Though silk-screening is a fairly straightforward process, the cost and chemicals involved can still be somewhat prohibitive for the no-budget artiste. Plus, unless you’re really going for quantity, it’s a bit of an overkill to stage the whole process for a single t-shirt or a couple of patches. Fortunately, for the price of an embroidery hoop (less than a buck), and a bottle of craft glue, you can make a perfectly usable screen to satisfy your small-scale production needs.

What You’ll Need:

*Embroidery Hoop

*Sheer fabric — old curtain material works best, but old nylons are an acceptable substitute. Generally speaking, the smaller and tighter the weave, the better.

*Non water-soluble craft glue

*An old paintbrush

How To:

Stretch your fabric over the embroidery hoop and lock in tightly. With a pencil, trace the image you want to use onto the fabric (text needs to be written in reverse for it to come out the right way around during printing). Paint craft glue over the areas you don’t want printed and let air-dry. Place hoop with image facedown on the item you’re printing onto (tape down or iron first for best results) and brush screen-printing ink onto your “screen” until saturated. Placing newspaper behind the fabric you’re printing on will help prevent the ink from bleeding through to the back of a t-shirt or onto your tabletop. Gently remove screen from printed material and leave to dry (many fabric inks require setting with a hot iron as well). Wear immediately with pride.

Variation: Reused T-shirt designs

It’s always a sad moment when a beloved old t-shirt just won’t withstand another go-round in the washing machine without disolving into cheese cloth. But you don’t have to say goodbye to your fave image. Just cut the entire panel out along the side seams and across the top below the collar and sleeves. The resulting rectangle can be hemmed along the edges into a quick patch (use a contrasting color of thread to jazz up the effect), and affixed to another t-shirt, jacket, or bag with needle and thread or fabric glue.

Fortunately for newbie do-it-yourselfers, the homemade, "deconstructed" look is in right now — the humbler the execution, the better. Why pay big bucks to achieve an effect you can create with some pinking shears, your silk screen, a needle and thread and some key finds from the back of your closet?