Let Them Eat Cake! Off a Tiered Cake Stand

A few months ago, I had a craving for cucumber sandwiches which then made me want to have an afternoon tea party. Then I decided I needed to have a tiered cake stand to serve all my cute tea sandwiches, scones, and cakes. And of course, being ME, I had to make it a DIY project.

I did some research on the internet and found this tutorial on how to make a cake stand with a plate and a candlestick. I like the idea of using repurposed materials, but I was nervous about drilling a hole in the middle of a ceramic plate. Would it explode in my face? blinding and maiming me forever? Power tools scare me. Ideally, I envision myself as a bold, independent woman capable of making anything from the most delicate lace baby sweater to the sturdiest coffee table. And I did make a coffee table once in a woodworking class at the Boston Center for Adult Education. But it was terrifying! Table saws are terrifying. Power tools are terrifying. I don't even like electric toothbrushes. And not to put down my DIY mentors online, but a lot of them have these great projects, but they send their husbands out to do the power tool work (except for this amazing woman  who builds all her own furniture and puts up tutorials so you can too). Is that really Doing It Yourself? As a single woman and a single homeowner, I am faced with doing the scary stuff alone. But don't feel too bad for me! Because now I have conquered my fear of the power drill. I gots drill skillz.

There are other online tutorials where you can glue the parts together, but of course I liked how it looked the harder way. Luckily, I found some extra support from an Etsy store, Teatime Creations, that sells special drill bits, hardware and step-by-step instructions. So i took the plunge and bought the kit.

It was really easy. The hardest part was measuring the center of the plate to drill. Other than that, it just took a steady hand and lots of patience. I tested out my drill skills on a plate that I bought at Boomerang's in Central Square for $1. (Actually, I bought two for 50 cents, but one of them broke in transit).

There's a hole in this plate!

 Then I disassembled a candlestick that I bought for $1 in Brooklyn. There is a long screw holding all the pieces together, so I unscrewed it and then reassembled it with the plate in the middle.
 

Candlestick Cake Stand #1

After my first successful plate drilling attempt, I went out and bought three more plates. Here's the first one:

Here you can see how I marked up the plate with masking tape. I found it easier to mark the center of the plate on the tape, that way there weren't little dots all over the plate where my center measurement was off. Then I stacked a few more pieces of tape around the center so the drill bit wouldn't jump around on the ceramic. The bowl in the corner is filled with cold water to cool the drill bit every few minutes because it gets very hot!

The Finished Product!

And here's the finished product! After drilling the three plates, I just had to screw in the hardware and it was done. Super easy, super not-scary.

Time to eat cakes and sandwiches! Cheerio!