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How to Make a Plate Wreath – the Damage Free Way!

October 30, 2022  Christmas | Uncategorized | Wreaths

When I stumbled across this gorgeous DIY plate wreath, I fell in love and knew I had to share it with you! I’ve seen plate wreaths before but they all use heavy duty glue which will ruin your beautiful plates! This method of wreath making will not harm your precious plates! I love the idea of using mismatched vintage china from the thrift store or plates handed down from family members to create a unique wreath for any season or holiday.

I asked the creator of this stunning wreath, Suzanne Zingg, if I could share the how to with you and she graciously said yes!

How to make a plate wreath - without damaging your precious plates! Love this blue and red plate wreath kellyelko.com

Suzanne says, “This is a great project for displaying random mismatched small plates, butter pats and shallow bowls without damaging them. You can hang these on doors, cabinets, walls or on bookcases – anywhere that doesn’t get a lot of movement. (I wouldn’t hang them on a high traffic front door or a cabinet door that gets lots of use).”

DIY plate wreath making supplies kellyelko.com

Hi, it’s Kelly here chiming in with my two cents … I would probably take the easy route and use a pre-made wreath to attach the wire wreath form to or you could use a grapevine wreath and secure the plates directly to that. If you decide to use a pre-made wreath, you can omit steps 1 and 2. 

Wreath Making Supplies:

This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

  • Assortment of coordinating small plates. The wreath can get heavy so you will want to keep the plates small. I used mostly salad and bread and butter plates from 5″ to 7″ then added tiny butter pats to fill in and add interest.

  • 1 – 14″ Wire wreath form

  • 1 – 14″ Foam wreath form (Extruded or Styrofoam – both work well). Similar sizes should be fine but try to find a wire and foam wreath close in size.

Note from Kelly: you can use a pre-made decorative wreath instead of the styrofoam wreath form. 

Styrofoam wreath and wire wreath forms kellyelko.com

  • Small wire plate holders

  • Small Velcro Command Strips for attaching butter pats and tiny cups

  • 30 gauge wire and wire cutters

  • Decorative wired ribbon (about 4 yards if you are making a bow, 1 yard if only using to hang)

  • Sheet moss

  • Floral pins or hot glue gun

  • Faux or real greenery

  • Optional glue dots if attaching small decorative items to plates – like in the photo of red and blue plate below)

How to make a DIY plate wreath - without damaging your plates! kellyelko.com

How to Make a Plate Wreath

1. Cover foam wreath with sheet moss using the floral pins to secure. You can hot glue the moss in place but be careful as it is easy to burn yourself when working with moss. Concentrate on covering just the outside and inside edges of the ring, the back and top will not show once completed and hung.

2. Attach faux or fresh greenery to outside of the moss covered wreath using floral pins or by sticking the stem into the foam. You can also use picks, garland or whatever greenery you like. The greenery on the red and blue wreath was fresh.

Wreath making DIY kellyelko.com

Lay moss covered wreath aside.

3. Arrange plates on the wire wreath to get a feel for placement and number needed.

How to make a DIY plate wreath tutorial kellyelko.com

4. Attach wire plate hanger to each plate and or bowl. Attach a 30″ piece of floral wire, to the wire plate hanger as shown below and then wire the plate to the wire wreath.

DIY plate wreath tutorial kellyelko.com

5. Working one at a time from the back side of the plate (upside down) continue adding plates to the wire wreath (see photo below). Notice I used a long (30″) piece of wire to attach each plate. You will use these long wire ends to attach the plate wreath to the foam wreath later so leave the long wire ends attached. When arranging your plates you will want to overlap them slightly. Consider patterns and colors in your arrangement.

DIY plate wreath tutorial kellyelko.com

6. Once all the large plates are in place wire the plate wreath on top of the moss covered foam wreath using the long wire ends, twisting to secure. Trim excess wire once secured.

Plate wreath tutorial kellyelko.com

7. Turn wreath over and fluff greenery, adding more where need.

8. Wrap ribbon around both wreaths for hanger and glue or tie a knot to secure two cut ends together.

9. Make and attach optional bow.

10. To attach the butter pats, I used four layers of Velcro Command Strips (see below). The backs of the pats are not flat so I needed to build up the strips so the pats could sit flat on the plates. Position the butter pats between bigger plates. I like to cover up the wire holders whenever I can so I often place a butter pat over the top of the hook of the wire hangers.

Genius way to adhere plates to each other - picture hanging strips kellyelko.com

11. The silver sugar tongs, tea spoons and fork in the red and blue wreath were attached with glue dots.

Thanks Suzanne for letting me share this fun plate wreath! The possibilities are endless and I’m thinking how fun it would it be to create a Christmas plate wreath!

Don’t miss Suzanne’s stunning Ornament Wreaths here or visit Suzanne at her blog, My Retired Life on the Prairie.

More DIY Wreaths Here

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Comments

  1. Diane M.

    August 31, 2021 at 8:51 am

    What a Beautiful Wreath and what a great idea. Thank you for sharing it. I would love to have one of these plate wreaths in my dining room. And yes, a Christmas plate wreath would be lovely!

    Reply
    • G

      August 31, 2021 at 10:29 am

      I am smitten!!!!

      Reply
      • Kelly Elko

        August 31, 2021 at 10:36 am

        me too!

        Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      August 31, 2021 at 10:36 am

      I may have to make one for Christmas Diane!

      Reply
  2. Maria

    August 31, 2021 at 3:32 pm

    This is an awesome and beautiful project!!!!!
    Thanks so much for sharing:)

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      September 1, 2021 at 4:59 pm

      So glad you like this wreath Maria!

      Reply
  3. Lisa K.

    September 2, 2021 at 6:25 pm

    Thank you for sharing! Such a clever and beautiful idea!

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      September 3, 2021 at 9:57 am

      I love it Lisa!

      Reply
  4. Mary L.

    November 3, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    Your talent is beyond measurel.Plate wreath is unique, very pretty!

    Reply
  5. Carolyn Payne

    November 20, 2021 at 9:07 am

    Really love the wreathes. I might try decorative paper or melamine dishes for a less expensive alternative.

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      November 20, 2021 at 11:39 am

      Great idea Carolyn!

      Reply
  6. BB

    January 7, 2022 at 11:16 am

    I made this, but sooo heavy. I had to end up leaning it on a mantle!
    When I do again I will use melamine/plastic plates!

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      January 7, 2022 at 12:01 pm

      I think the key is to use smaller, lighter dessert plates and saucers but your idea of using plastic is great!

      Reply
  7. Constance

    March 7, 2022 at 8:36 pm

    Beautifully done!
    Thank you

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      March 8, 2022 at 10:04 am

      So glad you love this plate wreath Constance!

      Reply
  8. Anwen Pierce Harman

    July 4, 2022 at 9:30 am

    This is simply beautiful.

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      July 5, 2022 at 11:23 am

      I love that any color can be used for a unique look!

      Reply
  9. Ruby Nelson

    July 6, 2022 at 11:19 am

    Beautiful

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      July 6, 2022 at 8:07 pm

      So glad you love the plate wreath Ruby!

      Reply
  10. Donna

    July 18, 2022 at 10:09 pm

    Love this. Thank you for sharing.

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      July 28, 2022 at 9:13 am

      Glad you love this fun plate wreath Donna!

      Reply
  11. Denise

    August 30, 2022 at 5:48 pm

    I have a small collection of bone dishes (crescent shaped) that I would like to try this project. Do you think the plate hangers would fit bone dishes?

    Reply
  12. Dee Carnes

    August 30, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    Beautiful! Only question is What are butter pats? Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      August 31, 2022 at 4:38 pm

      Hi Dee – butter pats are very small plates used to serve slices of butter 🙂

      Reply
  13. Carrie

    October 27, 2022 at 2:15 pm

    This is a wonderful idea!! Someday I will make a Christmas plate version!! Thank you so muc

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      October 28, 2022 at 8:08 am

      A Christmas plate wreath would be fab Carrie!

      Reply
  14. Betty Bakk

    October 30, 2022 at 7:02 am

    Your wreath is beautiful – but I could NOT get it to work for me! I tried and tried, thank goodness I did not use cherished plates that would have broken! It is also very heavy if you use china pates and can get them to stay put to try to hang!

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      October 30, 2022 at 11:21 am

      Oh no Betty sorry it did not work for you!

      Reply
  15. Lisa K.

    November 1, 2022 at 5:32 am

    Such a pretty and unique idea!

    Reply
  16. Nancy N.

    November 25, 2022 at 4:33 pm

    Very nice! I love pretty dishes and long to purchase at yard sales and thrift shops. Now I have a reason!

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      November 26, 2022 at 8:25 am

      Such a good use of old dishes Nancy!

      Reply
  17. Carla

    December 20, 2022 at 11:30 am

    I love Suzanne’s ideas too! Thanks for reminding me that I want to create this one Kelly!

    Reply
    • Kelly Elko

      December 20, 2022 at 4:02 pm

      Send me a pic when you do!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Simple Valentine Ideas - Kelly Elko says:
    January 28, 2022 at 2:18 pm

    […] How to Make a Plate Wreath Here […]

    Reply
  2. Christmas Goals - 12 Stunning Christmas Decor Ideas! - Kelly Elko says:
    December 23, 2022 at 5:35 am

    […] See How to Make a Plate Wreath Here […]

    Reply

KELLY

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Join me as I decorate my 100 year old home, scour thrift stores, create pretty things, putter in my peony and hydrangea filled garden, and mix up a mean cocktail all with a touch of sarcasm and a side of bacon - Cheers!



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Love where you live by mixing high and low, new and old to create a home that shows off your personality. My mantra ... simple projects equals more time for cocktails!
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