdale. We thumbnailed our ideas out on paper and then we mocked them up in photoshop. Neither of us had custom t-shirt making skills so we had all of these wild ideas, haha. We even tried to find a local t-shirt company who could print it for us but we didn't have any luck with that [Too short of a notice]. Tear.
Our first ideas was to use sticky fabric with the glue built into the back. We took our adventure to Walmart for our t-shirt supplies and lucky for us they didn't have the wacky fabric we were looking for and we decided to try Michaels [I say lucky, because it would have looked stupid]. We didn't have any luck at Michaels either so we drove all the way across town to another craft store where we found fabric paint. Oh how the idea wheels were turning then. It was settled, we bought the fabric paint and some white spray paint. About twenty dollars worth of craft supplies supplies later, we were ready to move forward in our adventure. The next day we printed off our ATB stencil templates and cut them out with some exacto knives. Whoa Nelly - it took FOREVER cutting them out!!!!!
Our t-shirts turned out really cool for ATB's concert and I still wear my shirt every now and again. I think Andre saw them and had a chuckle. Sadly, I was too chicken to ask him for a photo or an autograph but I was still only 2 feet away from him the whole night. I even made friends with some of his crew, I love being VIP at concerts. I paid for VIP because I really really wanted my photo, but I was just too chicken -- SIGH. Also, the reason I ATB is my favorite dj is because he was the first trance/dance/techno cd I ever owned. I had ATB, George Acosta, and Daft Punk. Thanks to these artists I'm the trance/house/dance/electronic music lover that I am today. ATB continues to be at the top of my favorite music list for ten years now, too funny.
Spray paint t-shirt making tips:
- Use spray mount on the back of your stencils when you lay it down on your shirt so it doesn't move. This creates nice straight lines so it looks professional. We tried it without it first and it didn't look good at all.
- USE FLAT PAINT. Glossy leaves gross little balls of paint on your shirt that never come off.
- Don't waist your time on fabric paint. It's stupid, doesn't work, messy, and costs a lot more.
- Tape everything else off. Spray paint goes EVERYWHERE!
- Paint outside [This is a given but you never know]
- Must make fun shirts with a good friend because it makes it a lot more fun.
- When you see the artist and they see you wearing your custom tshirt pray they don't think you're a hardcore stalker creeper, lol.
Now that a year has gone by I feel like it is tradition to try and make a custom t-shirt for concerts if I can. This summer it was Kaskade in Scottsdale. I had about a month to plan this time, so I was going to go professional. I had the brilliant idea to make a t-shirt that was a cascade dishwasher soap box but instead of Cascade it was Kaskade, I also changed the forks to a headphone and added some other music stuff verbiage. Haha! Too funny and awesome, right?
[Click Image for a larger view]
I found out from my new co-workers that there was a place on Mill Ave that prints shirts instant for a good price. WHAT?! PROFESSIONAL PRINTED SHIRTS?! I jumped on that soul train and emailed them right away. Sadly, my super awesome design was too detailed so I had to modify my file several times but we ended up with an amazing print, it was well worth it! I cannot tell you how cool it was to have professional custom t-shirts printed, what a feeling! I've done a lot of graphic design in my days but it's always cool to see something you've made real.
My friend Angela, my boyfriend Adrian, and I all went to the Kaskade concert last night and we had a ball. It was a bummer it was so packed like a can of sardines because we couldn't dance or move, but it was still fun. It was my first time to the club Axis Radius in Scottsdale, Arizona and I think they need to work on their capacity rules a little bit. There is no way that was legal - whoa too many people batman! I'm happy and grateful nothing bad happened, just good music and friends.
Now that I have all of this custom t-shirt making knowledge I want to make more shirts, haha. Let me know if you need one made or if you need more tips. Email Me
Here are some photos of my shirts
[Click Image for a larger view]
On a side-note, I also made a custom t-shirts for the bands Resurrected Remains and Monster in the Mirror. I'll have photos to share soon, but I'm confident they turned out nice [simple logo vector artwork]. These are my younger brother's bands so if you want to show your support that would be awesome!
Resurrected Remains
5 comments:
Nice ideas, very cool, im actualy trying to develope a blog site http://www.modyourtees.com/ its about customized t-shirt design. this page could help me out write an article. thnx a lot
This is really interesting take on the concept. I never thought of it that way. I came across this site recently which I think it will be a great use of new ideas and informations about T-shirt.
Cool post really looks very nice t-shirt design. thank u so much sharing it.
Custom made dress shirts
Thanks for the link to your tutorial. I really need it.
Military T Shirts
hello every one - hope yous had a good one - doing the rounds and back from parents 12lbs heavier a`hhh , all the best for 2012 -
michael buely
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