Freezer Paper Shirt With Speedball Ink: Stencils With Cricut

Thanks so much to Jenny C for submitting these fun freezer paper stencil projects, made with her Cricut Maker!

Using Speedball Screen Printing Ink and freezer paper stencils is a great way to make custom DIY t-shirts. We’ve got a whole range to share with you in this post!

Cricut Freezer Paper Stencil

Materials needed:

• Cutting machine
• Speedball fabric ink
• An iron or heat press
• Freezer paper
• A paintbrush

Optional materials:

• Weeding tools
• Sponge brush (different texture)
• Hair dryer (for faster drying times)

The Method:

There are multiple ways of making t-shirts with freezer paper and screen printing ink. The following method was used for all the photo examples below. We’ll share another method after the video at the end of the post.

1. Choose a design (free SVGs here) & reverse the image
2. Place a sheet of freezer paper onto heat transfer tape with the shiny side up
3. Place the freezer paper/heat transfer tape combo onto the mat with the transfer tape at the bottom
4. Load into the machine and cut image – using the paper setting on a Cricut machine should work, but do some test cuts first (you only want to cut the freezer paper layer, without cutting the transfer tape)
5. While still on the mat, weed out the parts of the image you want to appear on the shirt
6. Place baking paper and/or a Teflon sheet inside the t-shirt to prevent ink going through onto the back of the tee
7. Lift the transfer tape and freezer paper from the mat and position onto your pre-ironed t-shirt
8. Iron the freezer paper into place
9. Peel away the heat transfer tape
10. Paint over stencil
11. Allow to dry (make take 2-3 hours to air dry, or can be sped up with a hair dryer on warm)
12. Peel away the freezer paper stencil
13. Cover with baking paper and iron for a further 2 or 3 minutes to set the screen printing ink

Check out the video at the end of the post to see a very similar but alternative method. But for now, check out these awesome freezer paper stencil projects!

1. Disney T-Shirts

To start, the freezer paper and heat transfer tape are placed onto the mat, freezer paper on top. The design is cut out of the freezer paper (in reverse) with the Cricut Maker.

The parts of the design that will appear on the shirt are weeded away to reveal a Cricut Mickey Mouse, Goofy, & Daffy (Disney fonts & SVGs)!

The stencils are removed from the mat and placed down (freezer paper against the tee) and pressed onto the t-shirt.

When the stencils are in place, the heat transfer tape can be peeled away. The stencil is then painted with Speedball screen printing ink.

The painted stencils can be blow-dried to help them dry quicker.

When the fabric ink is dry, the freezer paper is peeled away and the t-shirt is complete! Use a heat press machine or iron to set the ink.

Here’s another Disney freezer paper shirt being made. You can see the heat transfer tape over top.

This is a great way to make colorful DIY Disney t-shirts for all the family.

And here is another very intricate freezer paper stencil, using multiple colors. How long did this take to weed?!

2: DIY Star Wars Baby Onesie

Reynolds freezer paper is used to make this Star Wars stencil.

Speedball screen printing ink is awesome for t-shirt stencil projects, and is available in at least 14 different colors.

The image is cut out and weeded, and then painted with the fabric ink.

When the stencil is dry the freezer paper is peeled away… to reveal the coolest little baby bodysuit you could have! You can grab the Star Wars Storm Poopers SVG here.

And another cute baby onesie with stars and stripes (SVG here).

3. Large Freezer Paper T-shirt Transfer

Here are all the materials used for this next t-shirt stencil project.

The design is cut out with the Cricut, weeded, and ironed onto the t-shirt.

The stencil is securely in place and the heat transfer tape is peeled away. The stencil is painted over with Speedball fabric ink.

The stencil is dried with a blow-dryer to help it dry quicker.

Once the stencil is all dry, the freezer paper is peeled away. The t-shirt is finished. This method works great! (Water was accidentally dripped onto the ‘O’!).

Alternative Method Of Shirt Stenciling

The following video is excellent at showing how to make a t shirt with freezer paper, with all the instructions captioned throughout the process. I’ll outline the slight differences from the previous method below.

The differences:

• only the freezer paper is applied to the cutting mat, the design is weeded, then the heat transfer tape is used to transfer and apply the design to the t-shirt
• you do not have to mirror your design if doing it this way
• the benefit of this method is that you don’t have to worry about cutting through the transfer tape underneath the freezer paper
• the benefit of the other method is that it’s easier to move an intricate design (such as the large Disneyland transfer) off the cutting mat and onto the tee

Another great use for freezer paper stencils is to make custom doormats! Leave us a comment down below and let us know if you’ve tried these methods, or if you have any questions. How do you do DIY T shirt painting? Thanks for reading!

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