Thursday, January 17, 2019

DIY girl power protest sign



The annual women's march is coming up this weekend and I'm here to help if you need an easy last minute sign! I feel so much more optimistic and excited about the march this year. In 2017 it was a really solemn occasion. It was cathartic, but I felt so hopeless. But now that Nancy Pelosi is the Speaker again and we have over 100 women in Congress for the first time (!!) and we're getting SO close to the 2020 election, I just feel so much more energetic and hopeful!



Materials you'll need:

2 sheets of colored poster board
1 sheet of foam board
My free template (download here)
Scissors
Utility knife

You'll also need either sticker paper, white paint, or white card stock and glue depending on which method you want to use and what materials you already have on hand if you're doing this at the last minute :) Be sure to read through the whole tutorial before deciding how you want to make your sign since I have a few different ways. It's kind of like a Choose Your Own Adventure protest sign, lol!



If you want to make a double-sided sign with a handle, you'll need to use all three pieces of board. If you're just going to make a double-sided or single-sided sign to hold with your hands, you can leave out the foam board.

Start out by cutting a large circle out of the board. If you have a garbage can lid that you can trace, that's probably the easiest way to do this. I didn't have one (our garbage lids are rectangular, darn it!) so I tied a piece of string to a pencil and drew it that way (there's a tutorial for this method on youtube here.)



If you have white sticker paper, print out the template onto the paper and then cut out each letter. Lay out your design and then stick each letter to the board one by one.

If you're going to paint the letters onto the sign, print out the template onto plain paper and then cut out and trace the letters onto your board.

And if you're using paper and glue, print out the template onto white card stock, cut out the letters, and then glue them onto the board.



If you're using a handle, tape it to the bottom of the foam board and sandwich the foam board in between the two pieces of poster board. I also edged my foam board with red masking tape to make it look prettier ;) Most cities only allow cardboard for sign handles, since wood or metal can be dangerous, so make sure whatever material you're using is OK before attaching it!

ps. This design is also available on t-shirts, totes, mugs, etc. in my Threadless shop right here, and it's included in my new feminist button set right here.