Have Lunch On Us!

Welcome to our Webblog!

Do you remember Melmac dinnerware?  Back in the 1950s, Melmac plastic (melamine) dinnerware was all the rage.  You could buy dishes with modern designs that wouldn't break when the kids dropped them on the floor.  Melmac was a particularly popular brand of melamine dinnerware. 

We've found a way to update the concept of melamine dinnerware for todays homemakers.

How would you like to have your favorite photograph on your luncheon plate?

Here's the concept:

1.   Take a digital photograph of a subject you love.

2.    Email a copy of the digital photograph to us.

3.    Provide us with contact, copyright, and shipping information.

4.    We take your digital photograph, edit it - adding your copyright information - and provide it to our manufacturer.

5.    We email you an invoice with a secure link to PayPal when your design is ready to go to manufacturing.  You click on the link, and make the payment.

6.    The manufacturer produces the plates for us, usually within two weeks, and we ship them back to you.

7.    You serve lunch on beautiful melamine plates that you have created and we have produced.

We've included all the information you need to know to get started.

Check out our photo albums for inspiration.

If you've got any questions, ideas, or suggestions, talk to us.  We're waiting to hear from you!

Please pass us along to any family or friends that you think may be interested in what we do.

Selecting your photo

Most photographs are rectangular in the horizontal plane.  Now, think about a plate.  We want the photo to cover the whole plate surface, so when we edit your photo, we will crop a square from your photo and then round the edges.  Keep this in mind.

If you are too close to the subject of your picture, the plate could have white "gaps" on the top and bottom.  If we move in close enough to eliminate the gaps we will lose a lot of detail and information from the photo.

When you take your picture, keep in mind the "square" that will be used for the plate.

In the future we will be able to scan older, non-digital photos to make them into plates.  The same thing applies, however.  Moving in close enough to eliminate the top and bottom gaps could lose a lot of detail from the picture.

If you have any questions about this issue, talk to us.

Get Creative!

You eat meals every day.  Why not use your meal as an opportunity to make yourself feel better at the same time? 

Your job is stressing you.  When you have lunch, keep a favorite plate at work to take a "mental" break while you're fueling your body.

You miss your family or friends.  Make their picture into a plate and have lunch with them.

You have a hobby or favorite activity that you can't do as often as you wish.  Take a picture and remind yourself what you'd rather be doing.

Lunch locations

Sitting by a peaceful waterfall.

Walking in the woods.

Hiking in the mountains.

Floating in a pool.

Where would you like to be?  Take a mental trip there with your meal.

Where did you go on vacation?

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

Where did you grow up?

Here's my favorite.  Visit a favorite city.  Take the photo that represents that city to you.  Make it in to plates.  Cook a meal that reminds you of that city and serve it on plates with a picture of that city.  Talk about cooking up memories!

Another idea dear to my heart:  do you know any servicemen or service women?  Next time you send "goodies from home" include a plate with a picture from their hometowm.  Take a picture of their home, their church, their school, or their favorite sports stadium.

Where will you have lunch?

Mealtime companions

You're away from home and missing your family.  Make their photo into a plate and have lunch with them.

Take a picture of your parents and make a plate so that their grandkids can have lunch with them.

Make photo plates of your children so their grandparents can see them.

How about your pets, past and present?

Got any pictures of funny antics that your animals have gotten up to?  (Check out the bull scratching his posterior in our picture album!)

Who do you wish was sitting across the table, sharing a meal with you?

Cost and Shipping

The minimum order is four plates using one picture.

There are two reasons for this:

1.  This is the agreement that we have with our manufacturer.

2.  It is labor intensive to edit and modify a photo into something that can be used to make a plate.

With that in mind, we have tried to give you the best price we can.  In fact what you are getting is a wholesale price.  Similar plates have sold for $20.

If you are a fundraiser for a non profit organization, and/or need 200 or more of the same plate, contact us for our current "big sale" price. 

The normal price for four plates is $48.00 US plus shipping.  Additional plates are $12 US per plate.

We can ship up to six plates in a Priority Mail flat fee box.  The cost is approximately $9 US.  We will attempt to ship your order as inexpensively as possible.  We will notify you of the exact cost if it is significantly different from what we expected.

A single plate from either Patriot Plate Designs, Plates to Buy, Commemoratives or Fundraiser plates costs $15 US. 

The  cost to ship one plate is $5 US.

We will ship larger quantities by United Parcel Service.  Shipping costs will have to be calculated separately.

Don't forget:  we are a Pennsylvania business.  Pennsylvania residents will need to add 6% PA sales tax to their orders.

Hobbies and Activities

Are there any sports fans out there? 

Photograph your favorite sport, make it into a plate, and mentally, you're in the game.

Would you rather be skiing, or fishing, or skydiving or skating?  Mentally take a trip while you're having a snack.

Got a photo of you hitting a home run, making a layup, or hitting the net?  Relive the experience while having a meal.

What's your hobby? 

Collect stamps?  Take a picture of your favorites.

Garden?  Photograph your favorite flowers, vegetables, or plants?

Like to cook? Photograph ingredients, cooked dishes, and favorite restaurants.

Savor the experience!

Proud to be American

For all you folks who are interested.

We are a small family business owned by a woman Air Force and Air Force Reserves veteran.

Our business is run in the USA.

All of our plates are manufactured in the USA

Payment

We are using PayPal to accept payments at this time.   

After we are up and running for a while, we will be able to accept checks and money orders by mail as well.

Once we receive your order, we will begin working on it.  When it is ready to go to manufacturing, we will email you an invoice with a secure  link to PayPal. 

Make the payment, and as soon as we receive your plates from manufacturing, we will ship them to you.

We expect to have your plates shipped to you within about two weeks.

Higher than expected volumes of business or mechanical problems could delay things further.

If that happens we will keep you posted on the problem and progress.

Melamine and Melmac

If you want all the details, go to Wikipedia for the chemical composition etc etc.

For our purposes, melamine is a thermosetting plastic which can be compression molded into useful household items, like dinnerware, trays, and utensils.

Melamine plates can be washed in a dishwasher or handwashed.

They should not be used in a microwave since the plate itself heats up.

Our plates are 10 inches in diameter and a medium weight.

Most of the melamine plates on the market are lighter weight and made in China.

Melmac was a popular brand of melamine that appeared in the 1950s. 

Older melamine is collectable and you can find lots of examples on ebay.

If anyone has more background information on Melmac, we'd like to hear about it.