My dining room table is constantly getting hit with everything other than dinner plates and silverware. As a large flat area in a very small apartment space, the table has become a landing pad for bills, crafts, laundry, purses, toys, laptops, and anything else I can cram onto it’s pitifully cluttered surface.
My poor table needs a makeover.
I’ve decided that keeping my tabletop immaculate and uncluttered is about as probable as being able to keep all the toys off the floor with a three-year-old living in the house. Yeah… not gonna happen.
But it does need a face lift, the poor thing.
I started imagining all those pretty little tablescapes I’d seen in magazines, in model homes, and on A Beach Cottage blog (Seriously guys, if you haven’t visited her, you should. She’s utterly, blissfully, beachily amazing. Love ya, Sarah! ^_^) My only rule is that I want something that reminds me of the beach.
So when I stumbled across these Raynaud Cristobal plates the other night, my little ocean-loving heart skipped a few beats before once again going pitter patter across the sand. And then I saw the price.
$153.
Per plate.
Ha ha, yeah. No. Just no. Because they also charge $140 for a cereal bowl, $466 for a teapot, and $1,186 for a soup toureen. *sigh* Really? I know these dishes are made in France from expensive materials, and yes they’re breathtaking… But even if I had the money, those prices are just plain irritating.
After the disbelief passed, I realized that I could recreate that lovely coral effect pretty darn easily. And when I stumbled upon turquoise plates at the Dollar Tree, my creative knockoff juices really started flowing. I immediately dashed to the craft store to pick up some glass paint.
Here’s what you need:
You can also buy a different colored glass pen to line the rim with, which I ended up doing a few days later. I lined mine in silver, but black would be beautiful, as well. You also have the option of using your oven in this tutorial, which simply speeds up the drying time.
step 1: If using an oven, preheat it to 300 degrees. Then use a paper towel to wipe your plate with rubbing alcohol, in order to give yourself a clean surface to work with. This will also help the glass paint stick.
step 2: Completely scrape off the pricing sticker. This is especially important if you’re using an oven, because the paper will burn if left on the plate! If the sticker is being a booger and refuses to come off (like mine), use more of the rubbing alcohol and a bit of elbow grease to remove it. Just keep rubbing. It’ll come off, I promise.
step 3: Now the fun begins! I simply used my paint pen to draw flowing, organic lines that mimicked the shape of coral. However, you could do just about anything here, including silhouettes of seahorses, fish, dolphins, starfish, shells, whales, palm trees, sea gulls, you get the point… 
step 4: Go hog wild with your paint pen until you’re happy with the design.
step 5: Use your paint pot and the brushes to fill in the outlines. (I guess you can do this with your pen, but you’re going to need one pen per plate if you do this. Using the paint pot simply saves you money if you’re doing multiple plates.)
step 6: Once the outlines are completely colored in, pop that beautiful baby in the oven for 15-20 minutes. **WARNING!!!**
Please don’t forget the plate is in the oven and leave it in there for almost an hour. As you can see, the places where you used the paint pen will brown. My husband said I should have left it like that because he thought it looked cool. But my OCD kicked in and I couldn’t live with such a visible reminder of my mistake staring me in the face I thought it looked silly. So I traced over the brown lines with my paint pens again, and VIOLA! No more mistake.
Also, please remember to use oven mitts when removing the plate from the oven, as it will be extremely hot!
step 7: (Optional) Use your second color paint pen around the edges to really make it pop. Of course, you could do this before you put the plate in the oven, but I’d already baked my plate a few days earlier, so… *eye roll* This doesn’t take to long to dry on it’s own, however, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
And there you go – all done!! You’re very own $153 Raynaud Cristobal set of plates for less than $10. Gotta love that! ^_-
My table isn’t ready to be unveiled yet, but I wanted to give you an idea of how I might display my new plates.
The downside to these plates is that because of the glass paint, they aren’t safe to eat on. REPEAT: THESE PLATES ARE NOT SAFE TO EAT ON!! My husband believes there is some sort of glass paint sealant that would prevent the paint coming off and protect the person eating off the plate, but as of yet I’ve been unable to find it. Maybe one of my amazingly intelligent readers can enlighten me. :)
Until then, I don’t really mind so much because I’m mainly using them to prettify my table, anyway. To me they’re less dinnerware, and more artwork. ^_^ Thanks again for reading!! Happy crafting, everyone!!
lovely!!!!! i used this technique few times, and love it! … and love coral as well! i called myself OCD “obsessive coral dependency”!!! found your blog @ sunday showcase party !
Thanks Donatella!! You made me giggle with your OCD term (I will be borrowing that if you don’t mind). =} Thanks so much for visiting!!
These look great! I linked up a dish painting project to the Sunday Showcase too. I used Pebeo Porcelaine 150 paint. The paint is food safe (i.e., non-toxic), but I don’t think it could withstand heavy use, so I think they would work best as candy or appetizer dishes, or to decorate the outside of mugs, which I also did:
http://birdhousefamily.blogspot.com/2011/07/diy-dot-painted-china.html
Thanks, Steph!! I visited your blog, and WOW!! Your talent puts my plates to shame. =} I love your peacock plate, and I’m totally going to do something like that for Christmas, for my stepmom. I’m thinking that a dark colored mug would be pretty with a white peacock feather, but we’ll see. Thanks for sharing, and for the sweet comments!! ^_^
These plates are FANTASTIC! I am a plate and serving pieces hoarder (my husband turned one of our closets in the guest room into a “plate room” for my
obsession, passion. I’m a coastal beach girl too so I will be knocking off your knockoffs! Thanks for the idea! I’m thinking so that I can make mine eat-off-of friendly, I’ll actually use clear glass plates and paint on the back of the plate.OMG, what a fabulous idea, Kristen!! This definitely calls for a whack to the forehead, because that’s pure brilliance that was staring me right in the face. =] I knew I loved my readers!!
Hi there! I am your newest follower! I LOVE these plates, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE and have seen them similar at pottery barn, but again….I am not spending hundreds of dollars on a table setting when I like to change things up so often
…and the honey appreciates this too! Ha! I showcased your tutorial on my blog, I would love if you stopped by and checked out my humble lil’ DIY blog @ Honey I’m Bloggin’
Thank you so much for following me as well as showcasing my tutorial, Heather!! I am humbled every time I hear such enthusiastic comments. ^_^ I checked out your blog and had to smile. (“Whatcha doin over there, Honey?” I hear that just about every day at my house, too!)
Woman you amaze me! Now I know how to get some new dishes! Come on over and see one of my tablescapes.
Awww, thanks BluBabes!! *blush* And hold right there, I’m coming over to visit your blog now!! ^_^
Love these, so cute – I actually liked the outline look, it did look kind of cool, but I so understand the OCD. LOL Found you on Sumo’s Sweet Stuff!
Thanks Jenn, it’s so nice to have you here. Honestly, I might have left the outline look, because I thought it looked kind of neat, as well. However, since I’d already created two other plates, the thought of them not matching as a set made me twitchy. Lol =} Thanks again for the ever-so-sweet comments!!
$153 a plate! That plate better wash, dry, and put itself away for that price! Even if I had the money, I don’t think I’d ever spend that much on a plate. Especially after seeing how nice yours turned out! They look great.
Stopping by from the C.R.A.F.T. party!
lol, I totally agree, Sam!! It better do all that and give me a foot massage for that kind of money!! Thank you for your sweet comments. ^_^
Beautiful job. I love them. And great tip from your reader to use clear glass plates and paint on the back. I would LOVE for you to link this at my link party. http://carolynshomework.blogspot.com/2011/07/inspiration-board-link-party_19.html
Thanks for the inspiration.
carolyn | homework
What a great job! You are super talented! Thanks for sharing:)
Love your space. Hope to see you on my blog:)
you did a fabulous job, as a dish addict i appreciate good art
Thank you so much!! ^_^ It means the world to me that you like it.
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You did such a great job. I love them. So nice we can copy. Who wants to spend $153 – right. Thanks for sharing.
I literally squealed and clapped like a six-year-old school girl when I read your comment, lol. I’m SO excited that my tutorials are able to help people get the look they want for less. You made my day – thanks again for the kind words, Stephanie!!
Wow! This is an amazing blog!
I’m here from the Sassy Sites linky party… I’m a new follower, and I would love for you to check out my blog too! 
Amy
redheadedcrafter.blogspot.com
Thanks, Amy, and right back atcha sweetie!! Your blog is so fabulous!! I’m a cricut wannabe, and you have such a lovely talent. Have you ever thought of opening an etsy shop? Because your cards are so. stinkin’. ca-ute!! ^_^
i rather like the brown outline, too, but either way they are a fabulous DIY! glad that you said you shouldn’t eat off of them-i didn’t think you should, and got a little worried when you showed a tablescape. but they sure do look pretty!
Thanks for watching out Cape, as well as for the kind words. ^_- If you’re interested in eating off these plates, I had some really fabulous ideas from some of my readers, including painting on the back and using a special kind of porcelain paint. I hope that helps!! =]
Love the plates, amazing job you did. Can’t wait to see your full tablescape
Thanks for linking to Beach Cottage Good Life Wednesdays.
Thank you again, Sarah!! And thank you for being the tablescape inspiration queen!! ^_^
Wow, I am so impressed. These are beautiful and you are so clever to figure out how to make them! They turned out really amazing! I was just thinking…since you can’t eat from them, this would be perfect to do to chargers since they are just decorative and go under the dinner plate. In any case…love this!
Yet another stroke of brilliance from my readers!! That is a FAB. U. LOUS idea, Susan!! I actually saw some really pretty metallic-colored chargers for $1.99 at Michael’s tonight. And I know that Target sells them in sets around this time of the year. Hmmm… ^_-
Oh, you might want to link these for Tablescape Thursday sometime!
Button added, linked up, and drooling over your amazing blog. Thanks for inviting me!! ^_^
Congratulations on your ingenuity in solving an otherwise very expensive problem! I, too, love lots of expensive dishes but find it insane to spend the cost of a new kidney on them!!! You did a very good job!!! Enjoy!
lol, A new kidney, huh? I guess I underestimated when I thought they were the price for a new gallbladder. ^_^ hehe. Thanks for the kind comments, Alycia. Can’t wait to see you again!!
That plate looks fantastic! Hope you are able to find something to make the plate safe for food. I would love to see a table set with those plates!
Thanks Maarigene!! I’m still looking, but I have a feeling I’m going to have to use these for decorative purposes only (which is a-ok with me, as it would literally pain me to see my “artwork” accidentally scraped off by an overly voracious eater). =P
I can’t believe anybody would pay that much for dishes. Wow. Yours, though, are every bit as fabulous PLUS yours are hand painted! I think that makes yours even more outstanding.
I loved your post and will be featuring you tonight on this week’s Motivated Monday. I am so glad you linked up and hope you can visit and link up again soon.
Pam
Thank you so much for featuring me, Pam!! I was thrilled and excited to see myself up there with so many other talented crafters. =} And I was so sorry to hear about your tree – it was beautiful. Good luck with the cleanup, and keep us posted on your party!! ^_^
Hi Nicole, I just found you through Be Colorful and I love the painted plates. Your version looks as fabulous as theirs and who in their right mind would pay $153 for a plate? That price is an insult to our intelligence!
xo,
Sherry
lol, I can’t help but agree, Sherry!! Anyone that would pay that much for a plate needs to spend time at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and find a GOOD place to burn money!! Or they could just adopt me and I’ll donate for them. =}
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Love these plates! Great idea and amazing creativity!
There are some things you can do to make them food safe…if you really want to…but, I think they are perfect just as they are, as a decorative element.
Great job, and love your ideas!
Thanks Steph!! I’m always humbled when someone enjoys my projects. =]
I have to agree with your husband, I like the brown outlines of the paint pen when you left it in the oven too long, it looks cool! LOL Nice job!!
Thanks Jenn. =] I might have left it, because I kind of liked how it looked, as well. However, I’d already made a few others that didn’t look like that, and I wanted a matching set. So I was out of luck on that one…
Maybe you could use these plates as more of “charger” with a plain glass (salad) plate on top for the actual food. These are just beautiful!
Yet again, pure brilliance!! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful idea, Vicki!! ^_^
these are amazing!!! Nice job!!!
Thanks Ashley!! ^_^
You could get clear glass plates ( dollar store has them) and then paint the back sides of the plates. Yes, you would first have to paint the coral then use teal paint over everything on the back. ( 2 times in the oven). Then you could eat on them without worrying about paint chemicals!
See, yet another brilliant reader!! I swear, I’m going to have to compile a list of the great ideas that everyone has suggested for this project. ^_^ Thanks, Paula!!
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LOVE this! You’ve inspired me!!
Love the plates you made. I think I liked the outline on your poor forgotten plate. Something I would so do. I may try something and outline them with a metallic paint pen, just for added bling.
Another option to make a food safe plate would be to use plates in white with a rim and paint turquoise coral around just the flat rim (reserving the center for food) and coordinating these with your really cute turquoise plates.