top of page

Garden Flowers from Repurposed Plates





It is immensely gratifying to repurpose something to give it a new life, especially something of which thousands are lying around in antique stores and thrift shops all across the country. A few years back, my husband and I were traveling and went to an antique store outside of which were planter pots with decorative plates that had been stacked to look like flowers and were attached to the side of a wooden stake. 


I immediately knew that was something I wanted to recreate with my own spin. In our area, antique stores are inundated with old plates of all sizes and designs. At some stores there are literally hundreds. And unfortunately, quite a few are not food safe because the paint on them could be toxic (this depends on when they were made but if you’re not able to definitively date it or be assured that it is food safe with labeling on the back, it’s better to err on the side of caution). So if they cannot be used for eating, why not repurpose them into garden flowers? 


I have made two varieties of plate garden flowers: ones on wooden stakes and placed in the ground and ones that are attached to our fence with plate hangers. 





Materials:


-2-3 plates in variety of sizes - typically a large, medium, and a small

- E6000 glue (or other strong adhesive that can withstand outdoor use)

-Wooden stake or tobacco stick for the in-ground option 

-Plate hanger in the size that will fit your largest plate for the on-fence option

-Optional - colored glass stones with flat back





Plate flowers: For the plate flowers themselves, you only need two materials - the plates you’re going to use and a strong adhesive. My favorite is the tried-and-true E6000 glue. I made my first flower plate four years ago and it is still perfectly glued together using only E6000. It is strong stuff so make sure you’re following the safety instructions on the package (and, of course, do that with any adhesive). Liquid cement would also be a viable option and I’m sure there are plenty of other options - just make sure what you’re using is going to hold up to the elements. 


Wooden stake option: The other material you’re going to need for this option is a wooden stake. You may have scrap wood that would work, but also found at a lot of antique stores are tobacco sticks. These work great and are generally cheap. Definitely use a piece of wood that is flat, you don’t want to be using ones that are round because it would be difficult to get the plate to stick. 


Fence option: For this one you will need some plate hangers. These hangers come in different sizes so you need to measure the biggest plate you are going to use and purchase accordingly. For this post, I have a plate hanger that I picked up from an estate sale. It doesn’t have a mounting kit with it, so I used a hook and nail I had on hand. Generally I buy them on Amazon and the ones I buy do have a mounting kit included. I’m including a link to the ones I have purchased from Amazon (not an affiliate link and not sponsored). Plate hanger kit


Construction: 


Plate flowers: I usually use two or three plates for the flowers. For this example I only used two plates so I also had some glass stones that I used for decoration on the small plate. The construction is simple - all I do is put the adhesive (E6000 in my case) on the back of the medium plate and center it onto the largest plate. I then repeat that for the smallest plate and center it onto the medium plate.

-In this example, I put the E6000 onto the glass stones and put them onto the smallest plate. 

Since these are going outside and will be exposed to the elements, I make sure to let the glue cure for the full 72 hours as instructed on the packaging. I also put a heavy book onto the top of the plates to help the glue spread and adhere well. 






Wooden stake option: If you’re going the wooden stake route, after the plates are cured for the initial 72 hours, I measure the length of the back of the plate that will adhere to the stake. I mark that on the wood where I want the plate to sit and then put the E6000 between that area and put the plate flower on. I let it sit again for 72 hours (with something heavy on top). 

After 72 hours, it’s ready to put in the ground! 

The example I saw at the antique store used some metal contraption to attach the plate to the stake. While that seems more secure than just glue, my glue ended up outlasting the wooden stake. That is the downside to this method - depending on what type of wood you use (whether it has been treated or painted or not) it will eventually rot at the bottom. My wooden stake lasted about three years and then broke at the bottom. The plate was still attached to the top of the wood and the plates were still glued together, so I just converted them into my fence option! So that glue is four years old and still holding strong!





Fence option: This has become my preferred method because I love to add a touch of whimsy to something that is otherwise boring (like a fence). It’s something I can see from my kitchen window and while sitting on my back porch and adds some color to our fence. After the glue has finished curing on your plates, the only other step is to put the plate onto the plate hanger, use the mounting kit to nail the hook onto the fence, and then hang the plate flower! 





Over the years I have probably made a dozen for myself and as gifts for my family, and I have only ever had one that was blown off by a strong wind gust and the small outer plate on it broke. However, that was my fault because I used too big of a plate hanger and, thankfully, I was able to remove the smaller plate and reuse the bigger plate that was not broken.





I hope this inspires you to make your own plate garden flowers! It would be lovely to give all these vintage and antique plates a new purpose in life and to bring some whimsy to your garden or yard!






Comments


Commenting has been turned off.
bottom of page