Things were a little slow at Mary Ella’s Salon in Bakersfield, Calif., so nail technician Carol Crismas thought she’d see how her clients’ favorite nail art beach scene looked airbrushed on a T-shirt. It looked good. Since then, Crismas has been airbrushing T-shirts with dolphins, cartoon characters, and even Santa Claus, much to the delight of her customers, who snap them up and sometimes even purchase her matching airbrushed earrings. “Airbrushing a T-shirt is not really any different than airbrushing a nail,” says Crismas, “except that the scale is larger and you have to heat-set the shirts by ironing them or putting them in the dryer.”

It was boredom that started nail technician Carol Crismas airbrushing on T-shirts. It’s profit that keeps her doing it.

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