This cast plaque information guide was developed to help our customers understand designing and providing cast plaque guidelines, as well as for cast aluminum plaques, etched plaques, photo plaques, and other specialty plaques.
Our cast bronze plaques will provide you with a quality long life product. Our cast bronze plaques are installed across this country in Colleges, Cities, Bridges, Court Buildings, Schools, Stadiums, Businesses and Gardens. No matter the application, we have the metal plaque you are looking for, whether you need to dedicate, recognize, donate, or memorialize that special person or group.
Cast plaques can be installed on many types of surfaces, such as drywall, brick, stone, and even on stakes or posts. Whether your plaque needs to be square, round, or any special shape, just provide us the task and we will design a beautiful plaque for you.
1. Type of Plaque: When most people think of dedication or memorial plaques they think of those that have a dark background, raised bronze letters, and mounted to a stone or brick wall. This type of plaque is the classic Bronze Plaque. Even though this type of plaque is the most common you should know that there are other types that may be better suited for your application. You can trust that we will always guide you with the best option for your scenario.
Other Types of Plaques:
Aluminum | Flash Bronze Aluminum | Etched Bronze | Etched Stainless Steel | Tooled Brass | Photo Plaques
So, you do have options. The cost for plaques is solely based on the overall size, or if you need an attached logo or photo on the plaque. The bigger the plaque the higher the cost. The amount of lettering usually does not impact the cost. Cast Bronze Plaques are usually the most expensive option. If you have a limited budget, you either should aim for a smaller plaque, or an alternative material, such as a Cast Aluminum Plaque. The biggest differences between aluminum and bronze plaques are the letter color, which would be either silver for aluminum or gold for bronze, as well as the weight, since aluminum is much lighter than bronze. The final installation location may also help determine between aluminum and bronze. If you are installing a plaque on gray granite, you may want to go with an aluminum plaque to match the color palette, for example.
For those looking for a bronze plaque, but not the cost, there is another option – Flash Bronze Aluminum Plaques. These plaques are aluminum but are painted to look like bronze. To the naked eye, you can not tell. The only drawback to these plaques is that they are not suitable for outdoor use.
Here is an example of a Flash Bronze Aluminum Plaque
It is not uncommon for customers to submit an order for a small plaque and request either a lot of text or an intricate logo. The reason for this guide is to help the customers understand the limitations of metal plaques. We stick to strict guidelines when it comes to cast or tooled plaques since if the lines are too small or thin, they will simply not hold up and we never want to produce a product that will fail.
In cases when a customer must have a detailed logo or image, or needs a lot of small text, we would offer an Etched Plaque. Etched Plaques can be made out of Bronze, Aluminum, Brass, Copper, or Stainless Steel. With etched plaques, the process begins with solid piece of metal at a couple of thickness options. Most materials offer thicknesses in 1/16″, 1/8″, and 1/4″. So, for a comparable etched bronze plaque to be similar to a cast bronze plaque, we would start with a 1/4″ piece of bronze, and then etch into the metal the letters, logo, or photo. The biggest difference to cast plaques is that etched plaques have a reversed appearance. Instead of a dark background with raised bronze letters, the plaque would instead have a bronze background with recessed dark letters.
Here is an example of an Etched Bronze Plaque
In cases where a customer wants an intricate logo, such a state seal, but demands to have a cast or tooled bronze plaque, we provide the option of creating the logo or seal out of etched bronze and mounting it into the cast plaque. The final product is seamless and comes with a lifetime guarantee.
Here is an example of a cast plaque with an etched insert
If you are looking to incorporate a photo onto a plaque then you do have a couple of options. Which one you ultimately choose will be based on the quality of the photo and your budget.
BAS Relief Photo Plaque
BAS Relief photo plaques are the most expensive option. We utilize artists who will sculpt into clay the person’s image from a photograph. Once you approve the sculpted proof, it is then cast and attached the plaque. Please be aware, that the sculpting and proofing process for the BAS Relief photo plaque can take at least six weeks.
Starting Price for just the BAS Relief: $1,905.00
Flat Relief Photo Plaque
Flat Relief photos uses a technique that captures certain elements of a photo to reproduce the person’s likeness into a 2D format. This type of photo option requires a high resolution photo with good contrast. Customers should be aware that the flattening of a photo will impact the final result compared to the original photo. You can see with this example in comparison to the BAS Relief, that this process may lose some of the character of the photo.
Starting Price for a Flat Relief Photo: $443.00
PhotoRelief Plaque
PhotoRelief plaques utilizes a special process that allows you to use photo or photos to create a plaque that also has integrated text. The relief of the photo is not very much, but enough to provide a likeness that and photo option that is affordable and great looking.
There is no additional cost for a photo on these plaques since the entire plaque is priced as one piece including a photo.
An 8″ x 12″ Bronze Plaque begins at $720.00
Etched Photo Insert Plaque
Etched Insert Photo Plaques is probably the most common way to insert a photo on a plaque. This method begins with a photo that is then used to create an etched photo. This process utilizes a similar technique to how newspapers print photos – using lots of tiny dots to create shades. Instead of ink though, this process uses acid to etch into the metal which provides a realistic version of the photo used.
We will alter the photo to remove the background and to enhance the picture for the process. We do recommend a high quality photo, and one that has good contrast to provide the best result.
Overall, for the quality and ability to attach a photo, the cost to product ratio is excellent.
Price to include an etched photo: $449.00
UV Printed Photo Plaque
For the truest reproduction of a photo we offer a UV Printed picture option. This process uses a special UV ink to print the photo directly onto the plaque. This is one of the least expensive photo options and also one of the most lenient when it comes to photo quality. Even though the process uses UV cured ink, this type of print will fade if placed in the direct sun. This process does come with a ten year guarantee; however, it is usually best suited for either indoor usage or outside if in a shaded or sun protected area.
Price for a UV Photo: $90.00
Cast Plaques and Tooled Plaques
There are very few differences between the final product of either a cast plaque or a tooled plaque. With Cast Plaques, the design proof is made into a mold which is then pressed into compact sand in a special frame. That frame is then closed and molten bronze is poured into the mold. Once cooled, the mold of sand is broken apart revealing a plaque, which is then sanded, painted, and sealed.
With Tooled Plaques, the process begins with a solid piece of bronze. The proof is used to send information to a machine that carves away the background of the plaque leaving behind raised letters. The plaque is then painted and sealed. To the naked eye, the plaques are near identical. The benefit of tooled plaques are: Square border edges, Square letter edges, Possibility of slightly more details, and Faster processing time.
Thin Gauged Plaques: In those instances that you need a plaque that is thinner than normal, such as placing one on a park bench, your only option would be a tooled plaque. As long as the plaque is installed on a solid surface, there is no reason not to choose a thin gauged plaque for certain scenarios.
We utilize BOTH processes depending on the scenario. If for some reason, you MUST have cast or tooled, please let us know.
Our number one question! Precision Tooled Plaques usually take the least amount of time. Depending on work load that can be 10 – 15 business days. Regular cast plaques usually take 15 – 20 business days. Plaques that involve photos usually take about 20 – 25 business days, and in case of BAS Relief Photos that can take 30 business days.
Business days are considered Monday – Friday and excludes holidays.
Production time does not include proofing time between us and the customer. Once your payment is made and all proofing has been complete the plaque will be submitted to production. There is also some behind the scenes going on too. This behind the scenes is an internal proofing process between the graphic design proof and the production proof. Although the customer does not see the production proof, this is something that is done and usually takes a day or two to complete. In the rare event that the production team rejects a graphic proof, for reasons such as too small of text or other graphic issues, we may have to send a revised proof to the customer.
In any event, we never recommend planning an event surrounding the arrival of a bronze plaque by a given date if that event is less than 45 days away. Even though we may provide an estimated shipping date, that does not take in account for the rare failed casting or other production issues. Sometimes the production of a plaque will result in a bad casting, or other quality assurance issue, and the plaque has to be remade. This of course may add some time.
What about rush orders? Unfortunately, due to the process of creating a cast or tooled plaque, we do not offer a rush option. Our plaque foundries are working overtime year round to fulfill customers throughout the United States and that is a LOT of plaques.
2. Size of Plaque: There are usually a couple of factors that determine what size plaque you need. The first is the available space. If you need to install your metal plaque on a predefined area, such as a rock, then you don’t have a lot of flexibility on a bigger size. That being said, if you have a limit on your plaque size then you should be aware that the amount of text is also limited. The smallest letter possible on a cast plaque is .25″ if all the letters are uppercase. If you must have both upper and lowercase letters, then the minimum font height is .375″ You should also realize that there are spacing requirements between letters and lines too, and the available space for text on a plaque is usually less than you imagine.
If space is not an issue, then the only thing that restricts the size of the plaque is the amount of text and your budget. Plaques are priced by the overall size and can quickly become very expensive even by just adding a few inches in the width or height of a plaque.
3. Background Color:
Black is the default color for bronze and aluminum plaques. The color you choose is just preference and they all will look beautiful. These four colors are not your only option though. If you are looking for another color, such as red, blue, green, white, or any other, please let us know. We offer many stock colors and only a nominal fee for color match.
4. Texture:
Stipple is our default texture. Again, this is just preference. Leatherette backgrounds usually look good when you have a large plaque with lots of background showing. The Pebble background is a bit more prominent of a texture while sand is more consistent and fine.
5. Clear Coat:
Satin is our default clear coat finish. Think of these four options as you would for paint. Satin provides a touch of gloss and sheen, but will not be overly shiny. Gloss provides a high sheen finish, followed closely by Semi-Gloss. For those looking for a muted look, and sometimes a more pronounced artistic touch, you should consider Matte.
6. Finish:
The majority of plaques are finished with a brushed look. In those instances that you are looking for a bright, shiny, and polished look, we do offer a polished finish. This incurs a 50% markup fee and we suggest using a gloss finish to maximize the effect. You simply would not want to pay for a polished plaque and then finish it with a matte finish.
7. Border:
While Single Line and Double Line are the most popular, other borders, such as No Border, and any of the borders with bevels are also commonly used. The Inset borders seem to be mostly used on etched plaques. There is no best choice with most borders being chosen based on customer preference, trying to match other plaques in the area, or text space requirements. If you are limited on plaque space and have lots of text, you may want to consider either a single line border or no border at all.
For an additional fee, you may also choose from a more decorative boarder such as:
8. Mounting:
If you are looking for a permanent installation without visible hardware then Blind Mount is what you want. With this method there are posts screwed into the back of the plaque which will go into drilled holes filled with epoxy.
If you would like to use screws to attach your plaque, and you are attaching it to a solid surface, such as granite or brick, then you should use the Solid Wall Mount option.
For those installations requiring wall anchors, such as drywall and hollow cinderblock, then you should opt for Hollow Wall Mount.
Wood Mount is of course for mounting plaques to wood and other surfaces where you will be using traditional wood screws.
Stake Mount is for mounting plaques in front of trees or in gardens. The stakes are long enough to push into the ground and letting the plaque sit just above the ground or a bit higher depending on how long of a stake you buy. Stake Mounts are not overly strong, so they are not suggested for large plaques. You should also be aware of the ease of theft or vandalism with these types of mounts.
Post Mount is a very strong option and permanent installation, since they are meant to be concreted into the ground. These post mounts allow for the plaque to be displayed either vertically or at a 45 degree angle.
9. Rosettes:
Rosettes mostly serve as a decorative way to hide the hardware used to attached the plaque to the surface. In blind mount application, there is no visible hardware so there is no need for a rosette. Most rosettes are glued in place over the screws using silicone. The R-5 rosettes utilizes the wood screws to go through the center hole to attach the plaque to the wall. Some rosettes come in sizes too large for small plaques. The R-7 rosettes has one size, which is 1 inch tall.
10. Fonts & Design:
Metal plaques usually use only a handful of basic fonts, such as Arial, Helvetica and Times Roman for example; however, we can usually use any font as long as the stroke thickness is not too thin. We are happy to design a plaque for you, but we also welcome customer’s designs as long as they meet the guidelines outlined above.
Are Proofs Free? Yes and No. We are happy to offer free proofs for most jobs. In cases where the proof involves long lists of name, or is overly complicated, we may require either the plaque to be paid for first, or a small deposit. We do our best to provide our customers an easy process, and we understand that free proofs help that along. What we would like to avoid is for customers to request proofs and renditions and then go to another company using the very proofs we designed. In order for us to provide this free proof service, we require our customers to have some level of knowledge that there is a lot of work involved in creating proofs. We certainly can not stay in business if we never get paid for the work we do. So, we appreciate that there are other companies who provide similar services, and that our customers have a choice, but we just ask not to abuse this service and at the very least be upfront with us in the beginning that you are shopping around.
Final Thoughts
We certainly hope that this bronze plaque buyer’s guide has been informative and useful. But even with all of this information, we understand that there will still be questions. So, please, if you are unsure about the process, or have questions, simply give us a call or send us an email. We will be happy to discuss your project with you.
Designing cast bronze plaques is not too difficult as long as you follow some basic guidelines. The most basic type of plaque is one that has just words. Once you start adding elements like logos, photos, and other designs then you need to be aware of additional restraints. There are other informational tabs that will provide you with more information on those topics.
The simplest type of plaque utilizes the same font height throughout the plaque. This is one of the most common methods especially if you have limited room. One of the most important things you need to know is the minimum letter size.
From the very beginning, you should have a good idea of what you want your plaque to look like. Some want a plaque that is artistic looking with different font styles and heights. Others are looking for plain plaques that provide basic information. If you are looking for a small plaque, or one that fits in a particular area, then you may find that the amount of information that you can put on the plaque is quite limiting. If size is not an issue, then you have the freedom to add lots of different types of elements. The only thing that will limit what you do is the final price.
The majority of options on plaques do not add additional charges; however, the bigger the plaque the more expensive it will be. The overall price can increase quickly since pricing is based on the overall square inches of the plaque, and the bigger the plaque the thicker it must be, so as plaques get larger the price can quickly escalate.
In order to help with pricing, we try to provide an all inclusive price. That being said, there are some options that do indeed have an impact on the price, such as the use of photos, multiple paint colors, stakes and posts, or if you want the plaque polished.
The vast majority of plaques use all uppercase letters. For those not use to metal plaques it may seem strange to use all uppercase letters, but this is the industry standard. Now, nothing stops you from using upper and lowercase letters, but due to minimum font sizes in cast bronze plaques you should be aware of the impact.
The casting process requires a certain thickness on the raised letters. Too small of letters will crumble and fail after casting. So, if you are using all uppercase letters, the minimum font height is .25″
If you want to use lowercase letters, then we need to make sure that none of the letters are smaller than the .25″ size standard. We have calculated that .375″ font height makes sure that the lowercase letters are no smaller than .25″.
To provide a visual, the upper plaque has all uppercase letters at .25″. The lower plaque has lowercase letters and they were sized at .375″. You can see the impact that can have on a plaque – especially if you have a lot of text, or a limited plaque size.
The majority of cast bronze plaques utilize four background colors: Black, Brown, Duranodic Bronze, and Dark Oxide. Of these four colors, black by far is the most commonly chosen color. This does not mean that you are limited to just these four colors. If you are looking for another background color, please choose the product Cast Bronze Plaque – Custom Color.
There are four textures to choose from: Stipple, Leatherette, Pebble and Sand. Of these, the most common is stipple. Usually larger plaques look nice with the leatherette finish.
There are two finish options – brushed and polished. Brushed is the standard is by far the most popular. You can choose to have the plaques polished to give them a high shine; however, this process adds a 50% charge to the plaques and is best reserved for smaller less expensive plaques.
The clear coat options are self-explanatory and they are Gloss, Semi-Gloss, Satin, and Matte. The default option is Satin and is the most popular. The second most popular is matte. If you are choosing a Polished finish, then you would also want to choose a Gloss clear coat – anything else would diminish the polished look.
The most common types of borders are Single Line Border and Double Line Border, followed by the same but with beveled edges. Borders are purely for decoration and you can choose whichever one you think would look the best. The one thing to keep in mind is if you are limited for space, or are designing a small plaque, the borders can take up a lot of space; furthermore, the use of rosettes can also encroach your typeset area. So, if your plaque is too small for the amount of text and border, you may have to either choose a larger plaque size or omit the border altogether.
We offer a number of border options to choose from, but all are pretty basic in style. We also have available some fancier border options, but those add cost to the plaque.
Here is an explanation of all the mounting options:
Blind Mount: This is one of the most common mounting options. This type of mount is meant to be a permanent installation and all hardware is hidden. The back of the plaques have threaded holes drilled and there are threaded rods provided with the plaques. When you receive the plaque you can screw in the rods into the back of the plaque. Then you would drill holes into the product your stone or other solid product. The holes are then filled with epoxy and then the plaque with rods are placed into place, with the rods inserted into the epoxy filled holes. Once dried, the plaque is locked in place.
Solid Wall Mount: This method is also meant to be on a solid surface, such as stone or a concrete wall. The difference between this and blind mount is that the hardware is visible on the plaque. Holes are predrilled into the surface and then screws / bolts are used to anchor the plaque to the wall. This method is good if you ever want to remove the plaque in the future.
Hollow Wall Mount: This option is good if you want to attach a plaque to drywall or other hollow walls. This option utilized toggle bolts that will anchor inside the hollow wall application. The hardware is visible.
Wood Mount: This option is for attaching a plaque to a surface that screws can be screwed into.
Stake Mount: The minimum plaque height needed for a stake mount is 4″. This is meant for small plaques to be placed in gardens, in front of trees, or in any area where you want the ability to remove and place again. Stakes come in three heights: 12″, 24″ and 36″. The one thing to keep in mind is that the stake needs to be pushed into the ground deep enough to provide stability, so a 12″ stake would usually make the bottom of the plaque be only a couple of inches above the ground. If you would like the plaque to be about 12″ above the ground, then you would want a 24″ stake and a 36″ stake for an 18″ height.
Post Mount: The minimum plaque height needed for a post mount is 6″.This is meant for a permanent installation of a plaque above the ground. Posts are meant to be concreted into the ground. The nice thing about post mounts is that there are two options for displaying the plaque – either vertical at a 90 degree angle or at a 45 degree angle. The posts used for the mounting option are specially designed to be attached to the post mount on the back of the plaque. The posts are not typical post sizes.
Rosettes are decorative covers for the mounting hardware and are purely decorative and not necessary. Blind mount plaques do require any type of rosette. The other mounting options can utilize the rosettes to either completely hide the screw or to make the screw more attractive. Rosettes are usually permanently attached to the plaque using silicone glue.
Etched plaques are reverse of what cast bronze plaques are. Etched plaques have recessed letter that are painted. Etched plaques offer more detail possibilities, so if you are tight on overall size and need more letters than a traditional cast bronze plaque can offer, then an etched plaque might be your best choice. There are still restrictions on line thickness and minimum font height, but that will also depend on the font. San-serif fonts, like Arial, will allow for smaller fonts, such as .13″, while serif fonts like Times has a minimum font height of .2
Etched plaques are also good for when you have a detailed logo or drawing that needs to be on a plaque. Etched plaques allow all of the text and logo to be integrated on one surface. Sometimes, customers request a cast bronze plaque but need a state seal or logo. In those cases, we can have the seal or logo etched on a round etched metal and then have that permanently attached to the cast bronze plaque.
There are many reasons why customers choose aluminum plaques. Sometimes it is because the customer needs a lightweight option. Other times, the customer is looking for a less expensive plaque. Cast Aluminum plaques is the way to go when you are on a budget and need a light plaque option.
Because cast aluminum plaques are less expensive and lightweight, they are often chosen for monument or historical place markers. These plaques are usually painted with multiple colors, such as a dark green or blue background color and then the lettering may be painted white.
Donation and memorial plaques usually require a bit more care in the planning and design. These types of plaques often have lists of names and particular layouts. The most common way is to have all the names cast or etched right into the plaque, while other times customers need individual plates to be screwed onto the plaque for years to come. No matter which option you need, we can help you choose the right size and layout for your project.
