[PeteCruz2715]

All, if you want the plates to look good there is no way around hand lettering. That being said, masking them off is probably the best bet if you don't want to hand letter. Just take your time and use a VERY good tape made for paint otherwise the paint will wick under the tape and look bad. Unfortunately the depth and "roundness" of the pressing on the letters makes the "painting then wiping" process extremely difficult. I've seen this process done more than a few times and they never look right so if clean edges is your goal I'm pretty sure you won't be happy. There are a LOT of lettering videos on YouTube that show how to hand letter for signs. The process here is very much the same. Use a long quill brush and move steadily. The length of the bristles "cleans up" the line so if you are a bit shakey that will help a lot. Just practice on another material before you try it on your freshly painted plates! If you do make a mistake you can wipe the paint off and try again. By all means if you decide to hand paint, do NOT use a small brush! The key is to let the length of the bristles keep your line straight. A small brush will mean you'll make a ton of small strokes that look BAD. You could paint each letter in two strokes for each direction change in the letter or number with a lettering brush (most sign painters paint freehand letters in one stroke but since you have two predefined edges you'll need to paint each side of the letter independently). Or you could use a long "liner" brush to outline the letter/number then fill it in with a lettering brush. Use "1 shot" lettering enamel for the characters. Or, you could ask a pin-striper or sign painter to do them for you. Myself I'd probably charge $50 to do a set that was already painted the background color. Good luck and check out YouTube for sign lettering!