Overview of Painted Plaques
Fig. 1 - This picture shows the wide variety of styles of our painted dimensional wall plaques. Some plaques are carved in 3-D bas-relief, others in 2.5-D or engraved relief. Multi-color and two-color painted plaques (Minnesota and U. of NC seals ) are shown..
WELCOME TO OUR PAINTED PLAQUE SECTION (STYLE CATEGORY 1.1)
Welcome to our section and supporting photo galleries describing our painted plaques. Our metal plaques are described in our Metal Plaques section, and our natural and stained wood plaques in our Wood Plaques section. We design and fabricate beautiful and striking 3-D and 2.5-D artist-painted plaques each year featuring the seals, crests, emblems, insignia, badges and logos of governments, the military, police & sheriffs, universities, clubs, businesses and families. Each plaque is custom crafted by our experienced and skilled craftsmen and artisans. We use several different techniques to make these impressive and authentic plaques which are moisture-proof, non-fading, graffiti-resistant and long-lasting. We design and fabricate thousands of elegant and attractive carved 3-D and 2.5-D painted plaques each year.
Over half of our plaques are painted, some in many bright colors, others in more subtle muted colors, and a few in only one or two colors such as metallic gold, silver, bronze, black and white. This section, and its 4 webpages listed horizontally under the gold masthead above, describe and give hundreds of examples of these plaques. We offer four styles of painted plaques, each with different prices: (1) 3-D Relief, 4 or more colors (Style Category 1.1); (2) 2.5-D relief, 4 or more colors (Style Category 1.2), (3) 3-D relief, 1 to 3 colors (Style Category 1.3 ); and (4) 2.5-D relief, 1-3 colors (Style Category 1.4). The prices for each of these styles for different size plaques is given on the PRICE web page, listed by Style Category and size. 3-D plaques have higher prices than 2.5-D plaques because of the additional labor and time to carve and hand-paint them, and the more colors, the more artist painting labor is required. Thus our Style Category 1.1 ( 3-D , 4 or more color plaques) have the highest prices of our painted plaques, but they have lower prices than our Metal and Wood plaques. See our PRICE web page for specific prices of each of these styles of plaques.
You are always welcome to call Christie or Regina at 951-698-8484 or you can email us at info@artsignworks.com to get more information, to describe or discuss a plaque you want made, or to get prices.
FABRICATION TECHNIQUES
We usually paint carved High-Density-Urethane (HDU) plaques. We normally do not paint an entire wood plaque, instead we stain and clear coat all or part of it to show the natural beauty of the wood and its grain. It makes no sense to use wood for an completely painted plaque mounted indoors, because HDU is less expensive, carves cleaner (because it does not have a grain structure and does not splinter during carving), and will last longer, because it never cracks or checks like wood sometimes does. However, occasionally upon client request, we will completely paint Mahogany plaques, and sometimes we paint some areas of a wood plaque, with other areas of the plaque stained and clear-coated .
Some of our plaques have only a single painted color, others two colors (e.g., text, art, and border in one color, the background in another color to provide contrast). Fig 1 below shows examples of these three color schemes. The client can request any of these three styles on any plaque. We can computer match any color that a client specifies. We prefer that the client specify the paint colors by referencing Pantone color codes, but we also can match the colors of paints produced by national paint companies such as Sherwin Williams or Dunn Edwards. We can also match a photo or paint swatch of a color.
When artwork is too detailed (such as a photo or image of a detailed oil painting), or the plaque is too small to carve or hand-paint, with an artist brush, we use a digitally-printed giclee vinyl applique on a flat area of the plaque as the artwork. These are very high-quality reproductions, and will last as long as hand-painted artwork without fading.
Our experienced sign & plaque painter artisans have been with the company for ten years. They are highly skilled with artist brushes, mini-rollers, air brushes, paint spray guns, and gold & silver leaf gilding. We have a large certified paint spray booth and a heated drying room with controlled temperature and humidity to make sure the coatings are cured properly. We hand-paint all our sign, except for the giclee printed appliques described in the previous paragraph. Our full-color 3-D plaques must be painted with a small artist brush, which takes 4 or 5 hours for our detailed plaques. Fig 2 below shows some of our painters at work.
Fig 2 - The four general paint styles we use for our Wall and Podium Plaques - multi-color painted, two colors (sometimes hand-rubbed black or dark brown background color), a single color (usually metallic gold or silver), and for very detailed photos, multi-color printed giclee vinyl appliques
We use only two types of paint designed specifically for signs. We use Ultra Low VOC Matthews automotive-quality 2-part polyurethane acrylic paints and clear-coats (MAP) , which are UV and graffiti resistance, so there is very little fading when the sign is exposed to direct sunlight for outdoor locations, and any graffiti can usually be cleaned off with acetone. Mathews MAP is a two-part epoxy paint similar to that used for automobile painting, and is cured in a hot drying room, rather than simply dried, providing a hard, color fast, long lasting coating. Matthews paints cost $200/gallon, compared to the house paints which cost $30/gallon, which most other sign companies use. The high quality of the paint is worth the price, because it lasts 10-15 years without peeling or painting, compared to house paints, which last 5-7 years. We use 1-Shot Low VOC Oil-Based High Gloss Lettering Enamels for text and artwork. 1-Shot is simply the best (and most expensive) sign lettering enamel in the world. It costs $250/gallon. You can get more information on these paints which have unsurpassed color and gloss retention by clicking on the links to their websites.
Fig 3- These photos show some of our paint shop facilities and our painters at work We have as many as 50 signs & plaques in our paint shop being painted, and complete and ship 5 to 15 signs & plaques each day.
PLEASE CONTACT US
The prices for different design styles for various size plaques is given on the PRICE webpage (click here or on PRICE in gold masthead) , listed by price code and plaque size, under Style Category 1.1. Or, you can fill out and submit our on-line Request a quote form. You can also call or email us for a price quote on a specific plaque. Our knowledgeable and helpful Customer Service Representatives, Christie and Regina, will respond to your request promptly. Call us at 951-698-8484 or email us at info@artsignworks.com.
We will work with you to design and build the exact plaque you want. We would like to make your plaque, and we are confident that you will be pleased with it. We take great pride in every product we make for our valued clients. We offer a 2 year warranty on all our products, and our indoor plaques will last many decades without degradation.
WEBSITE NAVIGATION
You can go to another Section or Gallery page by clicking on an item in the pull-down menus in the gold masthead at the top of the page. You can search for a specific plaque type (e.g., "FBI" ) by entering the key word in the search box in the upper right of the gold masthead. You can view a list and use the navigation bar for all 24 Gallery types by viewing the silver box on the left side of the HOME page. You can also view different types of plaques for different customer groups (e.g., State Courts or US Coast Guard) by clicking on the TYPE section in the gold masthead above.
To request information, a design, a quote, or to place an order, click on the text (e.g., "contact ", " quote", " file" or " order") in the upper right of the gold masthead at the top of this page. All prices are given on the PRICE page in the gold masthead.
For more information on design options, prices and delivery times, please call us at 951-698- 8484 or email us at info@artsignworks.com, and our knowledgeable and friendly customer service representatives Christie and Regina will be pleased to help you.
