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,