This page introduces our various products and services and provides a general overview of their characteristics and our ordering process.. To see examples of our various products, go to our Product Gallery.. After reviewing the signs or plaques in your areas of interest, you can get more information or a cost estimate by sending us the form on the Request an Estimate page.
If you want to be more specific about the sign or plaque you want, or if you want complete flexibility in your choices (i.e., to design your own sign), you can use the Product Catalogs downloadable from the Products page (use this link or the menu at upper left). You can view a detailed Catalog Product Line by clicking on the Product Line title over the picture, and you will view the Catalog for that Product Line as a downloaded PDF File.
Dimensional Sign and Plaque Specialist. For internet orders, we specialize on designing and building small and medium-size custom dimensional wood and HDU signs and ceramic signs and plaques for businesses (especially wineries, pubs and restaurants), residences, government facilities, golf courses, parks, churches, apartments, condominiums, offices, RVs and yachts at affordable prices. For the Southern California area, we design, fabricate and install larger custom HDU and wood dimensional signs (up to 12 ft by 4 ft).
Dimensional Signs. Dimensional signs have a beauty and elegance flat signs do not achieve. Although we do make flat signs, we specialize in three-dimensional wood and HDU signs and plaques , which are achieved by one or more of these three methods :(1) elevated letters and artwork fabricated by sandblasting the background , sometimes at several levels; or (2) incised (i.e, engraved, or carved into the sign's face) letters and artwork performed by either hand-carving, routing, sandblasting the letters and artwork while protecting the background, or by using our CNC cutter with a V-tool and center-line software; or (3) separate cut-out, hand-carved or CNC carved art sculptures or letters epoxied on as an applique on the sign's surface (for large custom signs in Product Line 8 only).
For all of our work we use a computer and state-of-the-art software ( VE LXI Master, Flexi, CorelDraw X3, CorelPainter IX.5, AdobePhotoShop Pro, CarveWright, Alibre Design) extensively to design the sign, prepare a PROOF, design detailed artwork including realistic colors, and prepare production drawings. These are used to produce precision computer designed stencils made of heavy vinyl, to be used either as a template, or as a sandblast mask to protect the areas we do not want to sandblast or cut. Backgrounds can have either a wood-grain look (both wood and HDU), a sandstone-texture surface (for HDU only), or a smooth surface. Letters and numbers are easily readable by making them large, elevated well above or below the background (from 1/4 in to 1 inch), and painting them with high-contrast and colorful high-quality gloss enamels or stains. For our custom signs, we also offer gold, copper or aluminum-leaf gilded incised or applique letters or artwork. We offer many text and number font styles ranging from the elegant to the whimsical, and a selection of over 60 paint colors.
Artwork. Art icons embedded in the wood and HDU signs range from simple one to three-color elevated flat-surface figures (i.e.,Silhouette or Outline Art) for Product Lines 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8 ,to hand-carved, hand-painted art figures and scenes in low-relief, which we call CarvedArt ( Product Lines 2, 3, 6 and 8) ). For custom signs, we may use hand-carved/sculptured, hand-painted, high-relief figures which are epoxied onto the sign's surface.
We provide you a selection of over 2000 popular Art icons (put into Art Appendices A through D, downloadable from each of the Product Catalog pages or from the bottom of P 9 in the Product Gallery) ,or you can provide your own Art icon to us as a computer file (JPEG or vector format) via the Send a File link on the upper left menu, or send us a paper copy. You can reference clip art objects from sources such as http://www.graphicsfactory.com or http://www.iCLIPART.com and we will download these and create sign art from them. You can also provide a written description of what you want in an e-mail and we will search our library of over 3,000,000 art images to find some that may suit you.
Our more complex art objects and sculptures are built by employing multi-layer sand blasting followed up by hand-carving, hand-sanding and hand-painting to achieve either a low-relief 3D look, as in Product Line 2 (CarvedArt Signs), or a high-relief, sculpture (for Product Line 8-Large Custom Signs only). We can use our own extensive library of art images and templates,or we can develop custom art scenes or icons from a written description, a sketch, a photo, or a computer file (either raster or vector format)
Sign Supports and Installation. The Redwood, Cedar and HDU signs can be mounted on your own sign stand, or we can supply hand-made wrought-iron stands designed specifically for your sign (see Product Line 7) enabling very simple and low cost installation.
Ceramic Signs and Plaques. Our ceramic signs and plaques (Product Line 5) are personalized with your choice of text or number font styles, and we offer you a good selection of artwork. These plaques are hand-painted with colorful glazes overcoated with a clear glaze. The plaques can be used either outdoors or indoors. These can be ordered with an optional attractive wrought-iron frame (choice of four styles). We have two sizes of ceramic plaques, 14 inches by 11 inches and 8 inches by 6 inches. These come with hooks and can be placed on an outside wall, pillar, next to or on a door, or inside on a wall.
Our Wood, High Density Urethane(HDU), and Ceramic Signs - High-Quality Materials and Outstanding Craftmanship. All of our personalized and custom sign and plaque designs are made with a high level of craftmanship and unique and elegant art that will express the message you want to send to others through a combination of your selection of style, color, and artwork and our expertise and experience. We use the finest wood, ceramic, urethane,and paint materials available, and all our signs and plaques are guaranteed for five years or longer.
We cut, sandblast, plane, carve, route, sand, and paint or varnish in our Murrieta woodshop all of our signs and plaques using California Redwood and Western Cedar; Red and White Oak; Maple; Birch; Phillipine Mahogany; and exotic South American hardwoods such as Santos Mahogany, Walnut, Cherry, and Rosewood for nameplates; and the highest quality High-Density Urethane (HDU). We apply our primers, paints, stains and varnishes in a certified paint spray booth in our murrieta workshop. We glaze and fire our ceramic plaques in our electric kiln in our ceramic workshop, also in Murrieta, California. We have a Mexican partner who hand-forges and welds wrought iron pieces, but we assemble, drill, weld, galvanize and paint our elegant wrought iron sign and plaque holders, stands and frames in Murrieta.
Thousands of designs. We offer an on-line selection of over 100 sign shapes and sizes, 50 colors, 28 font styles, and over 2000 art icon designs to convey your message. Your choices can be selected on this web-site and sent to us via e-mail, and we will send to you at no cost a computer-generated color drawing of your sign's design with the features you have requested (the PROOF) so that you can review and approve the design before we build your sign. Usually we send several design variations for you to choose from. If you need to consult with us on your requirements or design choices, feel free to call us or e-mail us; we will be pleased to talk to you about your sign. We can also offer other sign shapes and sizes, font styles, colors, and art icons that are not standard (i.e., not listed in the Product Line Catalogs).
Easy to order . We pride ourselves on our responsiveness in working with customers. You as a customer will get an opportunity to review and approve personalized or customized designs by reviewing our PROOF via e-mail before we build your sign or plaque.
Customer Interface and Design Support. Even when we close our doors and go home at night, we're still just a point and click away through this website and emails. Our Product and Services area provides you with with 24-hour access to our company. From here you can request an estimate, place an order, transfer a file, or review our product offerings, all from the convenience of your office or home. You can call us during office hours at 951-698-8484 and we will be pleased to talk to you about possible designs for your sign or plaque.
We want to make the process of doing business with us as easy as possible. We recommend you first visit the Product Gallery page. If you like a given type of sign or plaque, go to the Request an Estimate page, fill out the short form referencing the sign's ID number (e.g., M2315) and changes you want made, and send it to us.
If you want a sign design unlike any you can find in the Product Gallery, send us the Request an Estimate form with a description and we'll develop some designs and send them to you.
If you want "hands-on" involvement in selecting sign shape, colors, font, art and layout, use the Product Catalogs; it will take you more time but you will have a broader selection of design features to choose from.If this is the course you want to take, first go to the Product page and read the summary description for that Product Line . Then click on Product Catalog page link at the bottom of each Product Line description. There you can download that Catalog and Art Appendices, browse through it and select your design features (size, shape, color, font style, artwork).To order a product, fill out the Sign Design Specification Form off-line and submit it as a file and we will take it from there.
Customer Satisfaction. The primary way we measure our success is customer satisfaction with our products. Below are a few of the recent written comments we receive from our customers after they received their signs or plaques.
"Thanks for working so hard on our company’s entry sign. I have received so many compliments on it. You did a great job on it. Thanks .." JG, Vista, CA
"The sign was just delivered and I love it.!!!!!!! It is perfect in the basement, and the colors match great. Thank you for everything!!!!!! I really like the way the ridges make it look rustic, and like wood. Have a wonderful Holiday and Happy New Year!!!!!" LH, New Jersey
"My parents loved the sign and it looked great!!!.."SJ,
"We got it and the plaque looks great! Thank You". Bryan S, Escondido, CA
"The signs are beautiful and they had no problems putting them up. ...take care", AM,
"Thank you for your great work with the permitting dept. and of course the sign. Everyone is very impressed with your work." …Scott, San Diego
"Thanks, I have received the nameplates. They look great! Thanks again!" Natalia, Whitehorse
"I received the plaques and they are perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. They are beautiful, thanks alot. Thanks again," Katheline
"Our signs all arrived in one piece and look fantastic. We couldn't be more pleased.. Thanks again for such excellent (and timely) craftsmanship." Best, DS
"I just wanted to thank you so much for getting the 2 signs for the our order here in time for the holidays.The signs are PERFECT and look even way better than I ever thought they would. I'm very impressed with the detail and the quality of the work.Thanks again, and I will most definitely keep you in mind for future needs." AS, NJ
"I wanted to let you know the beautiful plaque you designed and made arrived safely to my home on Tuesday …Thank you so much for your artistic design and efforts. I greatly appreciate your work and your follow-up to get this to me on time and in such good condition….Best Regards," MJ
"The signs were beautiful! They are works of art.. Your efforts were brilliant."CE, Calgary
"We just got the signs today. They're FABULOUS! We are very very happy with the signs. Thank you and hope all is well!.." TC, San Diego
Wood Sign | Sandblasted Wood Sign | Custom Sandblasted Wood Sign | Business Wood Signs | Custom Business Wood Signs | Wrought Iron Sign Hanger | Ceramic Sign | Custom Ceramic Sign
