Step It Up 2007 - Banner-Making Guide

Making your Step It Up banner won't take long. Gather together with some friends and volunteers, grab your paints and fabrics, and have fun.

On November 3, every Step It Up action will have a banner saying:

"Step It Up: ________________________"

Feel free to choose for yourself what goes on that blank line--make it whatever you and your communities care about most. Here are some options:

- Step It Up: It's Time for Climate Leaders!

- Step It Up: No New Coal!

- Step It Up: Cut Carbon 80% by 2050!

- Step It Up: Green Jobs Now!

- Step It Up: Join The 1 Sky Campaign!

Feel free to create your own additional banners, or add a note about who you are or who your group is.

Here are a few tips for how to make your banner:

Materials:

- Find some old sheets, long pieces of fabric, quilting, or even large cardboard boxes (enough to piece them together for a larger banner). Note that depending on where you are you might need to think about the various weather conditions your banner might need to withstand -- choose accordingly. Canvas and nylon are good options for harsher conditions (as well as more durable for repeated use). Keep in mind the composition of your pictures and the size of your rally, and try to create a banner large enough for be legible.

- Have some pencils handy for sketching out the words.

- Find or buy some non-water based paint -- color of your choosing.

Procedure:

For high quality, large print banners:

- Gain access to a projector, and create a transparency of the text for the banner.
Stretch your banner material across a wall, positioned so that you can project the banner text onto the material.

- Project the text onto the banner. Make sure the text is positioned correctly, and start tracing the text by pencil.

- Once the text is traced onto the banner, start filling in with color.

Or, go at it by hand:

- Lay the banner materials out on the ground

- Trace the letters first, so as to measure out spaces, etc., and filling in with color.

- Be sure to let the banner dry before rolling it up, and storing it for November 3
Using your banner: Do your best to keep the banner taut, and positioned front and center so that spectators and photographers can read the message. After you take your picture, be sure to get to a computer as soon as possible and upload your picture to www.StepItUp2007.org!