Christmas Snowman Plates ~ Make and bake a sweet gift dish. Tis the season to be crea-tive. . .. Fa lala la..la..lala la la. . . Paint and bake your way to easy holiday gifts starting with inexpensive dishes that are readily available in home ware stores. These Snowman serving plates make gorgeous gifts with a contemporary flair at the fraction of the cost of store bought designer dishes. I made these snowman plates to give to my sisters and close friends; they were a big hit! Children also love to get in on the creativity; they can make personalized gifts for teachers, friends and family. For an extra special treat, you can load up your festive creations with fresh baked goodies.You can make these with the kids, they make fabulous gifts to give to the teachers with treats!
Hands-on time: Approximately 1 hour or less.
Total time: Plus 24 hours for the paint to set and 35 minutes to bake to heat-set.Skill: easy and kid-friendly.
Cost: average under $10.00 per large plateMaterials & tools:
- White chinaware square plates, such as serving plates, charger plates, or large dinner plates.
- Rubbing alcohol and a soft lint free-cloth
- A soft fiber paintbrush, 3 cm
- A fine-tipped artist paintbrush
- Porcelaine 150 paints by Pébéo, Copper, White
- Stir sticks and paint tray
- Painter's tape
- Cotton swabs
- A hairdryer (optional)
- Porcelaine 150 outliners (fine nozzle tipped tubes) by Pébéo, Gold, Charcoal, Orange and Red
- An oven (to heat-set the paints)
(All these items are available at craft and dollar stores)
My design concept is quite simple; I wanted to combine modern with touch of classic. I applied a basic copper band onto plain white square plates. I then applied a modern looking snowman using fine outliners for the design details. I used Pébéo Porcelaine 150 paints (thermo-hardening paints) because their colours remain bright and vibrant.
Start by washing the square dishes with soapy water to degrease and prepare the surface. Rubbing alcohol with a lint free cloth can also be used to prepare the plates prior to painting them. Using painter's tape, mask-off the area for the copper band. Place two strips of tape on the outer edges of the space width that you want. To create the slightly off center copper band of 8cm wide; I first measured and then marked placement with a pencil then applied the masking tape to the plate
Stir and put copper Porcelaine 150 paint into a small paint tray. Apply one coat of copper Porcelaine 150 between the painter's tape using a soft paintbrush, making sure you have full and even coverage. Carefully Remove the masking tape and clean any paint bleeding with a cotton swab tip. You can use a hairdryer (for only a few minutes) to dry the band, this will allow you to move onto the next step faster. It is also especially handy if you have a lot of dishes to paint.
Stir and put white Porcelaine 150 paint into a paint tray. If you can draw a stick man, you can paint a swirl snowman free-hand. For the snowman's body, dip a fine-tipped paintbrush tip into white paint, and paint three free hand-hand style swirl circles. Start with the head circle and then apply the other two body swirl circles, slightly overlapping each other and leaving some areas exposed. Apply white dots randomly around the surface of the plate. Allow the white paint to dry or use a hairdryer.
For the snowman's fine details were created with Porcelaine fine outliners. Apply directly from their easy to use fine tipped squeeze tubes. I used gold for the stick branch arms, charcoal for the hat, and orange for the nose, and red to make a striped scarf. Simply squeeze, and glide, you don't need to squeeze hard.
Once all your plates are completed, let them dry and set for at least 24 hours. Place the plates in a cold oven and then bake according to product directions (at 300 f / 160 c for 35 minutes). Remove the plates from the oven using oven mitts, and set aside to cool.
Don't forget to keep a few snowman plates for yourself. Set the tone for your holiday parties with embellished plates graced with timeless designs to make your hors d'oeuvres to desserts look especially scrumptious.
Variations: Make a year round set by paint extra dishes with just a plain copper band, they can then be utilized for dinner parties throughout the year. Other wonderful hand-painted pieces can easily be created to make as gifts or deck your halls for the holidays. You can use Porcelaine paints on glasses, mugs, and vases, along with serving trays, bowls and ornaments! Simple holiday design details can also be created using stencils, rubber stamps and sponges. Young children can easily create wonderful keepsakes using Porcelaine 150 felt tip markers to design their own holiday treat plates or mug gift for grandparents.
Pébéo Porcelaine 150 paints are thermo-hardening, water-based paints which are non-toxic and safe to use on food consumption items, also dishwasher- safe. These can be applied to assorted heat-stable bases items such as Porcelaine, china, glazed earthenware, terracotta, metal, and copper. Miy Christmas Painted Dishes
C r e a t i o n s & I n s p i r a t i o n s
"f o r t h e p u r e j o y o f m a k i n g t h i n g s""Scrumptious dishes make great holiday gifts"
Miycreations Project article and photographs
by Madeleine M Langlois MaddyLane Designs~by MaddyLane Designs~ (www.maddylane.com)
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