Cast Plaques

Cast Metal Types

Portrait Options

Surface Finishes

Chemical Patina

Tradition of Cast Bronze

Cast Metal Types

Cast plaques are long-lasting metal panels used for signage, dedications, trail markers, memorials and works of art. Cast plaques are created with raised dimensional letters and a recessed background. We offer cast bronze and cast aluminum, as well as unique, harder-to-find options, cast stainless steel and cast white bronze.

Cast Bronze

Cast bronze is our most popular choice; it ages gracefully, radiates warmth and evokes legacy and trust. This durable metal is suitable for all mounting locations. Cast bronze is especially popular for our inset floor plaques.

Cast Aluminum

Cast aluminum is a great option if plaque weight and budget are big priorities. Suitable for wall mounted plaques, we would recommend aluminum for plaques placed indoors.

Cast stainless steel

Cast stainless steel matches the durability and toughness of bronze, with a clean, modern aesthetic. A perfect fit for sleek, modern architectural environments. Recommended for plaques in harsh weather conditions, cast stainless steel will stand the test of time. We partner with one of the only two few remaining American foundries who cast in stainless steel. We recommend cast stainless steel for inset floor plaques and wall plaques exposed to the elements.

Cast white bronze

Cast white bronze has the durability of bronze with a unique appeal - this metal has a lighter, more muted look than regular bronze, which gives it an elegant flair. A lovely middle point between cast bronze and cast stainless steel, this rarefied metal is suitable for a variety of design styles. Cast white bronze is suitable for wall mounted and floor inset plaques.

Why Bronze and not plastic?

We do not create plastic plaques bonded with bronze dust (commonly called “cold bronze”) or low quality material plaques “coated” in bronze for a number of reasons. First, we believe it is disingenuous to our customers. Secondly, these materials do not last and will chip or peel away over time and look bad. Finally, we use alloys that can be recycled and re-used. While plastic plaques may come at a lower price up front, we suggest taking the lifespan of plastic into account and how often you would need to replace the plaque. While a larger commitment upfront, the longevity of metal makes for a better investment for you and your planet. 

Our metals are lead and mercury-free. We offer LEED- certified options to help your organization achieve your sustainability goals and meet your targeted LEED rating.

GRAPHIC LOGOS

Have a logo you’d like to include? Graphic logos translate beautifully onto cast plaques and convey a timeless aura of quality and prestige. We can cast your organizations logo as raised or recessed line art, giving your plaque a classic look or creating a bold statement. 

Customize Your Plaque

We’ve compiled a handy assistant guide to customizing your cast plaque. *LINK to customize cast plaques pdf* 

There are many ways to customize your plaque to make it truly yours - choose from background textures, surface finishes, and standard and ornamental borders as well as rosettes. You can even give your plaque a custom color infill to match any Pantone selection. 

Get creative! We can create plaques in more shapes than just the standard rectangle. A custom shape can give your plaque an element of fun or help your plaque recall the legacy of historic plaques, such as the unique shape of National Register plaques.*photo of hot air ballon plaque, photo of baseball diamond plaque & a historic plaque custom shape

Portrait Options

A portrait plaque is a wonderful way to honor or memorialize an individual or event in a lasting way. Our three recommended portrait options are bas-relief, photo-rendered and illustrated.

Bas-Relief Portraits

Bas-relief portraits are hand-sculpted artistic carvings that can depict a loved one, colleague, historic figure, building or more. 

Photo-rendered Portraits

Photo-rendered portraits are prismatic translations of a photograph into metal. This modern technique uses special software and digital routing to recreate a photograph in low relief.  

Custom Illustration

Our in-house designers can also create a custom illustration. A popular option for walk of fame plaques, an illustration can be a symbol representing the person honored (ie underwater camera for underwater photographer) or custom illustrated rendering of the person themselves. 

For more information, check out our pdf with details and guidelines on portrait plaques. *LINK to portrait plaques pdf*

Borders

There are a variety of standard borders to choose from. Each style helps impart a unique personality to your project. 

Standard Borders 

Single Line and Double Line Borders are our most popular options and act as beautiful frames. 

Straight Edge (also called “no border”) is a popular option for a more modern, minimal design. 

Beveled Edge and Single Line Bevel are great choices for a dimensional look.

Ornamental Borders 

Ornamental borders are one trick to help your plaque match a particular environment or time period. These borders provide a subtle shift in style, harmonizing with plaque content or architectural signage details. Many of our ornamental borders come from historic patterns sources found in museum collections and call to mind the decorative moulding and patterns from classical and neoclassical architecture. Ask your plaque specialist for pricing options for these premium border options. For more information on historic borders.

Surface Finishes

We offer three different surface finishes: polished, satin and random orbital.

Satin Finish

Satin finish is the most popular choice for wall plaques. This uniform sanding pattern has a brushed, linear grain and acts as a classic neutral backdrop neutral finish to your design.

Polished Finish

Polished finish gives the plaque a sleek, elegant look. This is achieved by polishing the metal surface with a buffing wheel until a mirror-like sheen develops.

random orbital Finish

Random orbital finish gives your wall plaque a visually interesting look., gritty feel. For inset floor plaques we exclusively recommend random orbital finish. A rotating sander creates an irregular pattern of circular paths on the metal surface which hides accidental scratches well. Other finishes are highly susceptible to show wear and tear on floor plaques or wall plaques that receive heavy public interaction.

Chemical Patina

Our Chemical Patina

Our chemical patina process is what sets our cast plaques apart. We apply a real chemical patina to all of our inset cast bronze plaques and recommend it for all most of our cast bronze plaques. A real patina chemically changes the surface of the bronze and will not peel away when the pieces are installed outside or set in paving. In comparison, paint or a paint-like coating can eventually peel and chip away over time. 

We understand that selecting a plaque provider can be an involved process for our clients. When shopping around for your cast bronze plaque, we would highly recommend making sure providers are quoting a true patina and not a lower quality coating. In making price comparisons, it’s very important that you specify that the plaque provider is using a real chemical patina to color all bronze work. Because the chemical patina is a more expensive process, many plaque makers use other products with names like chem-col, polychrome patinas and graphite sprays which may sound impressive, but are really just paint. 

With heavy foot traffic, the patina color on our inset plaques will change and naturally burnish and shine, but this creates a pleasing look and gives the plaque a true luster, rather than a painted plaque that just looks badly maintained.

Custom Patina

We’ve developed our own unique chemical patina, but we can also work with you to create a custom patina. A custom hand-rubbed patina can be used to give your project a rustic, vintage look right away, or to help it match the look of other, older plaques in the area. *photo of custom patina plaques*

Plaque Coatings

To choose the best final coating for your project, it’s important to know where your piece will be mounted (indoors? outdoors? drywall? brick?), the environmental conditions (near salt water?) and the amount of physical interaction the public will have with the plaque.

Regular Clear Coat

Regular Clear Coat is a satin, weather-coating layer that provides an initial, limited protection and a light sheen to your plaque. This coating can easily be re-applied after installation as needed to keep your plaque looking great in the years to come. We have aerosol spray cans of our regular clear coat available upon request.

High Durability Gloss Coat

High Durability Gloss Coat is the highest protection available for cast plaques. This coating is applied with a heat process and gives the plaque a glossy, almost wet look. It’s the best defense against environmental oxidization or accidental damage in high traffic areas. We strongly recommend our High Durability Gloss Coat for cast aluminum plaques installed outdoors or for bronze plaques installed in busy locations or near salt water. 

Textures

Textured Options

Your choice of background textures is applied to the background (recessed) areas of your plaque, adding another level of customization. These options vary in range from subtle to dramatic. Travertine and pebbled are popular choices if you’re looking for only slight variations in the background. These are subtle and work well for plaques with a heavy amount of text and graphics as they do not distract the viewer.

For a more striking, distinctive texture, leatherette and sculpted give the plaque an artistic, distinctive look. These are great choices for plaques with a decent amount of background space; these more dramatic textures keep these open areas interesting.

smooth texture

Smooth (or “no texture”) is the most neutral background option, although slight variations in surface consistency will occur. Smooth plaque backgrounds are given no additional texture, only a sandblasted finish. After molten bronze alloy is poured into a mold, the metal’s natural tendency during cooling is to develop small air holes (pits) on its surface. Sometimes slight flow marks are also visible.  Much like fine leather, we find these subtle variations to be part of metal’s beauty and they help to make the cast plaque look like the unique, hand-made object that it is. Not everyone is fond of this look, however, which is why most other plaque makers will tell you that your plaque project needs to have a background texture applied. Added textures help disguise these flow marks and small pits, guaranteeing a more uniform plaque background. At Masterwork Plaques we believe that educated customers can make this decision for themselves.

For in-ground plaques, we exclusively use smooth texture because of the wear patterns that occur in open background areas due to foot traffic. If there is a texture, the subtle parts of the texture that are raised are going to get lighter so that overtime it can look like wrinkles, or folds in the metal, and can be distracting. 

For in-ground plaques, we don’t like to have any recessed area that is the size of a footprint or larger; this would pose a tripping potential slip hazard as it becomes easier to catch your foot in that area. it’s the relief portions of the plaques that act as a tread and provide traction underfoot. As a solution to this issue, we often implement a type of background pattern. This allows the plaque to still provide traction and grip. This pattern also helps to prevent any rain, ice or snow that could be brought in from outside (i.e. on people’s winter boots) from pooling in a single spot on the plaque and causing irregular discoloration to the metal. We have created many different custom background patterns, such as herringbone, cross-hatch and dotted. These can also add visual interest to plaques with large background areas. *photos of plaques with background patterns*

Mounting Methods

Front Mount

A front mount is the ideal option for a plaque that may need to be moved in the future. It’s the only mounting method that can be used for plaques mounted to drywall. and is also a great option for plaques mounted to sheetrock. Front mounted plaques have four holes tapped and threaded through the front face of the plaque—one in each corner. The plaque is then secured to the wall with threaded screws through each hole. If you’re mounting to drywall using a removable front mount method but are worried about theft, epoxy can be applied when the plaque is installed. Let us know which surface you’re mounting to and we can provide the proper mounting screws/toggle bolts.

Rosettes

Rosettes are decorative covers for the screw heads in each corner of front mounted plaques. We have a variety of rosettes available in different sizes. Link to rosette options If you choose to forgo rosettes, the screw heads will be painted to match the plaque background. 

HIdden Stud Mount

A hidden stud mount is the best choice for your plaque if you are concerned about any risk of theft. A hidden stud mounted plaque is shipped with stainless steel rods that are secured into hubs on the backside of the plaque. Holes are drilled into the wall or surface where the plaque is to be mounted, and then the plaque’s attachment rods are inserted and secured into the drilled holes with epoxy. With this mounting solution, none of the hardware can be seen from the front of the installed plaque. This technique is also aptly called a “blind mount”.

Post/Stake Mount

A post/stake mount is a simple and effective way to mount a plaque and post into the ground (particularly a lawn or garden path). The plaque is mechanically attached to a standing post or tapered stake. The post or stake can also be attached to the plaque at either a 30 or 45 degree angle for easy viewing. A variety of post mount options are available with additional post cap mount options. just ask your plaque specialist for more information.

No mount/ Adhesive Mount

No Mount/Adhesive Mount Don’t want to drill into a surface or dealing with building codes and fire metal doors? We would recommend either a VHB tape mount or epoxy mount depending on weight/permanence of mounting.

in-ground Plaques

In-ground plaques are one of our specialties; we’ve developed a fool-proof installation procedure over the years and our signature installation method is ADA compliant. We provide a comprehensive guide for installation and are happy to consult with your installation contractors. *link to inset plaque pillar page*

Custom mount

Have something different in mind? Let’s help you achieve your vision. We can create special projects such as double-sided or reverse cast fence-mounted plaques. Let us know if you have unique or custom mounting needs - we can create custom mounting solutions, including a custom walnut base or concealed mounting tabs, available upon request. *photos of FRANCISCO plaque & GIL plaque*

Quantity Pricing

We’re able to provide a discount on any duplicates for multiple identical plaques. The first plaque is more expensive than the duplicate because of the initial setup time to create the pattern for casting. The duplicate plaque is cast off of this initial pattern, therefore we're able to create it at a lower cost because it doesn't require the same labor as the initial setup.

We’re able to provide a custom discount for quantities of 10 or more unique plaques. The larger the quantity, the larger the discount we’re able to provide. We’re also happy to provide a custom discount if you’re ordering just one plaque which will be part of is a perpetual project (i.e. donor plaque with nameplates or walk of fame) over time. Let us know! We’re happy to work with your budget.  *Link to WOF and perpetual plaque/donor plaque pillar pages*

Perpetual Add-On Plates

For perpetual plaques such as donor plaques, a cast backing plaque is recommended, with cast or etched nameplates attached over time. *link to recognition/award pillar page*

We know the projects can be overwhelming - we recommend deciding how to organize and separate the perpetual plaques - will it be by year? Quarter? Decade? This helps to understand the scope and scale of the project. Some people like to receive blank nameplates to install at the onset, giving the plaque a cohesive look. For this we recommend etched nameplates. These nameplates can be sent to our foundry one by one, to be etched when a name needs to be added! 

Historic Markers and National Register Plaques

Historic markers play a crucial role in how history is remembered, and how we can take pride in or reflect on our past. Link to Smithsonian article: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-it-comes-historical-markers-every-word-matters-180963973/ 

They can serve as monuments to well-known events but can also serve to prevent lesser-known moments from fading from public memory and preserve moments of local pride or significance. One of our favorite recent projects immortalizes the moment Harry Truman took a pit-stop in Smithfield, Texas. *photos of THOMAS plaque*

Tradition of Bronze

There’s a great tradition of casting in America, and we’re proud to be a part of this tradition. This is why all of our projects are created here, partnered with foundries across the United States. For more information on the history of American bronze casting, check out *link to the Met American bronze casting article*

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abrc/hd_abrc.htm

American public art: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/modl/hd_modl.htm