I Made My Own Gear 5 Luffy Plate — Now It’s Part of My One Piece Collection

 Sometimes a new piece in a collection doesn’t come from a store.

This one started at work.

My company has a small program that supports activities for employees to recharge and do something different from the usual routine. Our team’s culture manager arranged a visit to a pottery studio, where we could choose a plate and create a design of our own.

Once I realized I could draw whatever I wanted, my decision was pretty easy.

I chose Nika.

Gear 5 Luffy — or Nika — is my favorite character in One Piece, so there really wasn't much competition.

Sorry, Zoro. You’re still number two. :)

Making My Own Nika Plate

At the pottery studio, I chose the plate and started drawing Nika by hand.

Then came the coloring. I spent quite a bit of time on the small details, especially the subtle shading around Nika’s hair and wrists. To me, those shadows are an important part of the character’s look, giving the white areas more depth and definition.

When I finished painting, I was actually really happy with how Nika looked.

But there was one thing I didn’t expect.

After the glazing and firing process, much of the lighter shading had faded away. Some of the details I had carefully worked on were barely visible on the finished plate. I still loved the result, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed. The Nika I had finished painting at the studio had a bit more depth than the one that eventually came back to me.

If I ever make another Nika piece like this, that’s probably the part I’ll think about the most — how to keep those delicate shadows visible after glazing and firing. Simply painting everything darker doesn’t feel like the answer. I’d want to find a way to preserve the subtle shading that makes Nika look like Nika.

Still, I wasn't trying to create a perfect copy of something I could buy in a store. Actually, that was part of what made the experience fun.

The lines were mine.
The colors were mine.
The little imperfections were mine too.

And when I finished that day, I couldn't take the plate home with me. It still had to go through the rest of the pottery process.

So I waited.

And waited a little more.

About a month later, the finished plate finally came back to me.

My own Nika plate.

My handmade Gear 5 Luffy plate, finally on display after about a month of waiting.

Finding a Place for It

Getting the plate back was one thing.

Finding the right place for it was another.

For a while, I had the finished plate without really deciding how I wanted to display it. Then yesterday, I bought a simple plate stand.

Today, I finally put it up.

And somehow, surrounded by figures and collectibles I've gathered over the years, it feels like it belongs there.

I bought a simple plate stand yesterday, and today Nika finally found a place among the rest of my One Piece collection.

The plate isn't an expensive limited-edition figure.

It doesn't have a serial number, and it didn't arrive in a fancy collector's box.

But there is only one exactly like it.

I drew it. I painted it. I waited about a month for it to come back.

That makes it different from almost everything else on these shelves.

Why Nika?

If you're wondering why I chose Gear 5 Luffy for the plate, one look at another part of my collection probably explains it better than I can.

Nika is easily my favorite One Piece character.

I love the crazy expressions, the white cloud-like design, and the completely ridiculous energy of Gear 5.

And apparently, liking Nika eventually turned into collecting quite a few of him.

This shelf probably explains why I chose Nika. Gear 5 Luffy has slowly taken over an entire section of my collection.

Zoro is my second favorite, and I have plenty of Zoro pieces too.

But if someone gives me a blank plate and tells me I can put any One Piece character on it?

Nika wins.

No hesitation. :)

Sometimes the Small Things Become Favorites

One thing I've learned from collecting is that price and size don't always decide which pieces become favorites.

I recently picked up a couple of much smaller Nika figures.

They're nothing huge or extravagant, but I've become surprisingly attached to them.

Sometimes a figure just makes you smile every time you look at it.

For me, that's enough.

One of my recent little favorites. Not every piece has to be big or expensive to earn a spot in the collection.

Not the Most Expensive Piece — But Definitely Mine

Maybe that's also why I like this plate so much.

Collecting usually means finding something I want and bringing it home.

This one was different.

It started as a small break from work, became an afternoon of drawing and painting at a pottery studio, disappeared for about a month, and eventually came back as something I could add to a collection I've been building for years.

Yesterday, I bought a simple stand.

Today, the plate finally found its place.

It's definitely not the most expensive thing on the shelf.

It may not even be the most impressive.

But it might be the only one I can point to and say:

“I actually made that.”

And for a collector, I think that makes it pretty hard to replace.

                                                                                                                   — Jerrad