Home > Our Plaque Process

Our Plaque Mounting Process

We create beautiful contemporary wall plaques from photos you upload, or prints that you mail us or NOAA nautical charts we sell. Each ARTiPLAQ™  is hand crafted in our manufacturing facility in South Portland, Maine. Beware of imitations and be sure to ask for ARTiPLAQ™ .

We custom cut our substrates to the size of your print. We use the highest quality Drytac laminates and adhesives to encapsulate your print so that oxygen will not get at it.  Our “Artshield” laminate has ultra violet filters to protect your print and over-laminate from yellowing. 

Trimming the laminate

ARTiPLAQ™ is a dry mount encapsulation process. We adhere your print to a wood substrate and over laminate in our heated vacuum press. 

We use 3/8" thick MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) for our standard Plaq.

Pam & Scott plaq

In November 2017, we introduced a new style called 'Float Plaq.' A Float Plaq is a 3/8" MDF board with a backer frame attached to the back of the Plaq and inset so you don't see it when hanging on the wall. The profile depth off the wall for a Float Plaq, depends on the size: We 'low-rise' prints less than 40 United Inches to give a 3/4" overall profile from the wall. We 'high-rise' prints greater than 40 United Inches to give a 1 1/8" profile off the wall. You can special request either Float Plaq depth to match another Float Plaq. Please note, we have discontinued floating 1/8" Masonite  hardboard.  (We will contiue to offer Masonite substrate, with a raw edge, for folks who want to drop their ARTiPLAQ-mounted print into a picture frame.)

Float mount backer         

 

 

 

Style profiles and Bevel Options

We have 4 edge colors; Black, white, gold and silver. (We no longer have the red edge color and need to update photo.) We bevel chamfer edge when we apply our heat set foil color. Picture below is the standard bevel, which is cut 1/4" on the chamfer.

 

In the next photo, you'll see our Micro Bevel option, (cut 1/8" on the chamfer). Notice too, the white border around the image- (the photographer left a 3 inches margin around the perimeter of the image._ Instead of cropping the white margin, we over laminte over the image and border to create a nice matte-border effect. (If you want this look and already have a cropped print, consider a multiple mount, where we mount your image on colorful paper centering it with a margin width you choose.

White edge orcutt                        

There is no glare with our matt-finish laminate and you can wipe it clean with Windex. Once your print is ARTiPLAQ™ ’d, it is encapsulated so that oxygen will not get to it and cause it to fade. The remaining factor is daylight—direct or indirect, over the years may cause your print to fade. The only filter that permanently blocks daylight, is solid black— which prevents you from displaying your prints.

ARTiPLAQ™ is a permanent process and cannot be undone. You may not want to ARTiPLAQ™ original artwork that might increase in value or anything that is irreplaceable.

ARTiPLAQ™ s are hand crafted for quality and made in the USA.