Stop Sign

My newest series of posters is based on road signs. I have come up with a lot of fun, unique designs that follow this theme. I am including step-by-step instructions for my first two posters. I will be adding many more designs this year. Check back every week to see what has been added.





It was a lot easier to make a Stop sign shape than we expected.


The first thing you need to do is make a pattern to trace around. I used a piece of newspaper for this. A stop sign is cut from a square. You will need to trim down the newspaper so it will fit onto a standard poster board and be in the shape of a square


Fold the paper back into the shape it was delivered in. Then measure 2 ½ inches in from the edge of the Side that isn't folded. Draw a line from top to bottom.


Trim this side off.


Now the paper is a perfect square that will be our pattern.


Keep your newspaper folded like this. You only have to make one more cut and you will have a great stop sign pattern. All 4 sides now measure 11 inches. Take your ruler and measure up 5 ½ inches from the bottom of the right hand side. You are measuring on a side that is not folded. Make a pencil mark at 5 ½ inches. This is exactly in the middle of the top side.


Then measure 5 ½ inches along the top of the paper and mark it. This is also exactly in the middle of the side. You are measuring on a side that is Not Folded side.


I laid my metal ruler on the paper and lined it up with the two marks I made at 5 ½ inches.


Then I drew a line along the metal ruler.


Cut along this line to remove the triangle slice of paper. You are cutting through 4 layers of newspaper at once. You will end up with 4 triangle slices of scrap paper.


Now open up you paper and you have a stop sign pattern with 5 sides that are all the same length.


Lay your pattern on the cardboard and line it up with the edges. Then put a ruler or other straight edge on the newspaper to make it easier to trace the edges. Use a pencil for this.


I draw almost all of my lines with this metal L shaped Framing Square. This is great because it is heavy and does not scoot when I trace or cut along side of it. It also has inches & feet printed on each side.


Since I lined my pattern up with the edges of the poster board, I only had to make 5 short lines. Use a pencil for this. I used a marker so it would stand out in this picture.


You can trim this down with scissors and/or use a paper cutter for the shorter edges. I always try and use a paper cutter because it is quicker and makes a cleaner edge.


For my stop sign I decided to not use "iron-on transfers" and instead printed my slogan and pictures on card stock. I wanted to have a small herd of horses running so I printed out several pictures of the same horse running.


I cut each horse out and left a small white border around each one. Without the line of white around the black horses they would have all blended together into one black blob.


Before I glued them down, I tried several different arrangements on the poster.





I thought about putting PCS on one of the chargers and ...


...have him running ahead of the other horses. My slogan would have been "PCS…LEADS THE WAY".


I decided on "Chargers Won't Stop". I think I'll use "Leads the Way" on a big banner in January.


After I decided on my arrangement, I glued the horses down one at a time.


I found my arrangement changed a little as I glued each one down.








I cut my letters out and tried several different arrangements. You can arrange your letters anyway you like.


I decided to glue my letters down in a straight line. This was pretty easy to do. I laid my heavy Framing Ruler down and moved it around until it was exactly halfway between the horses and the bottom of the sign. I arranged my letters above it and then glued them down one at a time. I made sure the bottom of the letter touched the top of the metal ruler. This went really fast and looked like I spent a long time lining them up.


Once you have everything glued down you will need to put a few books on top of the poster to make sure it dries flat. Leave these on for about 20 minutes.


I originally did not draw a black line around this because I needed more space for my slogan. I think it looks fine like this.


If you want to add this black line then you can go back to Page 1
and see how I made the ½ black line around the yellow sign. I went ahead and drew a ¼ inch black line and found it looked as good as the thicker line on the other poster.




Go back to Page 1