https://www.zazzle.com/teachinginspirations


I'm trying out something new with putting up bulletin boards. I've been designing some educational and motivational bulletin boards to display in the halls of the youth detention facility where I teach. There are 10 boards on the school hallway and I pretty much take care of all of them which I enjoy, but it is a challenge to keep them fresh and relevant for our students who range from 6th to 12th grade.

Recently I had the idea of putting my designs on fabric or banners. This can be much more expensive than traditional methods, but I had been selling some designs for pet products on Zazzle for a while and had a little money from royalties in my account, so my costs were minimal for my first two board designs. I received the fabric design this week and got it up yesterday. The colors are vibrant, brighter than I had expected. The bulletin board measures 60" X 36" and the fabric I chose is only 56" wide and the design covers 1 yard. Because the board is horizontal, there was more than enough fabric from top to bottom, but from side to side, a bit of the board showed from behind the fabric. I tucked the raw edges under as I stapled the fabric to the board, then I added paper bordette using a double layer all around to cover that bit of a gap.

I was very happy with the overall effect. Next time, though, I will tape the raw edges under before I try putting the fabric up on the board, this will make it easier to keep the design level. This fabric has a substantial weight and should withstand several years of reuse without fading. A bit of ironing took the wrinkles from shipping right out. It took me about 5 minutes to put up this board not counting the ironing I did when the package first arrived. What a time saver! PLUS, the students cannot peel the letters off the board since they are printed onto the fabric. I can hardly wait for the vinyl banner design to come in so that I can compare the two types of products.

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