Samurai Champloo screen print

Man, I've been meaning to screen print for a long time, but honestly I have so many t-shirts that I really don't need any more. So instead of extending my man-boy status another few years, I decided to add a design to a hoodie I wear around the house.

The design is from Samurai Champloo. It's the clan symbol that appears on Jin's clothing. I figured it was normal enough that most people wouldn't realize it was anime-related, but anyone who's seen the show would recognize it. Does that make sense?

[fan art by *Brolo on deviantART]

After doing some online research, I found that using freezer paper would be a lot easier than regular screen printing. Screen printing involves creating a reusable stencil, and since I was only going to do this once, I only needed a one-time freezer paper stencil. Freezer paper, not to be confused with wax paper or parchment paper, is only waxy on one side. You cut your stencil out of the freezer paper, iron the waxy side onto your shirt, paint over the stencil, let it dry, and pull off the stencil. I used actual screen printing ink, so I had to heat set the designs with an iron once it was done. You can use fabric ink, which is easier to find in craft stores, but I don't think it stays on as long through washes.

Some tips:

• I'd suggest modeling the shirt you're going to print on, then placing the stencil or printed design where you want it. Then mark where you're going to place the stencil on your shirt with safety pins or something. In my case, I would have like the designs on the front and sleeves to be up a couples of inches, and a bit smaller.
  
• Cutting out the design might be the hardest and most important part. Get a good exacto knife, a cutting mat or something thick to cut on, and be patient. You can always start over! 
• Take a few minutes to iron the stencil onto the shirt. Make sure every bit of paper is stuck to the fabric! 
• I heard a mini foam paint roller worked best, but I got little air bubbles in the paint when I used it. I ended up using a regular foam paint brush, which worked fine, but then again my design was really simple. 
• Only apply a single thin coat of paint! I thought it wouldn't be enough and applied a second coat, and the paint later cracked. This is probably different if you're doing actual screen printing.
• Things like this are 90 percent planning... but that might just be because I over prepare. The actual work probably took less than an hour. 

 Here's a close-up of the designs. The one on the left was two coats, the one on the right was one coat.

It's hard to tell, but the edges of the single-coat design are a lot crisper and cleaner. It almost looks like the paint on the left-hand design seeped through the borders of the stencil.

The following articles were really helpful, though they all say about the same thing.
Make T-Shirt Stencils from Freezer Paper
Freezer Paper - Who Knew!?
Stenciling Phoenix Wright: An Illustrated Guide!