How To: Music Fundraiser Gauge Display

 

I help with the booster club for my middle school kids' music program, and we were trying to find an eye-catching way to show how much has been raised toward our fundraising goal each year. Originally I was planning to make a thermometer-type display, using clear plastic pipe filled with beans.  Then I has THIS idea.  Don't you think it's better?

First I printed out a large scale copy of a music staff. I placed the printed paper on top of a sheet of black vinyl with an adhesive back.  The image should be cut with the sticky side (paper side) up.  You'll see why in a bit.  Using a sharp craft blade, I very carefully cut out the shape of the staff. This is definitely the most difficult part of this process.  It could easily be done with one of those Cricut craft cutters, but I don't have one.  I actually cut the long straight edges of the staff lines with scissors because I got a nicer edge that way.  I had purchased a large sheet of the vinyl, which turned out to be good because my first attempt was unsuccessful.  The second time was charm.

You get a mirror-image of the design, when it's cut out.  That's perfect, because what you'll do next is apply it to the inside of the glass on your shadow box frame.  Make sure the glass is clean and that you burnish the vinyl to the glass really well.  I probably spent at least a half hour rubbing it with a burnishing tool. This way you get a totally clean design when you look at it from the outside.

The school colors are yellow, black and white, so I added yellow paper to the inside back of the shadow box frame.  I printed and cut out little arrow markers and a star to indicate the different levels of fundraising that have been reached, so far.  Those got attached with glue dots to the outside of the frame.

I drilled a hole in the top of the frame so that rice can be poured in easily, using a funnel.  As the box fills with rice and the rice line reaches each line on the music staff, it turns the space behind it white...just like a piece of sheet music paper.

I also added velcro to the top of the frame and to the bottom of a little stand-up sign with information about our fundraising efforts.  This helps cover up the hole too.

See!  Finished!  It just needs some rice and an audience.

For the actual display, the frame gets set on a music stand to give it some height and put it at eye level. It worked great!