What do I do now?

[Zerbie]

I now have markers and posterboard, plus sign slogan ideas.

But - how do we letter homemade signs? I'm the kind of person who can't even write on a chalkboard because the size of mylettering changes as I go along.


Naturally, I am going to ask other people to letter signs for me. But, should I provide some kind of material that helps people size out the lettering? Like, I dunno, a ruler to keep the lines, haha, straight? Or is it okay to just let folks tackle the posterboard with the markers, free-handed? :confused:

Need a little wisdom here!!!!!!!

[keltic63]

I'm not good at lettering either, and recently for a Halloween decoration project I needed to enlarge letters and put them on a banner. I printed the letters from the computer in the largest font I could. then I took them to a copier and enlarged them again. I bought some graphite paper, laid on top of the banner paper, positioned the photocopied letter and traced it with a pencil. Then I was able to use a black marker to fill in the "stencil" that was created by my tracing. it turned out well.

what about an opaque projector? could you find one of those and project the slogan onto the poster board and trace it? (could you find an opaque projector to borrow??)

[Jennifer5]

If you don't mind the hand-written look, I think that a ruler and marker is all a person will need.... if you want if to look more professional perhaps stencils. :) Wish I could help, I love this kind of stuff. :love:


Good luck!

[sailaway58]

Go to a place that cuts vinyl and let them cut the slogan. Around here you can have a vinyl sign made and put on plastic corrugated for about 6 bucks a sign.
Just cutting the vinyl and you putting it on your poster board would be cheap and easy. Personally I hate hand made signs, not that there is anything wrong with that.

[tdogg]

I think handmade would be ok, especially if they were somewhat artsy. Got to make sure they aren't too artsy or they would be distracting.

Yeah, the easiest and cheapest would be marker and ruler. But if you can get the vinyl deal it might be the best way to go if you have funds for it.

Wish I could be there helping you out Z!

[Zerbie]

We're going with handmade, partly because of expense, but mostly because I am doing the planning all by myself and just don't have time for anything fancy. I definitely do not have time to do what Keltic did. :o It's DIY posterboard with markers, or it's nothing.

So - with that, the item to bring along is a ruler? Anything else that I could pick up in a single shopping trip? What is a stencil?? Should I get one? Where do they sell them?

I should clarify - the sign-making party is this: I am working a booth at Rainbows Festival this weekend, and when people slow down by our booth, I will ask them if they're willing to make a sign. Hopefully, some will say yes. :p I'm counting on it, or we may not have any signs. :pray:

I also don't know how many people attending the vigil are going to want to hold a sign, so I want folks to be able to create their own sign from materials that I suppy at the vigil - to be written while we're standing at the sidewalk. That's why I'm looking for the simplest, easiest available option. Because of time constraints, these are really the only options. Ugh, and I don't know how many pieces of posterboard to have available either! I only bought 10 sheets for starters. I'm guessing a small turnout, but for all I know, it could end up being 200!!

We're only splurging for the one professional sign for our logo, which is costing a great deal and took about an hour to arrange today with Kinkos.

What's my shopping list?

One Ruler.
A stencil???? :confused:

[Zerbie]

Wish I could help, I love this kind of stuff. :love:


Good luck!

Wish I could be there helping you out Z!

Me too!!!!

Why don't ya'll live in Phoenix?? I could so use the help!!!

[BrentRichards]

A trick we use in the office ... if you have access to someone with a computer and a projector, you can lay out the sign in word/publisher, whatever ... and then project it onto the board, moving the board farther from the projector till you get the size you want ... trace away!

[Pablo Rafael]

I would suggest that if you do any hand-lettering don't try to get it uniform. Go with a freeform irregular look. Make it look wilder and less structured. If you want a regular uniform look, it needs to be really precise to work well. If you hand letter, use the irregularity to your advantage and let it be free flowing and loose.

[sailaway58]

I probably told this before but 29 years ago or so when I went to Indy to march against homosexuality we made some signs to hold. I didn't want one, I just have never been much of a sign holder kind of guy, but I digress. One old farmer made a sign that said, "No Homosexual Teahers!". someone pointed out to him his error so he fixed it with paper and tape. Real classy!.
Oct 12th I will make right the error of my youth.

Don't worry Zerbie, I'm guessing that at an equal rights rally for gays someone will show up that has a little artistic ability.
I'm curious what you will put on the signs.

[Daniel]

Zerbie- Go to an art supply store and buy a set of stencils of letters. They come in all sorts of sizes and fonts. All you have to do is line the letters up along a thin penciled line- taping them down with painters tape (which doens't stick that much). Use magic markers to fill the letters in. When done, erase your guide line. Piece of cake.

[Alecto]

If you do not have the money in the budget for stencils, you could probably make some out of like cereal-box thickness cardboard.

I guess if you can get 'em, they're a good idea for people to choose, but I'd personally tell people that they're only an option. I agree that there's something a little more...personal about it when it's hand lettered.

[Zerbie]

I'm curious what you will put on the signs.

SF provided a list of sign slogan ideas. I am going to add one or two of my own, and then make the list available to folks willing to take the time to letter a sign. Plus leave materials for folks to make their own sign at the beginning of the vigil. I envision parents with signs like "We love our gay son," that kind of thing. One that I came up with is "Value ALL Families." I definitely want that one included - maybe I'll hold that one for some photos. I dunno at this point. :p

Zerbie- Go to an art supply store and buy a set of stencils of letters. They come in all sorts of sizes and fonts. All you have to do is line the letters up along a thin penciled line- taping them down with painters tape (which doens't stick that much). Use magic markers to fill the letters in. When done, erase your guide line. Piece of cake.

Oh okay - so a chain store like Michael's might have this stencil stuff? Will check! Sounds like it would help a great deal.

If you do not have the money in the budget for stencils, you could probably make some out of like cereal-box thickness cardboard.



Hmmm - I have no idea what stencils cost. I just spent a bunch of $$$ for our professionally mounted 7SN logo today, plus for the poster materials and stuff to hold our professional sign up on - so I need to compute what I've spent out of our budget and figure how much is left to play with. But if stencils are a small cost, it should be no problem to add that in.

Thanks for the ideas everyone!! I'll be shopping!
*kiss*
:wave:

[Jennifer5]

I'm imagine you'll know exactly what a stencil is when you see it... not expensive at all I don't think. They would be nice to have, but not necessary.

:love: Keep us updated and let us know if you have any more questions.

[keltic63]

Oh okay - so a chain store like Michael's might have this stencil stuff? Will check! Sounds like it would help a great deal.



I was at a Michael's on Monday, and while they had some stencils for lettering, they didn't have a big variety. You need to check out a real art supply store, and office supply stores, Mom and Pop variety if possible. they might have more style choices. Staples and Office depot have them, but not much variety. Teacher Supply stores carry them too, but I think they tend to be more expensive.

[BrentRichards]

Staples (93 of 100 on the HRC Buying for Equality guide) and Office Depot (only 60 on the Guide) will also be likely to have vinyl stick on letters of various colors and sizes ... though this would also be a slightly more expensive option.

[Zerbie]

Okay, thanks for mentioning stencils. Such a nice simple item, I had never seen them before.

I just now bought some plain simple stencils at Staples, and also picked up additional markers in rainbow colors, so we could trace our letters in rainbows if anyone wants to do that.

Also picked up our professionally mounted sign today with the 7SN logo: it looks really good.