10.04.2010

Free Full Moon Owl Stencil

I can’t believe that it’s already October 4th. and I haven’t posted a Halloween tutorial yet! I love using bleach to stencil and the eerie reverse effect is just perfect for the season. Using bleach can be a bit tricky, you’ll need to use 100% cotton fabric, synthetic fibers will not bleach. It’s also hard to know how exactly what color any fabric will discharge to, which is what makes it fun.

This project would be cute as a t-shirt or as a tote bag. The shirt that I started with flopped, BTW only spray your stencil once, if you try to do it again the bleach will get underneath and blur the image. Spraying bleach is also a bit hazardous, do not breath in the mist. You could also use a bleach pen or bleach gel for this, but I really like the way spraying give an even color.full moon owl

Print the Full Moon Owl Stencil, place a large sheet of freezer paper, shiny side down over the image and trace white parts onto the freezer paper. full moon owl stencil 1 Using an exacto knife cut out all of the white shapes. Use an iron to fuse the freezer paper, shiny side down, to the fabric. full moon owl stencil 2 I also like to fuse a plain sheet on the inside to prevent the bleach from leaching through to the back. I recommend spraying the fabric outside. Make sure that only the design is exposed, there will be some overspray and we don’t want speckles on our black fabric. The black dye should start fading almost instantly, have a bucket of cool water mixed with about a cup of vinegar to stop the bleaching process when it gets to a color you like. full moon owl stencil 3Here you can see it’s starting to discharge and this is where I got impatient and sprayed it again. I did try to salvage the finished shirt, but it was to far gone. Wash and dry your fabric and it’s ready to wear.full moon owl stencil 4 This is a shirt I previously made using a similar design, I’m hoping to give the new design a second attempt soon.

I hope you enjoy using my full moon owl stencil, but please remember it is for your personal use only. I’d love to see some of your finished projects, leave me a link :)

7 comments:

Silvia said...

So cute. I love that you get orange without having to paint it at all.

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

I love your owls! Thanks so much for the great stencil, I'll be spreading the word.

Clare Maree said...

Sorry if this is a really stupid question, but when you talk about spraying bleach, did you just put some straight bleach into a spray bottle or is it some kind of ready-made product that you can buy? Thanks.

Crafterella said...

Clare, sorry I wasn't very clear, I filled a small spray bottle with 1 part bleach and 3 parts water and lightly sprayed my fabric. You want the fabric moist, but not super saturated. You will see the bleach starting to work within a minute or two.
If you have any other questions just ask :)

c-ing said...

I never knew freezer paper could work as an iron on stencil. I have some in the pantry. I'm going in right now just to see if it works. If it does, it will be the answer to a project I've wanted to do. Thx

Unknown said...

Would was paper would the same way?

Crafterella said...

Cynthia - no, wax paper won't work, it has to be freezer paper.