You Shall Know My Postocity.

Picket Signs mini-HOWTO
Victor Piterbarg & Alex Fabrikant <sign-making@happycool.com>
v0.0.9p1, 15 Aug 2001

This document provides a simple introduction to making effective
picket signs efficiently. The totality of information presented herein
was gathered from the authors' very limited experience only and is
effectively just a minimal collection of "lessons learned."

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The "basic sign"

3. Supplies

   3.1 Sign components
   3.2 Sign handles
   3.3 Writing implements
   3.4 Tools

4. Putting it all together

   4.1 "Standard" design
   4.2 Half-size sign
   4.3 Handle-less sign

5. Further resources

6. Acknowledgements/updates/corrections

7. Revision history

______________________________________________________________________

1. Introduction

Seems like lately we've been having a lot of protests, and making
signs is an essential part of participating in a protest. Doing this
is fairly easy, but it's even easier when you know what you are
doing. It's especially good when you know what it is you need to buy,
and be able to set a budget before you go shopping. Most of our
experience comes from working on Dmitry Sklyarov protests in the Bay
Area and in LA. I hope this will be helpful to everyone who's making
protest signs. It should be noted that we did most of our shopping at
K-Mart, Home Depot, and Office Depot; the "where to buy" information
is thus mostly with regard to those places -- there're probably better
places to buy some of the stuff, but we don't know what they are.

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2. The "basic sign"

A basic sign should possess several qualities:

1. It should be sturdy so it doesn't blow over in the wind or fall
   apart.

2. It should be double-sided, because people look at you from all
   sides.

3. It should be easy to hold, because you may end up protesting for
   several hours, and you wouldn't want your arms to fall off.

4. It should carry a clear, concise, and easily readable message.

______________________________________________________________________

3. Supplies

This section lists all the supplies you may possibly need for making
signs; take heed of items marked "Optional" -- those are, indeed,
optional. Prices (and, consequently, budgets) are very approximate,
even as of the date of writing, and can vary widely depending on where
you are and where you shop.


3.1. Sign components

- Lots of cardboard: Cardboard is a fairly common commodity. However,
  if you happen to run out, you can purchase cardboard boxes at
  hardware stores, like Home Depot.  Discarded cardboard boxes may be
  found anywhere where people use or sell lots of stuff that comes in
  large cardboard boxes. Use your imagination (or buy some
  [boxes... or imagination]). Cost is effectively $0.

- Lots of posterboard: The posterboard should be standard size (about
  2' x 3'). You can use any color. White works best, light neon colors
  work well too. You can use black, and spray-paint it with white
  enamel. These go for about $0.40-$0.80 a piece, and can be found at
  pretty much any place that sells art supplies for kids (K-Mart
  worked for us). Larger sizes of posterboard can be difficult to
  carry, but can also yield a couple of _very_ visible signs if used
  appropriately.

- Foam core (optional): A more expensive but faster alternative to
  using posterboard and cardboard, then attaching the two
  together. Larger sizes may not hold up to wind, and thus require
  cardboard backing anyway.

- Shipping tape: One roll of fat transparent shipping tape lasts
  forever, but get two. It's about $2-$3 a roll anywhere.


3.2. Sign handles

In general, the handle length should either be ~4-5 feet if you intend
to hold the sign in the air, or ~8-9 feet if you want to be able to
put the handle on the ground and still have the sign visible above the
crowd (this is likely to be implausible with lathes or cardboard
tubes since they will break/bend easily).

- Wooden sticks: The cross section should be either rectangular or
  rounded -- the rounded ones are easier on your hands, but harder to
  attach to the cardboard. The diameter for the round cross-section
  should be about 1-1.5"; the dimensions of the rectangular
  cross-section should be about 1"x2.5". You want a good portion of
  the stick inside the posterboard and still have something to hold on
  to. Home Depot works well for this; you can cut the right length
  right in the store or get pre-cut sticks. Price: e.g. $10 for a
  bundle of 8 6'x1"x2" sticks.

- Laths (optional): Unfinished wood, often varying in quality, noticeably
  cheaper, and often too thin to be durable. If it's much thinner than an
  inch, you're risking having the thing snap in the middle of
  everything. Make sure you look through the pile at whichever place you
  buy these at, since you can often find usable pieces among a bunch of
  crappy ones. We're told ~20 pieces of reasonable size can be obtained
  for ~$5.

- Cardboard tubes (optional): In certain situations, police may ask
  that you not use wooden sticks as a safety precaution; in that
  situation, the next best alternative is sturdy cardboard tube. This
  is likely to be more expensive though, and the signs won't come out
  as durable. Should be obtainable from any mailing supplies store;
  price estimate N/A. A strip of multi-ply cardboard, or several
  strips of single-ply cardboard "cocooned" together with shipping
  tape can also work for handles. Remember to wrap the "holding" area
  of the handle with tape if you do this; else, the sign will be quite
  unpleasant to hold.


3.3. Writing implements

- FAT BLACK PERMANENT MARKERS: You can never go wrong with those (the
  fatter the better). They are apparently to be found at office
  supplies stores -- Office Depot has 1"+ width markers; those have
  prices in the $1-$2 range; we're told Office Max doesn't carry
  these. Narrower (1/2"?) "Marks-a-lots" are sold in boxes of 10 at
  about $5.

- Color markers: It never hurts to add some happy colors to your signs
  as well; a set of 1/4"-thick Crayola markers(?) proved quite
  useful. Can be found in any "art supplies for kids" section. ~$3 will
  buy a set of 8.

- Pencils/erasers: Useful for sketching sign layout before you start
  coloring everything in with markers/stencils, especially if you have
  time to make signs neatly. Once again, don't forget to get erasers. And
  have a pencil sharpener around unless you're using mechanical pencils.
  "Cheap." Erasers are around $0.50, wood pencils are much less than that.

- Stencils and tape (optional): If you have terrible handwriting, or
  just want your signs to look really neat, use stencils. If possible,
  check if the stencil set you're buying is complete; we've somehow
  ended up with missing letters in ours. Buying multiple sets is
  advised, since it is easier to use pre-arranged words, and words
  tend to have repeat letters. Large stencils can be found at an
  office supplies store (or at a hardware store). Get some narrow
  transparent tape (a la 3M's Scotch tape) too, for holding the
  stencils together. A set of stencils is around $3; tape is around
  $0.50.

- Spray-paint (optional): This is particularly useful if you get
  stencils. Be forewarned that spray-painting text without stencils is
  difficult and yields rather poor-looking results [in our
  experience]. Furthermore, even with stencils, spray-painting IS AN
  ART. Get some practice before doing it for real. A person with prior
  spray-painting experience proved to be _very_ instrumental in our
  experience. Spray paint is also useful if you bought a bunch of
  black posterboard, and have nothing to write on it with. You can
  either spray paint your message directly, or spray paint the board
  white, wait for it to dry and then write with regular markers on the
  dried spray-paint. A large can of paint costs ~$2 at a hardware
  store.

- "Window chalk" (optional): Odd-looking things that we found at
  K-Mart -- thick, foam-tipped, ink-based. These are fairly expensive ($8
  for a set of 4), but yield bright color, and are quick to use given
  the tip thickness. The ink is so thick that the lighter colors can easily
  be used on black posterboard with decent results, and white can be used
  as fast whiteout for large areas.

- Fine markers (optional): "Sharpies" can be nice for drawing in fine
  details, but are less practical for "quick and dirty" signs that
  need to be readable and quick to make. Can be found in any "art
  supplies for kids" section.


3.4. Tools

- Staples and staple gun/stapler: You may need to staple the
  cardboard and the posterboard to a stick.  You will need fairly long
  staples for this, in the vicinity of 3/4" (9/16" has worked in the
  past). Obviously a staple-gun would be very useful, but a stapler
  can substitute if need be. You may also use glue, but it's not as
  sturdy, and much messier. Don't get staple gun staples shorter than
  1/2".

- Nails and hammer/nailgun (optional): A potential alternative to using
  staples.

- Knife: You will need to cut cardboard. A utility knife is best, but
  a pocket knife will work too.

- Scissors: Always useful for cutting tape and other stuff.

- Exacto knife (optional): Can be useful for some tasks, such as
  making additional stencils.

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4. Putting it all together.

This section gives the instructions for making a "standard"-design
picket sign and some adjustments that can be made to them while still
yielding a usable sign.

4.1. "Standard" design

a. Figure out what you want to put on the sign. Make sure your
   messages are short enough to fit onto the sign in VERY LARGE
   LETTERS. Target length should be 4 words. Anything past 8-10 words
   is almost guaranteed to be unusable. Remember that each sign can
   have 2 distinct slogans, one for each side.

b. Assuming you came up with a clever message, write it on the poster
   board. Use a pencil to do a quick sketch of what you want on the
   poster to make sure you don't run out of space at the end of a line
   or at the bottom of the text area; definitely do a sketch first if
   you want to add any non-text "artwork". It is often forgotten that
   a posterboard has two sides, so if you mess up on one side there's
   always the other one. Since our target "model" is cardboard
   sandwiched between two posterboards, one side of each posterboard
   will be out of sight.

c. Take another poster board and write a different message.

d. Take a large piece of cardboard, and place one of your posterboards
   with a message onto the cardboard. Cut around the posterboard until
   you have a piece of cardboard which is the same size as your
   posterboard. You may prepare these uniformly sized pieces of
   cardboard ahead of time.

e. Now take one of the posterboards and place it onto the
   cardboard. Then place both of these over a stick. You can use
   either the "landscape" (longest side horizontal) or "portrait"
   (shortest side horizontal) orientation; the stick should run
   through at least 2/3 of the dimension along which it's inserted;
   also make sure to CENTER the stick and make sure it crosses all
   creases in the cardboard so that the sign doesn't fold. Run a
   few staples into the stick from the posterboard side. You can also
   use glue. Then place the other posterboard on the other
   side. Staple the posterboard to the stick as well. DO NOT BOTHER
   stapling posterboard to the cardboard; if the staples are short
   enough to not stick out on the other side, they'll soon fall
   out. Now tape both of the posterboards and the cardboard together
   along the edges. If you're using cardboard handles, use tape
   instead of staples.

f. If you plan to use the sign in a WINDY AREA, cutting some
   horizontal slits will help relieve the force exerted on your sign
   by the wind, making it noticeably easier to hold.
   
At this point, you should have constructed a picket sign. If you
constructed a turbo jet engine instead, disassemble it, re-read the
instructions carefully, and start over from step (b), or from step (a)
if your turbo jet engine does not feature a catchy slogan either.


4.2. Half-size sign

Parts (b)-(d) above may be modified by using only 1 posterboard, and
folding it across the longer dimension, and inserting a half-sized
piece of cardboard inside. The rest of the instructions hold, although
a thinner handle may suffice here.


4.3. Handle-less sign

If you are out of handles or are intentionally making signs to be held
below head-level, and are thus not using handles, make sure you _cut_
holes into the cardboard to serve as handles; these should be at least
1.5" from the side and wide enough to allow people to stick hands
through them easily.

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5. Further Resources

The Australian Critics of Scientology group has some useful information
about picket signs, which some of this document stems from; it's posted
at:

http://scn.martinobrien.com/picket/ETHERCAT/GERARD/DEMO/HOWTO/INDEX.HTM#signs

At the time of writing, this seems to be the sole useful resource on
the subject that Google knows about.

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6. Acknowledgements/Updates/Corrections

This document was created and is currently being maintained by Victor
Piterbarg and Alex Fabrikant. The following people (among others whom
we've probably forgotten) have contributed information and pointers as
well: C. Scott Ananian, Don Marti, Paul Palinkas, Morgan W., Andrea. Let
us know if your name is missing.

To contribute corrections or additions to this document, email the authors
at <sign-making@happycool.com>. The authors reserve the right to stop
maintaining this document at any point in time.

______________________________________________________________________

7. Revision history

28 Jul 2001 - 0.0.1 - VP - created; initial helping of info
15 Aug 2001 - 0.0.9 - AF - "supplies"&"putting it all together" sections
			   expanded; document restructured; more misc info