Elementary Art - How to Screen Print a T-Shirt (easy stencil method)

I decided to dive into screen printing and had every student in my school print their own t-shirts. Students designed stencils and each class chose a design that would go on their t-shirts for our school's Olympic Day (a day at the end of the school year focusing on individual and team athletic events). I used my Cameo Silhouette cutter to cut all the stencils, and I created this video to demonstrate the printing process for my students. To keep things simple, I taped the stencil to my screen, then masked off the area around the stencil. Next I used a squeegee to spread the ink. I know I made several more passes than needed, but I work with k-5 students and it is important to show them steps several times, and to emphasize that they needed to be thorough in their work. The most common mistakes are that students do not press hard enough to push the ink through the stencil, or they miss some parts as they spread the ink. I tell kids that minor imperfections are part of the charm of handmade art, and a little bit of fading just makes their shirt look cool and vintage, but primarily I stress that doing a little extra work is better than not enough. In one week, I taught a little over 550 kids to screen print their own shirts. The success rate was extremely high, and kid had fun and they were super excited to have something that would make this year's Olympic Day a little extra special. Getting the equipment to screen print costs a bit up front, but it is a totally worthwhile investment. The cutter cost about $300 and you can get screens from Blick for just about $25. Once kids get a little practice with it, they become independent very quickly.