Custom Shotokan Tiger Plaque

We were recently asked if we could produce a presentation piece / lifetime achievement award for a senior kareteka.

We worked closely with our client and talked through options etc, which resulted in selecting a Shotokan Tiger Plaque that unified Geoff Sensei's karate tenure that extended beyond a single club or group.

Customised Shotokan Tiger Plaque

The 475 x 315mm plaque was selected and a decision to use both kanji and English text translation. 

A maple veneered board in our standard black framing was used.

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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Custom Plaques

We recently asked our customers for suggestions for a give away, unfortunately the promotion is now closed but we thought we would share some of the suggestions and graphics we produced to illustrate what they would look like.

For these plaques the graphic design is now complete so the cost would be the same as any of our standard plaques. 

If they prove popular we will add them to our range.

To place an order just drop us a E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com

Custom plaques are charged at a rate depending on size and amount of graphic design required.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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A gift to celebrate a new dojo

To celebrate a move to a new dojo a student asked us if we could produce a gift for the club. 

We suggested a fully customised "entry level costs small plaque" which is 350 x 200mm in size, a maple veneer on a mdf backing in our classic black frame. 

We took a look at the clubs website and borrowed some graphics, there were of a reasonable quality and did not need re-working. 

The clubs name was translated into hiragana - Sengoku Bujitsu Dojo. 

We fitted some brass mirror plates so the plaque can be screwed to the wall. 

Our standard range of small plaques are currently £89.00, with a little customisation there is an additional £10.00 charge. 

Custom plaques are individually costed depending on the work involved in graphic design. 

This one only had a £20.00 uplift as everything was straightforward. 

If logos need to be re-worked or re-created the cost would increase slightly. 

A good budget for a small 350 x 200mm plaque would be £109.00 to £129.00 including postage and packing to non-premium UK postcodes.

Custom plaques are charged at a rate depending on size and amount of graphic design required.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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Monochrome Magic

A little montage of a recent project - A bit retro with the monochrome

Custom plaques are charged at a rate depending on size and amount of graphic design required.

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Dojo Kun for Norway

As part of a larger order we were asked by a JKA club in Norway if we could manufacture two Dojo Kun that would be big enough for students to recite from during the rei.

Norwegian Dojo Kun

Our client sent us the Norwegian text for inclusion in the project.

If you would like to commission a dojo kun plaque for your dojo just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Kun and Mokuroku section shop page

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Shotokan Plaque

We recently made a Shotokan plaque for a customer based on our "Kanban", dojo name board range. We like how it turned out and think it would work well in this vertical format for any Ryu.

Shotokan Plaque

Shotokan 

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

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A custom plaque

We were recently asked if we could produce a plaque for a Chief Instructor on promotion to 9th Dan - Hanshi.

We incorporated the organisation logo, a water mark of the Ryu's logo and text in Kanji with small translation below.

A maple backing board with black frame allows a strong contrast for logos that benefit from a lighter coloured background.

Congratulations Hanshi Tatlow.

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

Custom plaques are charged at a rate depending on size and amount of graphic design required.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

Shotokan Tiger - Custom Plaque

We have recently completed a large (1200 x 800mm) custom plaque. 

A 16mm veneered oak MDF board with balancer was used and it was framed in our standard black stock and fitted with mirror plates for hanging. 

There were a few challenges with this one, but we are very pleased with the end result. 

So pleased in fact that we intend to add the Shotokan tiger to our range of plaques shortly. 

The plaques will be available in Oak or Maple in our standard stock sizes. 

Customers will also be able to add custom text each side either in block or script fonts. 

We hope to have full details up on the website in early October. 

What do you think of our 'tastic tiger and could there be room for one in your home / dojo?

Legend of Zelda - Custom Plaque

Well, we always like a bit of custom, but we have never done anything like this before.

We were asked if we could produce a plaque for a home dojo with a "Legend of Zelda" twist.

Our client sent us some artwork with a rough layout using the triangular theme and kanji from Legend of Zelda and wanted to add Fuji San in the centre triangle.

Legend of Zelda custom plaque

The layout in the graphics package was a bit of a challenge as items look better placed by eye rather than what would be central to their individual triangle. Again we used the maple backing board with black frame which allows a strong contrast for the graphic.

We don't often post pictures of the reverse side, but thought you might be interested in how the frames are finished. All our frames are glued and underpinned in the corners, the maple board is retained by flat tabs and a framers tape is used to seal the frame. Smaller plaques like this are prepared as for picture hanging. Bigger plaques and dojo name boards are usually supplied with mirror plates.

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

Custom plaques are charged at a rate depending on size and amount of graphic design required.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

A custom Plaque for dojo opening

We were asked if we could produce a plaque for the opening of a new dojo.

Our client sent us some artwork with a special font that they wanted to use.

A maple backing board with black frame allows a strong contrast for logos that benefit from a lighter coloured background and was produced at approx. A3 size.

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

Custom plaques are charged at a rate depending on size and amount of graphic design required.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

If you are accessing this site on your phone you may wish to view the "Web version" and access the menu in the side-bar to navigate. Just scroll down for the link.

Swiss Special

 We were very pleased recently to be commissioned by Taekwondo Academie Geneve to produce a special plaque for them.

The plaque is a "Special" one off custom incorporating the Academie logo, the name of the dojang with the two mirrored TKD fighters in International and Swiss colours, the hangul for TKD and at the base the 5 Tenets.

The plaque is one of our standard sizes 780mm x 630mm and is a maple veneer on a mdf board with a balancer. We do not undertake Korean translation but rely on our client sending a text version of their requirements that are imported into our graphics package and a suitable font selected.

If you have a project in mind please drop us a E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com with an outline of your project and we can develop and produce a quotation for you. Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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More than a simple thank you

I had a call a little while back from an existing client asking for ideas .....
This is quite common actually, customers know they want something special, they may have an outline of a project, but need to explore what is possible.
The majority of everything we do is custom, specialising in one-offs or small production runs so before long a concept can be developed.

We developed the graphic around one of our standard plaque sizes 350 x 220mm. The design used the clients logo which we had developed in a previous commission. From the basic design above we went on to personalise each plaque with the recipients name.

The maple boards were wrapped in oak frames, sealed and a wax applied. 

Minakami kindly shared some photos with us and gave us permission to post.

The cost of our standard plaque, using a standard graphic is £89.
We did have some existing Minakami design on file so were happy to develop the graphics and undertake all the translation at nil cost and still apply a discount for a multiple sale.
Hopefully this helps in building long term relationships with clients.

If you have a project in mind, feel free to drop us a E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com

Dojo Name boards for Shogai Karate

We were delighted recently to produce two name boards for Shogai Karate dojo part of HDKI GB.

The boards were made from an engineered blank which comprises of 6mm Oak bonded to a 16mm plywood, commercially produced as flooring. Typically going forward we plan to use our existing suppliers to source Oak, Maple or Beech veneers on a 18mm MDF substrate.

 The kanji are in large 430 point and sit on the boards that are 265mm wide in their frames.
The Left board reads - Shogai Karate Dojo and the Right board reads - Honbu Dojo Karate Eikoku (GB). The final frames are 1315mm x 265mm and are designed for internal use.

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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Walsall Karate Dojo celebrate 20th Anniversary

We were recently contacted by the Yudansha of Walsall Karate Dojo and asked if we could produce a plaque to celebrate the clubs 20th Anniversary.
We worked with them and produced a couple of designs.

The photo shows the plaque just before dispatch. The plaque was larger than most of our commissions (600 x 400mm) and needed to be in a single piece rather than in nafuda sections. We used a 12mm mdf board with a maple veneer and balancer, the board was sanded to 320 grade and a couple of coats of sanding sealer applied before it was french polished and the graphics applied.
It has taken a couple of weeks, very happy with the end result.

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com with a brief outline and we will help you work up the design and provide you a quotation. Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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Custom Plaque for Aikibujutsu Senyokai

Aikibujutsu Senyokai dojo contacted us and asked if we could custom build a plaque for them. As everything we do is hand made we are well placed to produce one-off custom commissions.
They wanted to use their logo and font which they had in pdf format.
We needed to import the image into our graphic design package and convert to a vector image so we could edit it.
The finished vector image is made from a series of mathematical curves, it will print very crisply even when re-sized. For instance, one can print a vector logo on a small sheet of copy paper, and then enlarge the same vector logo to billboard size and keep the same crisp quality.
A low-resolution raster graphic would blur or pixelate excessively if it were enlarged from business card size to billboard size.

The Completed plaque ready for dispatch to the USA

Close up of the high quality and crisp lines of a vector image.

The plaque was larger than most of our commissions and needed to be in a single piece rather than in nafuda sections.  We used a 12mm mdf board with a maple veneer and balancer, the board was sanded to 320 grade and a couple of coats of sanding sealer applied before it was french polished and the graphics applied. It has taken a couple of weeks to produce because we had to order in the maple board just for this job, very happy with the end result.

If you have a project in mind just drop us an E Mail to sotosabisu@btinternet.com with a brief outline and we will help you work up the design and provide you a quotation. Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

"Click" to go to - Plaques and Name Board section shop page

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Christmas comes early at WTKO Shogai karate dojo

We were frilled when we had a recent inquiry from the members of WTKO Shogai. They wanted to commission a special gift for their Sensei, Simon Bligh. The outline draft from the club was for a  木製 の 銘板,   mokusei no meiban  which translates to wooden plaque.
We were asked to try and replicate the clubs moto " Karate for everyone and for all your life" and also to incorporate the name of the club.
A fair bit of correspondence went back and forth with Jenny the club secretary at all stages of the design and translation.

Typically in Japan a motto or saying may be represented as a four character ideogram called a Yojijukugo 四字熟語 these can be either idiomatic or non-idiomatic e.g. the kanji could directly represent the meaning of the saying or bear no relationship at all.
So a direct translation word for word would be pretty meaningless, and although there are over 20,000 Yojijukugo, I don't think any will be a direct translation for Shogai's motto.
Accuracy of translation and more important meaning is paramount, so we usually ask a client to either provide or confirm the translation before proceeding. The issue Jenny had was that this was to be a special gift and the surprise element was important.
The WTKO group has been a regular returning customer, so we arranged for external authentication on the clubs behalf.
The Kanji 皆 = minna meaning everyone and  生 = shogai meaning lifetime were selected, so the final text reads - "Shogai karate dojo - karate for everyone - karate for lifetime" the WTKO GB Hanko was also added to the mokusei no meiban as Simon Sensei holds a key role in the organisation.

It was a great honour to attend WTKO Shogai for the presentation and to witness the club express their thanks to their instructor.

Current costings can be found in the relevant shop page please click on the button below to view.

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Fight Head On

"Shinkou shoubu" is a yoji-jyukugo, a kanji compound which combines four kanji to form a single meaning.
The meaning of this compound is "fight head on".
Soto Sabisu has used the kanji compound, combined with the seal of JKS England to produce a promotional product to raise funds for the JKS England karate squad.
There was quite a few hours of graphic design to get from the Block W5 font to the final artwork which very closely matches the version on the jacket of the association's chief instructor.
I have attached a few images so you can see the transformation. The plaques are available via JKS England.

Step 1 - Stock Kanji Selected

Step 2 - A free hand font selected in our graphic design package

Step 3 - The Image is converted to vectors and edited by hand

Step 4 - The finished presentation piece

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