Screen Printing with Contact Paper

I did a lot of screen printing with my class when I was teaching up in the Kimberleys. We just used paper templates and it always seemed to work quite well.A few months ago I thought I'd try printing on some fabric and had no luck using paper templates. They always crinkle, let paint through in the wrong spot and the result was smudgy. A few weeks ago I did a google search for alternatives and found a few people using contact paper. It works fantastically!!

I just trace my design onto the paper side of the contact, cut out the design, peel off the backing and stick it onto the screen. It also allows you to cut out tiny pieces, like the centre of a flower, and stick them onto the screen. 

I had a stack of tea towel blanks I'd had for years so printed a few teacher presents.

There are a lot of second hand t-shirts around here that are a bit stained, but still have a lot of wear in them, so I printed a few for Olive and they are good for another summer!

Next I bought a few plain t-shirts from Target. 

 I'm been using Procreate on my iPad pro to sketch simple designs to screen print then I can print them out in various sizes to see what is best on the shirts.

I do have a few ideas that are a little too complex for contact paper so I've ordered some drawing fluid and filler to see how that works.