Public Bikes Box: Marquee Arrow Sign

At the beginning of the year I decided to take the plunge and purchase a bike. That whole process requires another post, but 6 months later, I am still very much happy with my decision!

Public is based out of San Francisco, so I had to have the bike shipped to me. So, not only did I get a beautiful bike, but a giant box as well. I'm all about reusing material, and the box/website even promotes recycling the box for something new - so awesome!

There are several good tutorials out there (here and here) for creating marquee signs out of paper mache letters and other materials. I ended up just figuring it out as I went along since I had certain restrictions due to the original box.


I decided on a giant arrow. I had to work around the handle cut outs on the box, and a few areas that got beat up in the shipping process. After cutting out the arrow shape, I used buttons to lay out where the lightbulbs would be. I decided on two strands (25 bulbs per strand) which fit perfectly on the arrow. I traced around the buttons, and than used those marks to drill holes (you could probably make cuts with your x-acto, but I really wanted to use power tools!).


I used the sides of the box for the sides of the arrow, and used lots and lots of hot glue to attach them. It's overall pretty lightweight, so I think it should hold up ok.


The finished light! I might eventually spray paint it, but I like the fact that it's imperfect and I even like the cardboard feel. Once we figure out the perfect place for it we'll hang it onto the wall, but for now it adds a little personality to our movie room and the perfect addition for a Movie Foodie night!