T-shirt creations

Since Jaden didn't choose a project from my art book, he and I decided to make him another gorilla shirt. I made him one for his birthday in February. He wears that one all the time, even when it's dirty. Sometimes he digs it out of the dirty laundry basket to wear it! Such a silly boy...

Mia asked if she could make one, too, so I bought plain t-shirts in the color of their choosing. Then, on Friday night, we went to my parent's house for a fun overnight and decided to work on them then.

The first thing I had Mia do was draw out her design with chalk. She wanted to make a western t-shirt, so she asked me to help her draw a bandana and a bunch of x's on the front of the shirt. The next morning, she and I worked on painting it but didn't finish it during our time together. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the end result. :(

Jaden and I set out to work on his on Friday night, too. He wanted me to draw it, but when I started, things were not looking good (thankfully, it was in chalk, so I could just rub it out). He said, "That doesn't look like a gorilla!" I said, "I know, Jaden...if only I had a picture of one to look at, then I can probably do it." My mom found a picture of a gorilla in a coloring book, so I used that as my guide.

When I was done drawing it out, this is what it looked like:

Both Jaden and I were happy with it. I thought it would look like a real chalkboard drawing if I went over the design with white paint, but he wanted red instead.

On Saturday morning, Jaden watched as I began painting over the chalk lines with red acrylic paint. If you want to try this, make sure you use permanent water-based paint. And of course, fabric paint works very well, too! He helped me paint the feet as I guided his hands over the lines. He was very proud of that, as he told his parents later that he helped his auntie paint it.

After a few hours of drying, Jaden wanted to wear it so badly, so I placed it in the dryer for about 15 minutes to heat set it. He was so excited about his new gorilla shirt. He also tends to act like a gorilla when he's wearing it! ;) Later that day, he decided to wear both gorilla shirts at the same time and said he'd like to have a third one--such a nut! 

This was such a fun project to do with Mia and Jaden. It is such a great thing to do with the young people in your life.