J is for Julian

Kathy is one of 2 really awesome women I've met on Etsy. We talk almost every day and she's so much like me, it's kind of scary. We talk about our husbands, our kids, our issues....and we laugh hysterically for about 70% of every conversation. She's an amazing mom of 2 kids. Julian (coincidentally, he has the same [not very common] name as my nephew] is 2 and he's her oldest. He has a speech condition known as Childhood Apraxia of Speech. There's a video here that explains this condition fairly well. Anyway, so Kathy and her husband have been doing signing with Julian to help him express himself until he's more verbal. So, I thought it would be cool to make Julian a shirt that spelled out his name in ASL or American Sign Language. Cute AND educational, right? So, here it is!


The shirt, in its entirety.



A close-up.



I thought it might be helpful for anyone interested in my process to see the freezer paper stencil when I peeled it off after the paint was dry. See all the holey bits? Every one of them is cut out with an exacto knife. You may notice there are some key parts missing. I'll get to that in a minute.


Alright, here are all those key parts. These are free floating pieces (known as islands) that have to be saved and attached separately. There were lots of them for this shirt. Lots and lots. And lots. I put my finger there so you could see how teeny tiny some of the pieces were.





So, yeah, that's about it. Hope you like the shirt, Kathy and Julian!!!