Introduction: Make a Professional Looking Sign Out of Cardboard

By Coffee For The Brain
About: Aaron Maurer is currently serving as STEM Lead for the Mississippi Bend AEA and the Founder of a non profit called 212 STEAM Labs, Inc. Prior to this he served as an Instructional Coach for Bettendorf Middle S…

For this project the school had all students create a hand to go around the sign. Over 700 hands were added to create this end piece that turned out really nice.

You can access the lesson and other signs created here https://sites.google.com/view/makeingadifference/...

This lesson will showcase how we made the nice cardboard centerpiece to go in the middle. We were faced with using cardboard to make sure it would stay on the way as we could not screw or mount the display.

Step 1: Gather Supplies & Stencil Cardboard

Supplies

1. Cardboard - I used a triboard that worked out great for painting

2. Thumbtack

3. String

4. Pencil

5. Ruler

Measure out the diameter needed for the circle you need for your sign. For this project I made a 2 foot circle. I measured out 12 inches for the radius and tied a string from the middle of the cardboard out 12 inches and tied a pencil to the string to make the circle.

Once I had the outline of the circle on the cardboard I moved on to the next step.

Step 2: Cut the Circle

Using boxcutters I carefully cut around the stencil and every 6-10 inches I cut the extra cardboard off to make sure it would not bend and mess anything up.

Take your time and you should be able to cut out a nice looking circle.

Step 3: Sand Edges

Using 300 grit or higher sandpaper I smoothed out all edges by removing and excess or sharp edges. This helps to round out any edges and make it look nice and round.

Step 4: Paint Circle

Using spray paint with primer I applied about 4-5 coats of paint to make sure it really looked nice.

Be sure to eliminate any dust from sanding prior to painting

Step 5: Cut Vinyl and Apply

In this case we used the vision statement of the school. We used the Cameo software to make sure it was all measured properly.

We cut out the vinyl and applied to the circle.

Step 6: Finishing Touches

For this project the school had all students create a hand to go around the sign. Over 700 hands were added to create this end piece that turned out really nice.

You can access the lesson and other signs created here https://sites.google.com/view/makeingadifference/monthly-projects/maker-sign/sign-examples

Step 7: Full Video Tutorial

Here is a full video tutorial if you need a video.

Enjoy!