Airbrush tshirts

[pplbronx2]

Did a gig this past weekend where they wanted us to airbrush tshirts. Caught us off guard so we did the best we could. We airbrush our designs on their tshirts along with their names. Pretty basic and simple just as they wanted it. I even offer to apply heat to the designs but they wanted the kids and parents to do that themselves because it was a lot of kids. While doing the event, I thought that some of our designs will go nice on tshirts if they were bigger along with the letters. Can you purchase designs made just for tshirts? Just wondering. Also, is their a better ink made just for airbrushing tshirts? Just wondering. Thanks.

[Ladyoh]

I like to use Createx, it works fabric, leather, wood, plastic and more. It is heat set, you can use an iron or a blow dryer. I would not let the client do this, it needs to be hot and I would not want anyone to get burned. They have a semi-new product called 'Wicked colors' that are supposed to be pretty nice, but I have not tried them yet.

Were you using your TAT ink? yikes! A 2 oz bottle of Createx ranges $3-6 dollars, depending where you get it. I have used the opaque, pearlescent & translucent. I do NOT like the translucent, too 'watery' looking. They have florescent and iridescent too, but I have never used them.

Here is the website http://www.createxcolors.com/, but you will need to get it from a distributor. I used to be able to get it at Michael's crafts, but they no longer carry it. grrrr!

Coast airbrush http://www.westcoastairbrush.com/ carries Createx, as well as the Wicked.

and West Coast airbrush http://www.westcoastairbrush.com/ has some great lettering DVDs, as well as a whole lot of information!

I have seen a lot of the airbrush teeshirt people using felt to make their stencils out of. We have also used card stock and heavy duty vinyl (24 gauge). Also, Tatstores large and xlarge stencils are pretty reasonable.

And that is pretty much the extent of my knowledge! .

[pplbronx2]

for pointing me in the right direction. Now I can learn at my own pace. That website has a ton of information.

[Rick]

Peter,
I think when you are painting tshirts you want to use a higher air pressure. An artist that I have worked with uses 45-60 lbs of pressure when doing tshirts

[Raventats]

another product that works really well called ETAC, http://www.usairbrush.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/ETAC-LLC/370103149671642

Just like tat inks everyone has their favorites for other surfaces I personally prefer ETAC over Creatix and Wicked, I didn't like wicked colors found it "difficult"

west coast is an excellent source of information....

[DTFuqua]

There are many ways to get into T-shirts. You can buy many stencils and make your own too. Try http://www.bearair.com/T-Shirt-Master/products/1350/ at bear air for the quickest off the top of my head. Also, look on youtube for many tutorials.The thing about T-shirts is someone needs to be able to do lettering freehand and make it look good to have many sales. You can do most designs with different templates but names and lettering are the biggest part of the T-shirt sales. I did some T-shirts way back when but couldn't get the lettering down very good so I went bust on that but with a few hand held stencils that I placed where I wanted for custom looking graphics, I was alright.

[Pushka]

Originally Posted by DTFuqua

There are many ways to get into T-shirts. You can buy many stencils and make your own too. Try http://www.bearair.com/T-Shirt-Master/products/1350/ at bear air for the quickest off the top of my head. Also, look on youtube for many tutorials.The thing about T-shirts is someone needs to be able to do lettering freehand and make it look good to have many sales. You can do most designs with different templates but names and lettering are the biggest part of the T-shirt sales. I did some T-shirts way back when but couldn't get the lettering down very good so I went bust on that but with a few hand held stencils that I placed where I wanted for custom looking graphics, I was alright.

Which airbrush do YOU use for airbrushing lettering?

[DTFuqua]

I originally used the single action airbrush and only had two with one being just used for black and changed bottles in the second one as needed for different colors. Now I have three dual action airbrushes and will get more if I find someone that can do T-shirts. The dual action airbrushes are better for free hand painting if someone is good enough to make proper use of it. The main thing it does different that has value is to go from a thick line to a thin line and vise versa without needing to adjust anything but your position pressing down on the trigger and a little variation on the closeness of the airbrush of the media being painted. This ability isn't important for spraying stencils but makes lettering, as well as free hand painting, a whole lot easier to get very fancy with.

[Pushka]

Thanks

So just any dual action then. Do I need to go for a narrower needle? I have played around with writing with the airbrush, but felt that my lines were not fine enough, my script also left something to be desired as well!