Monday, January 29, 2018

Dinosaur Shirts

Sometime last year, I came across some glow-in-the-dark heat transfer vinyl. I thought I didn't have a purpose for the vinyl right then, so I didn't buy any. About a week later, I realized that my twin nephews' birthday would be arriving shortly, and I knew they would be all kinds of excited about some glow-in-the-dark shirts! I didn't have enough time to order anything online at that point, so I went looking locally. Unsurprisingly, there was no glow-in-the-dark heat transfer vinyl to be had, but I did find some glow-in-the-dark paint (Tulip brand. Here's an affiliate link for the set I bought, for about half the price I paid!). It's meant to be dimensional, but I brushed it on instead. I cut stencils with my Silhouette, then layered the paint thickly on some grey knit to make these shirts:

  I tested the paint out on some scraps first, and the glow was almost unnoticeable on the grey, even when applied according to the directions instead of brushed on, until I painted a base layer of plain white paint, then did a few layers of the glow paint on top of that. The paint seemed to pick itself up with every layer, so it has a mottled texture that I don't love, but it glowed well enough.

  This shirt has a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and the words 'Dino-Mite!'.

  I painted a couple of layers of the paint on top of the lettering too, but of course with the dark base the glow isn't as visible.

  And for the other shirt, a pterosaur, with 'Dino-Soars!' on it.

  (I'm aware that pterosaurs are not technically dinosaurs, but for the sake of the pun I went with 'Dino' anyway. I suppose I should have done 'Ptero-Soars!'.)

  I used 12 oz grey knit from Nick Of Time Textiles and Jalie 2918 to make these shirts. I went a size up from what the twins were wearing at the time. I forgot that I usually narrow the neckband on this pattern- I dislike how it sits when made according to the pattern, as these are:

  I twin-needled the hems:

  And the backs are just plain:

  Then came the fun part... trying to capture the glow in a photo! I ended up with a flash strapped to one leg of my backdrop stand, diffused with several layers of white tissue, and my camera on my semi-broken tripod, propped up with a tied-on sewing ham. I auto-focused with my overhead light on, then carefully switched to manual focus without bumping anything. I ended up setting the camera to Auto, which gave me a long exposure that I activated with the self-timer to reduce camera shake. (A remote would have been better, but mine decided not to work that day). So I would press the shutter button, turn off the overhead light while the self-timer counted down, use the flash once the camera shutter opened, and wait until the shutter closed. It took quite a few attempts to get it right, and I only have a 50mm lens right now, so that made things even more complicated, but check it out- it glows!

  Isn't that cool?! I also tried it without the flash- they appear to glow more brightly in the photos than they actually glow in person!

  Anyway, I wasn't particularly enthused about how the shirts look in daylight, but the glow-in-the-dark effect was perfect for a pair of 5-year-old boys! I still want to try the vinyl too.

Thanks for stopping by,

8 comments:

  1. I remember when I was a kid and something was glow-in-the dark. I would sit in the closet looking at it. I think my dad was sure my mom adopted me on the sly, lol. Cute shirts, though! Perfect for little boys.

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    1. Haha, I used to do that too! And my daughters made off with my test scraps and took them right to the closet too! Thank you. =)

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  2. What a wonderful idea. My grandsons would love that!

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    1. Thank you! Glow-in-the-dark is such fun for kids!

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  3. I love that glow in the dark effect! These are just so much fun. I'm going to have to locate some of that stuff. My girls would go crazy for it (only they would prefer stars and galaxies).

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    1. Thank you! They are a lot of fun! I bought the paint at Michael's, but I've also seen it at Wal-Mart, and I think at Jo-Ann's.

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  4. I bet they love them! Glow in the dark paint is really fun!

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    1. I'm not sure if they did or not, but I hope so! It really is!

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