Step one : Choose your text:
Are you pressuring a Representative or a Senator? Choose Rep. or Sen. followed by their last name.
Are you highlighting the gift ban or the gerrymandering bill? Choose giftban.org to direct people to our site.
Here is the text for the following 5 signs:
| ASK REP. | | TURZAI TO | | PASS THE | | GIFT BAN | | GIFTBAN.ORG |
You can also add on more signs and take on the gift ban and fair districts at the same time!
Step Two : cut Your Sign
STEP THREE : MAKE STENCIL
The signs are 2 x 4 feet painted on insulation board. (Owens Corning FOAMULAR 1/2 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. Squared Edge Insulating Sheathing). Boards come in 4 ft. x 8 ft. sheets and have to be carefully cut. Before cutting, remove the transparent plastic layer on the side to be painted. The best way to get a clean cut is to use a very thin blade that is longer than the board is thick (example) and use a firmly secured straight edge as a guide. Spring clamps are the easiest way to secure the straight edge to the board while cutting. This is the easiest straight edge to use. You can probably do a pretty good job with the tools you already have, but the ones noted here make it easier and quicker. In order to get the boards in my car, I cut the boards to size in the parking lot of the Home Depot, using the large flat shopping carts as a table. Cost of materials per sign is about $3.25.
White background is two coats of Kilz 2 applied with roller. Readable at 300+ feet. At 50 mph, it would be readable from a car for 3-4 seconds.
Lettering is 10 inches tall – standard STOP sign height. Font is Ostrich Sans HERE, printed at 104% size.
Make stencil:
Print letters on printer paper
Staple letters to manila folder
Cut out letters to produce manila folder thickness letters
Cut 4ft. X 2 ft. piece of roofing paper from a roll of #30 Felt Roof Deck Paper
Arrange and space the cut-out letters on roofing paper
Trace letters with pencil
Using a ruler cut letters out of the roofing paper so that the negative of the letters remain, making one big stencil.
(Note: If you are only making one sign there is no need to cut a stencil. Just cut out the letters on the manila folder material, line them up straight, eyeball them for spacing, and trace them. The advantage of using a stencil is for quick mass production.)
Paint letters: (see this video)
Line up 4ft. X 2 ft. stencil on top of 4ft. X 2 ft. pre-painted white board.
Trace letters with blue or red Sharpie Chisel Tip marker using the wide tip to make the widest border lines possible.
Fill-in letters blue letters by hand painting inside the lines you made with the marker using Sherwin Williams Honorable Blue 6811 . (This is the color that best matches the Sharpie blue. This allow us to make solid looking letters without fussing around with painting the edges cleanly. The blue in the picture is not the final color. Final color is more toward the purple.) Use the red paint (Behr Paints, Flirt Alert P150-7) for the legislator’s name and (on sign #4) “GIFT BAN”.
Let paint dry.
Re-paint for more solid color.
Touch up with white Kilz 2, if necessary.
(The signs showing the webpage (example: GiftBan.Org) should have the web address on both sides. The person holding that sign does not need to stand “in a sentence” like the others but can roam around showing both sides of the sign to traffic in every direction.)
Step Three: Finding the right place, time, and details for citizen billboarding
Location of event: The best location is one with a lot of traffic that consists mostly of constituents and long stop lights. Set up your crew at an intersection that is busy from all directions. Drivers should pull up to a red light and look to their left and have a clear view of the billboard. That is your best audience. Traffic coming from other directions may also see the signs but you will have trouble letting everyone see them. If you have extra people, have them hold the website sign (example: GiftBan.Org) which, unlike the other signs, should be double-sided) so that even traffic that can’t see the main message can see the website address and be able to look it up.
Time of event: Busy traffic time is best. Rush hour can be good. Saturdays, near shopping areas, can be good. Be mindful of the density of constituents among the traffic. If rush hour includes a lot of people just passing through, it might be better to do a Saturday even if that would mean fewer cars but more local people.
Getting Citizens for the Citizen Billboard Event: Contact MOH organizer (Michael@MarchOnHarrisburg.org) for list of volunteers in your area and to get your event up on the MarchOnHarrisburg Facebook page.