Creative Cake Stand for that rainy day

This is a lovely easy project, all you need is a day at home as each layer of the cake stand needs a couple hours to set. I've wanted to make a cake stand with a mixture of plates for some time. And it was an adventure for me as it didn't involve stitching or printing!
The push to finally make a cake stand was thanks to the lovely publication 'ReMake it Home' by Henrietta Thompson , where they suggest using tea cups as the stands between plates. Genius! I tweaked it a bit and used 3 egg cups for the base as I want it to be nice and sturdy. Prepared to be weighed down with lovely edibles!

Have your surface covered very safely with plenty of newspaper. I recommend the sports section! Have everything you need to hand- crockery, ceramic glue (or some kind of heavy duty, waterproof glue that drys transparent), sandpaper, nail varnish remover, cloth/paper towels. I decided to feature one of my plates, 'Inquistive Birds', so I kept the other plates plain so as to draw attention to it as the main feature.

Sandpaper the surfaces you're going to glue- the base of the biggest plate and the tops of the egg cups. I bought a fine sandpaper and a medium one, but I was just fine with the medium grain.

In my excitement I sandpapered (and glued!) the bottom of the egg cups, so they are actually upside down. Never forget that even a simple project can so easily go astray! Often when you get very excited. But its never the end of the world. I think the upside down egg cups are a feature!

First make sure your egg cups are spaced out in the right positions for being glued to the plate. Roughly an equal distance between them. Wipe away any dust from the sandpapering before you apply a nice, neat, thin line of glue. Place your plate carefully on top, making sure the egg cups don't move. It's absolutely fine only applying the glue to one side and not to the plate also.

Magical nail varnish remover- it very neatly cleans away any stray glue that has snuck over the edges. Hold the plate steady while you do this. Now leave to set for 2 to 3 hours. It will be worth the wait!

My upside down egg cups! It was only at this point that I noticed!!

Now the middle layer. Sandpaper the top (not much to sandpaper there) and bottom of the teacup and the base of the middle sized plate.

You could use a measuring tape at this point to make sure you will place the teacup in the middle of the plate. Line first the top of the teacup with glue, place upside down, then the top and place the middle plate on top.

Now that there are a couple layers I placed a coffee table book neatly on top to help it all set very securely. Leave for 2 to 3 hours.


Time for the final layer. Repeat the same steps again, sandpaper both ends of the teacup and the bottom of the top plate.. I changed my mind and decided to use a saucer as my top plate, to give it a more staggered effect. My pretty spotted plate will just have to wait until my next cake stand.

There is a third plate under there!

Now it just needs to be filled! You can use your sturdy stand for all sorts of things as well as edibles- jewelery, sewing supplies or even by the door for keys and post. And it makes a lovely gift! Start hoarding those plates. My next one is going to be floral themed:)