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My talented friend Amy of Plucking Daisies is back with a wonderful, whimsical flower pot upcycle.  I love everything about it, but especially the hammer smashing of china plates.  How fun does that sound?!  See how she did it…

Hi there! So happy to be back at Saved by Love Creations! The last few times I was here I showed you how to make flowers. Today I’m going to show you how to make a fun container to put them in. The possibilities are endless with this project and it’s completely up to you how big you want to go with it. Do you have a bunch of mismatched dishes you don’t know what to do with? Well I have a solution for that! Get out your WORST China folks because we are about to break stuff! Opa!

How to Make a Broken China Flower Pot

First you are going to need a terra-cotta pot. Now is a great time to find them cheap. I got mine for a couple of bucks at Ocean State Job Lot. Spray paint your pot any color you like. Keep in mind that whatever color you choose is going to show through in spots after you add the broken china. I chose silver because I didn’t want the china pieces to get lost against a bold color.

You will also need to grab some Mosaic Tile Adhesive (Mercantile) and some cheap plastic palette knives. Both of these items can be found at Michael’s and most craft stores.

If you don’t have any spare china to break you will need to take a trip to the thrift store. Keep an eye out for bright-colored plates with bold and busy patterns. Stay away from dishes that have high ridges and deep curves these are much harder to adhere. The flatter the better!

*You can also use tile cutters to snip more even pieces if you like.

Breaking China:

To break your china simply place it in a towel and hit it with a rubber mallet or hammer a couple of times. *Don’t go crazy, china especially will break pretty easily and you don’t want your pieces to be too small.

As you break your plates make sure you have some containers handy so you can arrange your broken china pieces by color. This will save you tons of time once you start adhering pieces to your flower-pot. I used a variety of plastic containers from my recycling bin.

When working with the adhesive you will need to apply it to the back of your broken china and the spot on your flower-pot where you want it to go. Apply the adhesive like you would apply spreadable cheese to a cracker. You don’t want too much but you want enough to cover and form a strong bond.

*Keep some baby wipes handy to clean any wayward adhesive off of china pieces and fingers.

Lay your pot on its side and cover as much surface area as you can. Arranging the broken china pieces is a lot like putting together a puzzle. Experiment with different pieces before applying the adhesive to ensure a good fit! *You will need to let the adhesive dry overnight before moving on to the next section.

*Some of the sharp edges will stick out so just be careful when you pick up your pot.

Once you have all of your broken china pieces adhered to your pot you can embellish the uncovered areas with paints, gems, or whatever you like! I used Martha Stewart Acrylic paints to create a checkered pattern on the top and bottom of my pot. I also used glossy accents to add tiny silver stars in between the black squares.

The fun doesn’t stop with flower pots for this technique. You can use broken china to make a mosaic on pretty much anything. Maybe around a mirror, or to upgrade the inside panel of a cabinet door. You can also use other materials for your mosaic like glass gems, stones, beads, or found objects. Like I said, the possibilities are endless!

I hope you enjoy making a broken china mosaic of your own….breaking plates and putting them back together in this way is quite enjoyable if I do say so myself 🙂

If you enjoyed this tutorial you can find more inspiring ideas and creative tutorials at Plucking Daisies!

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Have a colorful day!

Amy*