How To Make A Wreath From Assorted China Plates

Whoa! This project was a tad bit challenging (to say the least!)! The good news is that I learned a lot and can pass that knowledge on to you! Let me take you through how to make a wreath from assorted china plates – the correct way! Back in January I decided I wanted to try to take inexpensive china pieces and layer them to make a custom plate wreath. I decided I wanted to use china that was all white a gold as I already have gold tones in my dining room and felt these tones would work well in the space.

Table of Contents

First Step, Hunting for China

I started out thrifting and was able to find quite a few pieces at The Blessing Barn Store in Mendon, MA. The Blessing Barn is a second hand store that donates all it’s proceeds to local charities, it is one of my favorite places to shop. I was on a mission to find inexpensive plates, cups, saucers, sugar bowls and lids all with different patterns in gold and white. I knew all of these shapes and sizes would bring their own dimension to the layered wreath and add interest. My china search was completed at the Winsmith Mill Market in Norwood, MA. The Winsmith is a great indoor vintage market place with many wonderful vendors. I loved that many of the pieces I bought seem to be from 50th Anniversary gifts from long ago.

Assembling the Wreath

Once I had all the pieces collected, I set out to figure out how to assemble the wreath. I knew the wreath form would have to be flat and that a wired wreath form would not provide enough surface space to glue the pieces on. I eventually found this wreath form on Amazon. It is made from wood fiber and measures 18″, perfect! For the glue, a little research brought me to Loctite Liquid professional super glue. it is noted to be super strength and good with ceramics. (spoiler alert I switched to

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Supplies

21 Assorted med to small pieces of china

2 Wreath forms

E 6000

1 Pk Cork Coasters

2 Screws with anchors

Once I started laying out the design, I became concerned regarding how heavy the china pieces would be when they were all layered and stacked. I decided to buy a second wreath and glue them together to support the weight. I’m glad I did! Once the 2 wreath forms were glued together with the Loctite glue, I let them dry overnight. Then I laid out the design and decided that the first layer would consist of the large soup tureen cover and plates.

Prior to glueing the China I looped a piece of ribbon around the wreath beneath where I was placing the lid. I wanted the wreath to appear like it was hanging from the ribbon and knew it would be difficult to add after I had glued all the pieces on. Once the ribbon was in place, I used the Loctite and glued the backs of the lid and plates onto the wreath. I left them to dry overnight.

The next day I gently lifted the wreath and 3 of the plates came crashing off the wreath form. Sigh…luckily nothing broke but I came to realize that plan A was not going to work. The problem seemed to be that by just gluing the little rim that every plate has on the back was not going to be sufficient. I needed to figure a way to get more glue on the plates to make them more secure on the wreath frame. I was also starting to wonder if I needed a stronger glue, after all I was asking a lot of this wreath form! So I did what I do often, I headed over to my tribe on Instagram and asked them. Sure enough they had the answer! I heard

To ensure that the plates had good contact with the wreath, I knew I needed to add something so they would sit flush on the wreath. I found these cork coasters and they did the trick! I glued one on the bottom of each plate using the E 6000 and let them dry overnight. As you can see, this was a loooooooong project but letting everything dry overnight seemed important. I kept the Celebrated Nest Tribe abreast on all developments and in return they cheered me on and offered great advice!

Once the glued Cork coasters were dried I started assembly again, but this time with more success! I believe the gooey-ness and stickiness of the E 6000 seemed to be a better match for this project. The key was letting it adhere and dry before moving to the next step. In other words, I needed to be patient (something I’m not known for, lol)

I glued down the first layer. Separately I also glued the little cups to their saucers. Then began to stack and place the second layer while being mindful of making sure I was placing the pieces in a way that allowed the most contact (lesson learned from failed plan A).

Hanging the Plate Wreath

Finally, wreath done!! Now to hang this monster! As you can imagine it weighed quite a bit so my husband and I had to be super mindful of this. To support it we decided to hang the wreath from the actual wreath form by placing 2 screws with anchors on the inside – 1 the 11:00 point and the second at 1:00. The screw was not flush with the wall and left a little extended to support the wreath.

Once the wreath was hung I realized I had a small open space on the right side. I told you this project didn’t go too smoothly, lol. I was hoping it would not be too noticeable but it was. With very little space to work with ( a full china piece would not fit), I took one of the cups and saucers that were left over and placed it in a large ziploc bag and with a hammer light tapped it until it broke. I then pieced the cup together and glued it to cover the open space. Honestly this project was allllll about trouble-shooting from day 1. In the end I’m happy with how it turned out. It’s fun, it’s unique, it’s one of a kind and it’s done!!!

Tacking the Ribbon

I finished by tacking up the ribbon to give the appearance that the wreath is hanging from from the ribbon. Hopefully my mistakes and errors will help you with how to make a wreath from assorted china plates. Next I want to try my hand at a tea cup wreath like this one I found on Pinterest!

Here is the plate wreath with Christmas greens and twinkle lights for Christmas.

Thank you for visiting the blog for How To Make A Wreath From Assorted China Plates. As always, I am happy to answer any questions you have! Just leave a comment below! If you like DIY projects please be sure to view my other posts!