Rob has also done a metric crapton of rad shirts and print work for bands, taken fantastic photos of New England Ruins and mocked pretty much every lameass scenester out there. In celebration of Fullbleed’s 7th series — as well as an effort to bring back this feature — we asked Rob to share some of his favorite shirts with us. Fortunately, he was more than happy to do so…

iso50 – waterfall tee

i always liked scott hansen’s work, i own a few of his tees and a few of his prints are hanging in my wife’s sewing room. something about how simplistic his tees are gets me everytime. that same style is something i strive for in my own designs and his line was always a big inspiration to me in terms of color / simplicity / iconic imagery.

the one am radio – streetlight tee (appears to be out of stock)

The first time i saw Hrishikesh Hirway (aka the one am radio) in 2002 i was blown away. I picked up this shirt at that very show and despite the fruit of the loom tag claiming it is the “BEST” it feels kinda like cardboard at this point. i still wear it every now and again because i am a sucker for asphalt tees with simple white designs.

invicid – skull astronauts (store appears to be on a break)

much like iso50, mark’s little line was one i always looked forward to when he had new releases. his designs usually featured skulls and bugs but most of the time i was really into whatever he was making. this shirt appealed to me because it almost looked like a post hardcore band had their name removed from the tee, speaking of which…

since by man – distressed logo tee (band has since broken up)

I saw since by man play a few shows when i was in college, i was never their biggest fan recorded, but i thought they always put on a great live show and had some great merch as well. The sheer amount of black tees i bought around this time from post hardcore / screamo bands was enough to fill an entire goodwill dumpster but this one still sticks around in my drawer for whatever reason. the distress on the tee is only getting better with age.

Thanks for sharing, Rob!

A couple weeks back, the fine folks at BoingBoing TV had a great tutorial on guerrilla silkscreening — so it’s time to trot out This Old T-Shirt one more time.

And even tho it’s been covered here before, I’m always interested in exploring alternate methods. So sit back, relax and check out this quick but fairly comprehensive tutorial.

Know of a crafty t-shirt related project that’s a bit less, uh, covered than silkscreening tutorials? Drop us a line!

Old school Preshrunk readers will remember a feature we used to run called “This Old T-Shirt” for all the crafty people in the house. Now, I’m not quite sure if it’s a feature that’s going to make a full comeback or not — but I just came across this months old YouTube video on DIY silkscreening by the gang at Make and I thought I’d share. It’s something that can only really be considered a crash course at best — although it covers most of the basics — but I’m sure the adventurous among you are up for a little trial and error…

What’s really ingenious about this method is it requires very little other than some glue, an embroidery hoop, some sheer nylons and screen printers ink. I swear man, some of these kids on LiveJournal are too crafty for their own good.

As always, we advise you try this method on an unloved t-shirt that you picked up at a thrift store before attempting to screen a fresh, blank tee.

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If you have a few old t-shirts that you don’t have the heart to throw away, you’ll probably appreciate this one. The fine folks at ReadyMade Magazine have thrown together a simple set of instructions for how to convert your ratty old tees into pillows. Just think, that Led Zeppelin or I Shot J.R. shirt would add just the right dash of character and comfort to your otherwise plain Ikea futon.

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I know some of the do-it-yourselfers are chomping at the bit for a new project. Thankfully, Mike Hofstadter pointed us in the direction of 6 DPI from UK design crew Less Rain. 6 DPI is an interesting concept, in that it’s a wearer customizable t-shirt. It starts out as a black tee with a 70 x 30 white pixel grid printed on the front. From there, you’re encouraged to take a black sharpie and black out parts of the grid to create your own design.

For the timid, Less Rain has cooked up a bunch of really great designs and offers a handy PDF to help get you started. But honestly, if you’re going to order a DIY shirt, what’s the fun of going prefab?

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I would have reprinted them as they appeared in the magazine, but I decided to see how the instructions stacked up in the real world. After checking over some forums, I found plenty of people who messed up their tees by following the instructions to the letter. A lot of folks turned their shirts white after soaking them in regular bleach for two days. Others crowed over how using coarse grit sandpaper chewed screenprinting and iron-ons off. So by taking the best bits out of all the suggested modifications to the instructions, I feel that we’ve cooked up a more comprehensive How To.

The only problem is, we haven’t had any time to test the instructions. Since I only added suggestions from forums that garnered positive results, you should be okay. We advise that you try these instructions on a shirt from the thrift store before you try to rough up the Ramones tee you just spent $20 on.

Standard Fade

1. Soak shirt in a solution of 8 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of salt for 3 days. To make a solution, bring the water to a boil and stir in the salt. Let the solution cool before soaking your shirt, or your shirt may shrink.
2. After 3 days, wring your shirt out and give it a quick interior and exterior rubdown with extra or super fine grit sandpaper. Tread lighly over any silkscreening or iron-ons, unless you’re going for that look.
3. Hang your shirt to dry in sun. If you live in a place where there is no sun, consider moving.
4. Give the shirt a quick rinse and wring in your sink. Salt’s really not that good for your washing machine.
5. Wash and dry your shirt as you normally do. We suggest you don’t throw any additional clothes in the load unless you’re adventurous. Heaven forbid there’s any collateral damage.

Industral Strength Fade*

1. Soak shirt in a mixture of 6 cups water, 2 cups color safe bleach and 1/2 cup salt for 2 days. To make this particular mixture, heat the water and stir in the salt until it has disolved. Let the water return to room temperature and mix in the color safe bleach.
2. After 2 days, pull your shirt out of the mixture and immedeatley throw it into your washer. Wash and dry your shirt as you normally would. As we suggested for the Standard Fade, it may be a good idea to let your shirt fly solo on this load.

* Please note that the industrial strength fade is only suggested on a 50/50 cotton/poly blend. Bleach will weaken the cellulosic fibers on your shirt, so please don’t leave the shirt in too long. As with any bleach, it is advised that you check for color fastness as per the instructions on the container before using the above method.

Keep in mind that Preshrunk is not responsible for any shirts that you happen to hose beyond all belief. If they turn out awesome, we’d appreciate any props that you send our way. Reguardless of how it went, we need some feedback to dial the instructions in even further. Cheers!

But as wonderful as the tee is, Sharp As Toast is done completely in flash. This means that there’s no easy way for me to link this shirt, which really bites. When will people learn that Flash is best used for minor site enhancements or Strong Bad email? C’est la vie.

Update: One of the cats at Sharp as Toast was nice enough to send us a direct link to the shirt. Thanks Jimm!

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No? Really? Fine. I guess I have to spell it out then.

SuperNaturale has instructions on how to turn your misfit t-shirts into underwear. Does that make a little more sense?

Jeez, sometimes allusion is totally lost on you.

No, I’m not mad at you. I’m just a bit disappointed. No really, it’s alright…

Anyhow, they’ve got free patterns available for both men’s and women’s skivvies. So break out your sewing maching and make yourself some unmentionables. It’ll help you get your mind off our little fight.

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Stencil Revolution has a solid set of instructions for stenciling your very own shirts. Of course, it helps if you’re familiar with how to make a stencil, but that should be pretty apparent. Just let your inner Martha Stewart out so she can do her thing and you ought to be fine. Just don’t let her do any insider trading, okay?

P.S. If you want to save yourself some heartache, make a tester shirt or two on some inside out shirts from the goodwill. Never just cut a stencil and think the first shirt you do is going to turn out perfectly.

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