Class Shirts

Okay, I'm going to brag for a moment.  I have the coolest class shirts EVER! 

I had the opportunity to take a screenprinting class at Confratute which is a week-long workshop at UCONN for gifted and talented education.  I'm actually a graduate student at UCONN and taking Confratute is part of my graduate program.  Since I was signed up for a multitude of academic strands where I was learning so much information to help me become a better teacher, I wanted to balance my time with an art class.  During the week of class, we learned different styles of screenprinting and I made this screen myself.  I'm so excited that I get to use the screen over and over again for years to come!

I created the screen to incorporate important words and themes that we embody all year long in our classroom.  It was a fun challenge to put these words together in a cohesive design.  Even if you don't have a screenprinting screen, you can come up with a class logo and make iron-on transfers.  You could also make a stencil or use puffy fabric paint. 

I almost forgot to mention that we even did the tie dye ourselves! 

Mrs. Touponce's tie dye tips:

• get your shirts WET before twisting and tying
• use squirt bottles to get the dye deep into the shirt creases
• never use more than three colors per shirt (unless you want brown)
• if you want things to be even and neat, have students direct where YOU squirt the dye
• let your shirts sit AT LEAST overnight for the brightest colors
• wear old clothes (and shoes) on the tie dye day
• do the project outside

I can say that my last two tips are given from experience!  I didn't know when we would have a chance to tie dye our shirts this past year so I ended up wearing a dress to school that day (fail).  We also had to do this project indoors because it was raining outside.  Not a good combination!  I was so nervous, I was sweating.  But they came out great!  Plus, our carpet was stain-free. 

Here is how to set your shirt up for the spiral pattern we used: