At CREA BASE, you can enjoy arts and crafts without the need to bring your own supplies, and its new shop has opened where visitors can enjoy designing and making their own T-shirts and tote bags.

CREA BASE studio, which had its grand opening in July 2024, is just a two-minute walk from Shinjuku-Gyoen Station. The shop's interior has a stylish yet relaxed atmosphere. The sight of colorful inks and embroidery threads is quick to lift the mood.

You can make three types of items: "silk-screen T-shirts” that are directly printed with ink, "original badge T-shirts” featuring a badge of your own design sewn on, and "uchinoko tote bags” designed with motifs such as your dog.

This time, we tried making a silk-screen T-shirt. The basic course fee is 6,600 yen.

The first step is to draw the design on a tablet. It's fun to draw things that fit your mood and tastes, but if you're unsure you can draw well in the time available, you can bring in designs created in advance, or you can draw by tracing over images or photos.

The course generally takes around 90 minutes. It's recommended to go in with some kind of design in mind!

Once the design is drawn, the staff will print it on a sheet. You take the sheet and fit it to a board to create a screen. Once that's done, it's time to choose the ink! The shelves are lined with more than 20 colors of ink, and it's fun to choose a color while picturing the finished product in your mind.

Fitting the sheet into the board was unexpectedly difficult, but with a bit of help from the staff, we managed to complete the process.

Finally, place the screen against the T-shirt to print the design with the ink. The staff will show you how to hold the board when printing, give advice on the right amount of force to use, and other helpful tips, so even beginners can create with confidence.

Slowly apply the ink while taking care not to apply too much force!

Editor Hayashi's creation. The white ink looks cute on a black T-shirt!

Silk-screen printing requires a screen for each color, so the same process is repeated for each color used. For the second and subsequent colors, you have to set the screens on top of the first print to prevent the colors from shifting, but editor Jinnai drew the design to be colored too small and regretted it. With the help of the staff, he adjusted the screen's position millimeter by millimeter before committing to the print.

She lifted the screen with a sense of trepidation, but it turned out beautifully! What a happy surprise!

The basic course fee allows up to two colors, but if you want to add more, you can do so for an additional 1,000 yen per color. Customize it to your liking! After printing each color and drying the ink with a hair dryer, the T-shirt was finally completed!

Making a one-of-a-kind T-shirt is a great way to create a T-shirt that matches your tastes, or to give as a gift to loved ones. Because you do everything from design to ink printing by yourself, you will be able to experience the joy that only comes from finishing a handmade product. Why not try your hand at making a special memory?

■DATA [Shop Details] Address: Sekiguchi Bldg. 2F, 1-15-4 Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Business hours: 11:00 – 16:00 Course timings: (1) 11:00 – / (2) 14:30 – (90 minutes each) Course fee: ¥6,600 – (Silk-screen T-shirt) *Price varies depending on the course. See the shop website for more details. No fixed closure days TEL: 080-4055-1181 Official website:https://creabase.jp/studio/ Instagram: @creabase.jp (Information as of September 2024.)

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