Masterwork Plaques designed and fabricated a commemorative "home plate" plaque to honor Jackie Robinson’s major league baseball debut. This cast bronze plaque is installed at the former site of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, NY.
From 1913 - 1957, Ebbets Field was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. Ebbets Field was the site of many of the Dodgers early successes before their eventual move to Los Angeles in 1958. Among these historic successes was the desegregation of the team, with the signing of Jackie Robinson in 1947. Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in the major leagues, bringing the end to sixty years of segregation in professional baseball.
The plaque is installed at the precise location of Ebbets Field’s former home plate, where Jackie Robinson first stood at bat on April 15, 1947. The project was developed as a part of Ken Burns newest documentary series, in conjunction with the release of Google’s visual reality headset. By overlaying a photograph onto a more recent photo of the current landscape, Google was able to determine the exact location of the home plate (Yahoo Sports: 10 Degrees: The secret virtual-reality project to honor Jackie Robinson) This commemorative plaque resides in the courtyards of the Ebbets Field high-rise apartment complex, and the home plate shaped plaque faces where the old center field would have been if it still existed today.
Our studio can create custom shaped commemorative plaques in just about any shape and size. For this particular project, we felt it was appropriate to use the dimensions of a home plate, to reference the historic baseball field.
This Memorial Day, fourteen US servicemen from Arcadia, California, who died in the Vietnam War, were honored in the county park at the newly constructed Arcadia Vietnam War Monument. The project was spearheaded by Gene Glasco, a veteran of the Vietnam War and Arcadia City Clerk. The monument structure was fabricated and set in time for a special dedication ceremony on Saturday, May 29th.
For Arcadia Weekly, Glasco stated that “the Arcadia Vietnam War Monument has been built in honor of Arcadia’s sons lost in battle, but it also stands in tribute to all living Vietnam Era veterans.” The bronze plaque on the front of the monument commemorates the fourteen Arcadia casualties of the Vietnam War. On the back are three cast aluminum plaques, one of which commemorates additional veterans from WWI, WW2, Korea, Vietnam and as recent as Afghanistan.
In addition to the four cast bronze and aluminum plaques, Masterwork Plaques designed and fabricated the waterjet cut letters and military seals which were also inset into the front of the monument.
Photo credit: Gene Glasco
WATERJET CUT LETTERS
“Waterjet” refers to machinery that uses a pressurized stream of water to cut through a variety of materials (most commonly metal). The water is forced through a small hole to focus high pressure water into a very thin stream. This stream is powerful enough to cut out precise, free-form shapes, which we use primarily to cut individual metal letters (from any font) in a wide range of sizes. The individual bronze letters shown in the monument are 3” in height and 1/4” thick.
DONOR SIGNAGE
The cast plaques on this monument are a great examples of donor signage. The majority of the money needed to create this monument was fundraised and donated by organizations and generous individuals from Arcadia. Masterwork Plaques can create donor plaques at just about any size, to fit a large or small list of names for honored donors.
Our studio's donor plaques can be created in two ways:
Perpetual Plaques: When a continually growing list of donors needs to be honored, individual name plaques can be added to the plaque over time.
Cast List Plaques: This donor list plaque can be created in one piece for a list of contributors that does not need to be added to over time. Every few years a new plaque can be added to a wall featuring an updated list of recent donors.
For more information on our cast donor plaques and waterjet cut projects, contact us at masterworkplaques@gmail.com.
One of the most popular techniques offered at Masterwork Plaques is our “photo-rendered” portrait process. We recommend this option to all of our customers, especially those in search of a cost-effective portrait plaque that can be created in a short amount of time.
The most important element of the photo-rendered portrait process is the actual photo of the subject that is provided to us. It is important that the photo is not pixelated or blurry, as this will show up in the final bronze portrait. For our clients who may be less familiar with what constitutes a high-quality photo, we’ve answered some frequently asked questions below.
What IS "DPI"?
Dots per inch, or “dpi”, is the measure of the amount of dots comprising an image within the span of one inch. Computer monitors call these dots “pixels”, so “ppi” and “dpi” can be used interchangeably. A high-quality photo has many dots per inch, a low quality photo has less. These tiny dots have a great effect on the overall image quality. Take a look at the high-quality example below.
(Left) High-Quality Image (300dpi), (Right) Translation of image into Photo-Rendered portrait
As you can see, the photo above has no pixelation. The file is also 300 dpi, which means the image has a good amount of information to translate into cast bronze.
Below is an example of an image with only 60dpi. As you can see, this is a lower quality image. It appears blurry and unclear. We don’t have a lot of information. As you can see, the photo was translated into bronze, and the pixelation carried into the final product.
(Top) Low Resolution Image, (Bottom) Translation of Low-quality image into Photo-Rendered Portrait
The photo-rendered process converts data stored in the photograph into a bronze portrait. Therefore, if you provide a low quality photo, only limited information will appear on the final bronze plaque.
How can I check if my photo is high enough quality?
Here’s a quick list of simple ways to check if your photo is usable:
Take a look at the image file size. If it is under 500kb, it may be too small to use.
Double click on the image file. If it opens up at a small size (less than half of your laptop screen, it is also likely too small.
At actual size, if the image appears blurry or pixelated, it is also too low quality.
CAN MASTERWORK PLAQUE USE PRINTED IMAGES?
In some cases, yes. We recommend scanning this image at 300dpi or higher if you can. The higher the dpi, the more data is copied from the original image and saved in the digital copy. Note: if the hard copy photo is blurry, you should not expect scanning to improve the photo quality. If the subject is blurry in the original image, it will still be blurry in the scan, which will cause problems when this image is translated into bronze.
WHAT IF I CAN ONLY FIND IMAGES LESS THAN 300DPI?
If you are unsure whether your image is high enough quality, send it to us via email and we can review the image in house. Sometimes we can edit the image file to increase its sharpness and minimize minimal pixelation if no alternative can be found.
Advice from the Plaque-Makers: Make a Sign that Lasts
Exterior building signage is necessary for just about every type of business. When it comes to designing company plaques, it can be tempting to jam-pack each sign with addresses, tag lines and contact info to give the casual passerby more than one way to reach out to your business. While employee email addresses, phone numbers and physical addresses can all be helpful, an outdoor plaque may not need all of these elements.
Your plaque is a reflection of your company. High-quality corporate signage sends a strong message to your customers.
To prevent overcomplicating your corporate signage, focus on the company name, logo, and your overall brand identity. The outdoor plaque should clearly promote your business’s presence in the building, and it should also catch the eye of passersby, enticing prospective clients to visit or contact your organization.
We recommend sitting with your branding and marketing team—think about a company color and metal type that may best complement your logo. At the same time, decide on one method of contact that is most appropriate for prospective clients who see your company’s plaque on the street—a contact method may not be necessary if the sign is right outside your door. Once the content is decided upon, request a quote from our studio, and our customer service team can help you finalize your plaque design from there. Included below are five helpful tips during your company’s initial planning process.
#1 Avoid QR Codes
Every few months, a client will ask us to add a QR code to their initial plaque designs, but rarely do these customers end up wanting it on the final product. We have a bit of an aversion to QR codes at our studio, and there are two reasons why.
QR codes are meant for use on printed media.
Barcodes are two-dimensional and almost always black and white. Etched and cast plaques are not completely flat. Cast plaques have a relief depth of 3/32”, so shadowing can distort the QR code and prevent its readability. This presents obvious issues. There is always the risk that the QR code won’t scan properly after the plaque has been created, and what’s the use of an expensive plaque with a QR code that doesn’t work?
Barcode Scanner Apps must be downloaded.
Secondly, if the QR code does scan successfully, smartphones do not automatically come with barcode scanners. The most effective QR codes offer customers a reward if they do scan and view the embedded link. That means unless you offer a discount or another type of incentive, will people use it? A simple website url may be more effective, and also relieves the fear that QR codes will become outdated.
#2 Use Reliable Contact Info
Similar to our first tip, it is important to choose a reliable contact method that will not change over time. If an architectural signage project has a phone number that is no longer in service, the price to update the phone number on the plaque is just about as expensive as recreating the plaque entirely. For this reason, make sure there are no typos or outdated forms of contact on your company signage.
#3 Make Sure Your Logo is Up-to-Date
Vector files are our favorite type of file at Masterwork Plaques. Vectors are most often created in Adobe Illustrator, so the file would end in “.ai” or “.eps”. If your company only has a jpeg file handy, send us the highest resolution file available. If needed, we can often redraw the logo in house.
Marketing departments will typically have your company’s vector file. Make sure to send us the most up-to-date logo you have. A bronze plaque can last for decades, but if the content is outdated, you may have to remake the plaque regardless of the condition of the metal.
#4 Invest in High-Quality Materials
Etched plaque for Barano Restaurant in Brooklyn, NY.
Our studio has many plaque options, but we typically recommend cast bronze and etched stainless steel over most other metal types. Bronze and stainless steel are high-quality, durable metals that hold up well as interior and exterior signage. High-quality items usually come with a higher price tag, but if you want plaques that will last for decades, these plaques quickly pay you back over time.
Too often, we see outdoor plastic and aluminum plaques that have been through too many hot summers or cold winters. Their painted backgrounds start to peel away, and those once pretty plastic plaques have dented and chipped. It is not uncommon for cheaply-made, exterior plaques to become unreadable after one or two years. Choosing high quality materials and the proper finish prevents dents and scratches that ruin the plaque’s appearance. Rather than recreating a plaque every two years, order a well-made plaque once, and you will save your company valuable time and money. Your plaque is a reflection of your company, and a high quality sign sends a strong message to your customers.
#5 Mount Your Plaque Securely
One last piece of advice: Use our hidden stud mount technique for any plaque that is installed outside. This blind-mount technique conceals all attachment hardware from the face of the plaque, which makes it more difficult to remove and protects it against theft. Bronze is an expensive material, and a plaque that is improperly mounted can be stolen and sold as scrap metal. Masterwork’s cast plaques come with specially developed attachment systems that can be inserted directly into the wall with an architectural grade epoxy.
Check out these info-graphics to determine which plaque is the best fit for your unique project. For more information on the difference between castings vs etchings, cast bronze vs cast aluminum, and stainless vs aluminum, check out our blog posts about comparing plaque types.
After many requests from our customers, we now carry a variety of metal plaque samples in house for our customers to review. Because we create custom bronze, aluminum, stainless, brass and zinc plaques using both casting and etching techniques, the amount of choices our client’s have to choose from can be overwhelming.
While we have many examples of past plaque projects on our website, we now have fifteen sample plaques ready to ship, in convenient 6” x 4” sizes, which now gives our clients a more tactile way to decide between different plaque background textures, finishes and mounting techniques. We also carry a four different water-jet cut letters with prismatic, polished, satin and random orbital finishes, so our clients can review individual letter options in person as well.
HOW TO ASK FOR A PLAQUE SAMPLE
If you are interested in ordering a plaque from our studio, fill out a quote request form on our website, and our designers can start by suggesting the appropriate material for your project based on the size of the plaque, complexity of designs, and where your project will be installed.
Our designers typically send images of past projects along with their initial quotes, but if you would like to review a sample in person before proceeding with an order, we can send one of the options above to an address of your choice. If you prefer to create your own plaque sample, we can typically create a custom sample in about 2-3 weeks for a small fee.
Once the sample is sent to your home, and you have determined the best materials for your project, we ask that you return the sample to our studio so that we can continue to send samples to future clients.
2015 has flown by! It has been a great year for us, and we are excited to see what 2016 has to offer. Masterwork Plaques will be closed for the weeks of Christmas and New Years, before our studio reopens on January 4th, 2016. We wish a happy, wholesome holiday to all our past and prospective clients and their loved ones. We look forward to creating more quality plaques and medallions in 2016!
If you would like to inquire about plaque pricing over the holiday, you can Request a Quote, and we will respond to your inquiry when we return to the office.
Winter is here, and the holidays are quickly approaching. For many, December 1st marks the beginning of the annual madness of holiday shopping. Throughout the month, we search, we shop, we wrap and finally, we give. Come December 26th, empty boxes and gift-wrap are strewn about the living room, and eleven months later, we begin the cycle again. While the holidays are filled with love, tradition, family and friends, there is an undercurrent of materialistic tendencies that can get the better of us if we’re not careful.
So in the spirit of a meaningful and less wasteful holiday, we’ve put together a list of healthy, high quality and material-free gifts this season.
INDOOR PLANTS
Winter can be so gray. Bring some green into your home this year. Not only do plants absorb carbon dioxide (and release oxygen), but many also remove toxins from the air, as well as improve your overall health and level of focus. (For our fellow New Yorkers with not so many windows, we recommend the ZZ Plant, the Snake Plant and the Peace Lily.)
QUOTATION PLAQUES
Small quotations and poems can be a daily source of inspiration and guidance. Create a custom bronze or aluminum plaque in the color and finish of your choice, depicting a personal mantra or quote of your choosing. Our custom plaques can be installed indoors or out, as metal plaques hold up well under various weather conditions. Install the plaque in a place where you will see it everyday to encourage positivity and reflection.
FAMILY CRESTS / HOME PLAQUES
Need a gift for the family member that has everything? Commemorate a family seal, a childhood home or family portrait as a long-lasting gift for their home. Our studio can help you design a plaque in the size and material of your choosing. Just send us over an image, and we can recommend a variety of techniques to pay tribute to your family’s unique history.
GIVE THE GIFT OF EXPERIENCE
Great plans beat “more stuff” just about any day. Spend time with friends and family outdoors, visit a museum or see a play. Activities often create memories that are longer lasting than the material gifts we give to each other.
GIVE BACK
Volunteering your time is a valuable gift to loved-ones and others in your community. Spend time with a grandparent or out of town relative, or donate to a charitable organization in the name of someone you love. Helping others is the gift that gives back.
Our studio can create bronze plaques at just about every size and shape. At Masterwork Plaques, we think the size should be determined by the content of the plaque and not the other way around, so both standard and "odd" sized plaques are priced the same. Plaques are typically sized to the nearest inch, however if precise measurements are required, we can accommodate sizes within an eighth of an inch.
We always try to accommodate customers’ requests while adhering to our casting regulations. While we can fabricate plaques at just about any size, there are a few rules we must follow to ensure that our plaques are of the highest quality. Typically all cast plaques have a minimum text size requirement of about 0.25” in height (36 point font size) in order to ensure the text will cast clearly. This requirement ensures that small lowercase letters are still readable and will not blur together during the casting process. This specification applies only to our cast bronze and cast aluminum plaques.
Etched plaques are a great alternative to fit a significant amount of text within a contained size. Etched plaques can include text at much smaller sizes, because the plaques are created using a chemical etching process. For etched plaques, text can be as small as 18 points in size, which gives our clients a helpful alternative when small plaques are required.
Masterwork Plaques can also create plaques in a variety of shapes. Oval plaques are one common alternative to the standard rectangular shaped plaque. Oval plaques can also be created at any size. Plaques can also be created in a circle format, in which case our prices are based on the diameter of the plaque. Masterwork Plaques specializes in the production circular cast bronze medallions.
For national register plaques, welcome plaques and town seals, our studio often recommends custom shaped plaques, which often look more regal than the standard rectangle.
Some custom shape options we can offer are listed below:
French Corners
Rounded Corners
French Provincial
Parenthesis
Scalloped Oval plaque
Other Unique shapes
Our decorative borders pair nicely with ornate signage; the custom border and shape give these plaques a more sophisticated look. A beveled edge border also provides a tastefully simple edge on ornate-shaped plaques. Our sales and design team can put together an initial design based on your recommendations.
Have a really unique idea for a custom shaped plaque? Send us your concept and there's a good chance we can make it happen. Past clients have ordered plaques in a wide range of custom shapes. From a guitar to a footprint, Masterwork Plaques creates unique shaped plaques that stand out from the crowd.
Brookland Middle School, 1150 Michigan Ave NE, Washington DC – Public Art Project
Public artist, Beth Ravitz, recently commissioned Masterwork Plaques to fabricate seven cast bronze portrait medallions for Brookland Middle School in Washington, D.C. In addition to our medallions, Ravitz also created and installed three aluminum banners that decorate the side of the school.
Brookland Middle School is a magnet school for the arts and language and starts its first school year in fall of 2015. The public art project tells the story of Brookland’s history and fosters a sense of community around the newly constructed middle school. Ravitz’s goal in creating these banners and portrait medallions is to create harmony between the old and new architecture of the community and inspire hope and progress to the residents and students through visual language. The seven portrait medallions were created to commemorate influential individuals that lived or were connected to Brookland in some way. (Images at bottom of blog)
Using the Masterwork Plaque bronze “photo-rendering” technique, each portrait was recreated in bronze. Photo-rendered portraits are a great alternative to the time-intensive, bas-relief carved portraits that our studio also offers. Photo-portraits are very low-relief, dimensional images translated into bronze directly from a client’s photograph. We can create these photo-renderings from both recent and historic images, provided that the image is not blurry or pixelated. The Brookland medallions were created from historic photographs of artists, writers, singers and others. Each black and white photograph was cropped and inset into the design for these 18” diameter bronze medallions. The portraits were then accompanied by a short summary of each artist’s achievements and finished with a surrounding border containing his/her name, birth and death, and profession. The medallions were secured to low concrete pedestals on site. Each pedestal is twelve inches off the ground at the front and rises to eighteen inches at the back so that they can be easily read by passersby.
Photo-rendered portraits are great solutions for historic plaques with black and white photos, memorial plaques for loved ones, dedication plaques for company founders, employees and more. This technique is suitable for both inset medallions and wall-mounted plaques and can be created using both cast bronze and cast aluminum.
Important notes for photo-rendered portrait plaques:
The provided image can be black & white or color.
The provided image should be sharp, high-quality and preferably 300 dpi in resolution.
The provided image should NOT have significant pixilation, blurriness, or dramatic shadowing.
Manufacturing time is approximately four weeks after the order is placed.
Our bronze plaques are created using a true chemical patina. A true chemical patina chemically changes the surface color of the bronze, which eliminates the possibility of chipping away or peeling off over time, as occurs with a layer of paint or a stain from imitation patinas. Often times plaque companies will apply a layer of paint rather than a chemical patina, which is cheaper, but will not last the test of time.
Photo credit: Gene Glasco
Photo credit: Gene Glasco
(Left) High-Quality Image (300dpi), (Right) Translation of image into Photo-Rendered portrait
(Top) Low Resolution Image, (Bottom) Translation of Low-quality image into Photo-Rendered Portrait
Etched plaque for Barano Restaurant in Brooklyn, NY.
