Use craft foam to cut out designs, glue on wood blocks, and make "custom" block printing images for t-shirts. We used the theme "He came; He died; He rose; He ascended; He's coming back" theme to make custom shirts for our VBS with the theme:
Witness the Jesus Way. We had everyone BYO their own shirt in whatever style they chose. They selected three complementary colors of fabric paint and "spritzed" their shirt front and back. The fabric paint dries fairly quickly, particularly in the Texas HOT summer heat. TIP: Make your own fabric sprays by mixing 1/3 acrylic paint to 2/3 water in a small (hairspray) bottle OR refill the fabric spray bottles using the same paint-to-water ratio. After the spritzed paint dries use already prepared block prints to imprint the five symbols. Have teens or adults help the smaller children do the block imprint. TIP: do a prototype ahead of time so the design concept is readily available for everyone to see. Also, begin your design by positioning the middle element and imprinting it first in the center; otherwise you might misjudge the amount of space and run out of room on either side. To avoid this, begin in the center and work your way out.
Use a paintbrush to "load" the stamp with acrylic paint. Position the imprint slightly below the neckline so it is "above" the chest. Press the block with a firm hand that doesn't wiggle/move the stamp once it is placed on the fabric. The same homemade block stamps can be customized for virtually any "chunky" design that doesn't require a lot of detail.
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| Begin in the center and work out. |
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| The completed imprint. |
