victorian vintage dessert stands

Someone very close to me is due in October and we just threw a very cute Garden Tea Party baby shower for her. We each had several tasks.  One of mine was to create a vintage cupcake stand.  She's into Victorian vintage stuff.  So I searched through some thrift shops and started collecting some vintage plates. 


I tried looking for ones with a fancy edge. 



Then I did some research on how to drill holes into them.


I bought a diamond bit.  It helps if the diamond bit is the same diameter as the hardware.


I also ordered some hardware online.
Initially I tried to do this myself but if you don't have a table drill, it's kind of hard to keep the drill in one place.  Luckily, hubby was happy to help.  He was probably interested to see what the end result was too. :) 
I tried marking the centers on the plates on some stickers and some painters blue tape (I don't have pictured).  When we drilled, the tape slid off.  It didn't help us at all.


So we tried our best to hold the drill in the middle dent or raised spot.


 You can see the middle on most plates.

I had to hold the plate vertical while he drilled as close to the middle as possible.  Once we saw that there was enough dent for the bit to not slip, we put the plate down on the board and drilled for a very long few minutes until it reached the other side.


This one presented more issues due to the double thickness.





After drilling through both thickness, we decided to just chip of the porcelain since the hardware didn't sit right.


The small plates were a different challenge.  They all had scalloped edges and were thinner, more prone to breakage.  We had to be very careful when taping them to the wood board before drilling.  I only had three, so they would have been awfully hard to replace.


There were a few that were off center and some that chipped.  I just added an extra round cushion washer under the "longer" side to hold it up more.  The chipped edges weren't noticeable with the hardware on.

The end result was pretty sweet even though the floral designs were all covered up.  We also made some cupcake holders out of doilies but ran late so they didn't even get used. :(





I saved a lot of money by making these myself.  Each stand cost under eight dollars to make - NO JOKE! I recommend using a table drill if you have one.  A table drill helps you hold the plate centered and also puts the right amount of pressure on the plate.


The tutorials say it's pretty easy to achieve with just a hand drill.  Let's just say it's a lot harder then they say.  Silly tutorials!

~ Oh, and I'm happy to report that all the seventyish cupcakes were a hit.  I was left with only four at home.  They were so yummy!

Labels: , , ,