Family reunion T-shirt design

So, we are getting ready to leave for a weekend at Virginia Beach. It's what I have been calling a 'mini' family reunion, since it's just us cousins attending. My sister thought it would be neat to make matching T-shirts for everyone. At the time of the original idea I could have had them printed, but life got in the way and I ended up making them.

First I looked for a clip art design that I could alter and add to. I found a couple possibilities, then I created the lettering.

I did the lettering with a folded ruling pen and a Mitchell #4 or 5 nib. I used the colors that I used in the clip art design and Dr. Martin's Tech inks. Dipping in the different colors so they would blend a little.

Next I had to scan the lettering in and manipulate it in Photoshop. The clip art was an Illustrator file that I saved as an eps so that I could open it in Photoshop. I won't get too technical, but here is the final design.

I had purchased white T-shirts for $2 each at Michaels when they were on sale last week. I also used an iron on transfer paper for light fabrics by Jolee's. I was skeptical but had little time for experimentation. The directions said to use an inkjet printer and then iron them on. It was great to load the design onto the Jolee's Website and print from there, because it automatically reversed the design so that it would be right reading once ironed on.

This is the result.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. The color is great, the lettering and clip art seem to match pretty well, and it was pretty easy to do. Just a little time consuming, but all in all I did the shirts for about $3-$4 each. I can't wait to do our group photo on the beach, oh and thank goodness I only had 18 to do. Ok, 19 since I messed up and got one wrong size shirt. Ugh.

Until next time. Jen