Garden Plate Flowers

6 Materials
$30
4 Days
Easy

I recently spotted flowers made from glass dishware at our local antique store. After seeing the price, I felt inspired to make my own!

Before I could make plate flowers I needed to collect dishes. I went to several local thrift stores to find plates of all sizes, small cups or votives and even ash trays. The plates serve as the petals and the cups, votives and ash trays serve as the bud of the flower. I spent a dollar or less for each piece.

I decided to use E6000 glue to adhere the dishes together. Having used it before I felt confident it would work well for this project, and it did.

Once I had enough dishware to construct the flowers I began making stacks to create flowers. I played with several different stacks before I began gluing. Choosing which piece to use for the buds was the hardest part!

When my stacks were complete I glued each plate to each other, starting with the largest. To be sure the plates were secure I used a thick ring of glue between each dish.

When laying a dish on the glue I turned it slightly and pressed firmly to ensure a strong bond. After adhering all of my flowers I allowed them to cure for several days before moving onto the next step. E6000 typically calls for a 24 hour curing period, but with the amount I used I decided two to three days would be better.


After the plate flowers dried I made the hangers for the backs of the plate flowers.. To do so I used spoons from the dollar store. However, I do not recommend these particular spoons because they are not very strong and can snap when bending. I'd recommend going with a spoon that has a much thicker handle, easily found at thrift stores. To make the hanger I used a hammer to flatten the head of spoon completely.

I then used pliers and an anvil to bend the spoon.

I used a decent amount of E6000 glue to secure the spoons to the center of the back of the largest plate.

I pressed firmly and wiggled the spoon to ensure a secure bond.

I then allowed the glue to cure for two to three days.

Once the glue was cured I headed to the hardware store for supplies to hang the plate flowers. I used 3/4" PVC cut into 4" long pieces and 3/4" pipe stripes to create a spot for the spoon to hang.

After choosing where to hang the flower plates we used outdoor screws and a drill to screw the pipe stripe over the PVC pipe and secure it to our fence.

I then slipped the handle of the spoon into the PVC pipe.

I love how it turned out and I cannot wait to make more! I hope you feel inspired to try this fun, whimsical project.

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  • SANDRA MOORE SANDRA MOORE on Jul 05, 2022

    Does anyone know how to get things like this apart ? I purchased something that was glued together that should not have been and want to remove the hand painted antique plate from the other 2 pieces of worthless trash.

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  • Reggie Reggie on May 22, 2023

    There’s a man that makes these in my shop, and E6000 will NOT hold up in heat, at least in the Florida heat. They didn’t last long, so you’re going to want to use something else, like JB Weld it or something along that line.

    • See 1 previous
    • Lourdes Lourdes on Jun 29, 2023

      You may be right about the stronger adhesive for areas that get scorching hot. I do use E6000 for indoor projects though. @Desiree Good job! I like your plate flowers. They give the fence fun pops of color and dimension. 😊

  • Fir6286135 Fir6286135 on Jun 12, 2023

    You did a great job love this I want to try and make some good job 👏 👍

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