When I set about planning my wedding I wanted the height of a cake stand, but I didn’t want to pay $40 each for the look. When I found the instructions given by Design*Sponge for these do-it-yourself cake stands, my brain exploded with creative options. What you are about to read is the process of that creation and tips for how you can make it work for you.
This wedding project was a favorite of the guests and considering the price, I got a lot of bag for my buck. My wedding was almost entirely DIY (it was a little hectic) but I had a lot of fun with it and those who do DIY projects themselves were the most appreciative of the more awesome results. One that got the most attention was the multi-tiered cake stand, which is actually a twist on this sweet idea from Design*Sponge. The basic summary is this: take a vase, take a plate, take some proper glue and put them together! Design*Sponge explains more so check that out for more.
So Step One: Check out instructions at Design*Sponge
Step Two: Go Higher
I decided to get adventurous and make more than one tier because I had limited table space and lots of food to put out. The tricky part that I didn’t really want to deal with was making the colors match. So instead of looking for pieces that match in color, I just looked for unique shapes that fit the need. When I got home, I played around with them like puzzle pieces till they went together in a way that was balanced, functional and looked good.
Step Three: Painting
Before gluing anything, I painted all the pieces and let them dry for a few days.
Step Four: Glue
I used Epoxy glue and took my time, gluing plate to vase as instructed. Once those pieces were dry i glued them to another set to make the multiple tier. I did not think ahead and take a picture. It was helpful to have a second person to stabilize as the glue dried but not necessary. The trickiest part is making sure they lined up properly. I was going to just eye ball it but that is tricky so we measured and drew intersecting lines with a pencil on the lower part of the plate to determine the middle.
Step Five: Countertop Paint
Now if you were wondering about food safety back in Step Two here is were I address your fears. There are couple of different options. First, you can use doilies or only put lined food, like cupcakes, on the stand. Second, you could coat the paint with a food safe sealer like these guys would do for painting a countertop. Third, you could buy countertop paint from the hardware store, like I did. It was fate that brought us together since i just kind of found it one day while shopping at Home Depot. It would serve my purpose (you can’t use doilies under wet fruit, you just can’t). I left it white, which wasn’t ideal but I was doing so many colors it would have been more expensive to buy and color multiple cans of the stuff. And white was one of my colors so it worked out.
Since the white really stood out, I tried to incorporate some design to blend it a little, like the stripes, dots etc.
I did do one other that I got away with not painting because it was all from milk glass items:
So there you have it, those five tiers probably cost me….$30? Plus, you can use them over and over, its a great long term investment. They were a blast to make and they came out so gorgeous and fun, give it try yourself for your event.
