DIY Fantastic: Lightning bolt t-shirt

Sorry for the radio silence folks, we've been a gallivanting of late,but are back in Blighty (worst luck!), but lucky for your it means more fun-filled diys. All together now...."yipee'! Alright alright, I'll calm down. Please excuse this excessive enthusiasm, I'm just excited to be back on the diy band-wagon! 

So on to today's diy, Ben's lightning bolt tee. After dancing our socks off till the wee hours in Amnesia last summer, Mr Fantastic determined he needed a new clubbing tee. And who am I to deny him this little treat? So rather than spend a small fortune in Amnesia's store, I jumped to it and whipped up this neon little number perfect for popping on before a party night!

These are all the ingredients you need:

The only special ingredient you need is the textile medium fixative that will set the acrylic paint. You should be able to find this in your nearest arts and craft store. The steps for this are truly simple and best of all can be tailored to whatever shape or image you fancy! I opted for a fluro lightning bolt to make this a party tee of the sort that glows under UV lights! :) Once you've decided on your design, then the steps are:

1. Create your desired shape on the front (not being restrictive here, you can do the back too if you wish!!) using the masking tape. I went a bit OTT and used quite a LOT of masking tape as I was worried about the paint running or seeping out, but with the consistency of my paint this didn't seem to happen (bonus!).

2. Then follow the instructions on your textile medium to combine it with your acrylic paint (mine said equal parts of medium to paint) combining colours to get that perfect shade.  

3. Next start filling in your design. Depending on your colour choices it may be handy to do a plain white undercoat, think this would have helped in my case for sure! I wanted the yellow to really pop so I had to put in a few layers to get the desired effect. With the layers I kept them as thin and smooth as possible and allowed a fair few hours between coats. (Does this sounds like a Dulux guide to you?!!) 

4. Allow your final coat to dry thoroughly and then gently peel off your masking tape to reveal your design. I was chuffed with the really clean cut lines I achieved, go masking tape! 

5. And super important the last bit - iron your design thoroughly before letting it anywhere near the washing machine! In fact I'd stick with hand-washing, just to be on the safe side. I ironed it over baking paper and a tea towel to avoid stickage, but make sure it really sets!

Then pop it on and party!

And finally, because you know we can't resist ending on an out-take or a truly ridiculous gif. Plus, this one is just too good not to be shared!

Fabulous darling! :) xx