Learn how to make your own t-shirts for a treasure hunting adventure. We wore ours on a Diamond Hunting expedition at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. You can read more about our trip here.
My daughters love to design their own t-shirts. They especially enjoy planning shirts for family adventures. We made shirts for the Eclipse last year, so this year when we planned a family trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park (a finders keepers diamond mine) in Arkansas, they all wanted to make shirts.
We knew that our adventures at the State Park would be messy. We would be digging in dirt, sifting rocks and minerals in water, and just generally playing in the mud. Also, we took our trip during the heat of summer (though we recommend that you visit the park in the fall when temps are more pleasant). We chose light weight inexpensive shirts in bright solid colors. The girls wanted a different color for each member of the family.
Materials:
- Light colored T-Shirt
- Black fabric paint with a drawing tip
- Glittery fabric paint with a drawing tip
- Adhesive gems
- Cardboard
- Drop cloth / newsprint / or old tablecloth
Before we started painting, we covered our work space with an old plastic tablecloth we use for messy art projects. Then, we placed a sheet of cardboard (empty cereal boxes work well) in the center of each shirt so the paint would not bleed through to both sides.
Each girl painted the front of their shirt with a "path" to find diamonds. The paths were random, so there as no "right way" to draw your path - we did have each path end at an X where treasure would be found.
Then, they sprinkled the shirt with "diamonds" using drops of glittery paint.
We let our shirts dry overnight. Then, we painted the back. Each girl chose nicknames for our "Diamond Hunting Crew" and we wrote the nicknames on the back of each shirt with the black paint.
Again, we allowed the shirts to dry overnight.
Once they were completely dry, the girls adhered the gem stones (we purchased a few sheets of adhesive gems for shirts in the craft aisle at the local craft store).
Then, we wore the shirts to the park!
