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How To Make A Stunning Wall Planter From Broken Plates

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Why I made this wall planter. When my eldest son accidentally broke my favourite plate, whilst silently screaming on the inside, on the outside, I was calm. I just put the plate to one side. I couldn’t bare to throw it away.

My favourite plate was beyond repair but I it was too lovely to just chuck out. I was determined to find a use for it. And I did with this beautiful mosaic wall planter.

Of course, I used more than one plate for my mosaic wall planter.

Living with 3 teenage boys and being afflicted with the clumsy gene myself, my broken crockery box soon grew to include a few more plates, chipped bowls and mugs.

I have this quirk that I love to eat off a fancy plate. I don’t know why because not much else is fancy in my house. And the food I eat off them isn’t particularly fancy normally just a bit of cheese and chutney.

I actually have quite a collection of fancy plates. Every time I visit Anthropologie I can’t resist buying one of their Lou Rota Plates. I now have the complete set.

How to Transform Broken Crockery into a Beautiful Mosaic Wall Planter

My collection broken crockery was from my beautiful plates and bowls. Therefore I didn’t design a fancy mosaic pattern for the wall planter as the broken pieces had pretty patterns and colours on them.

For me, the clever bit of this project was actually cutting the chipped bowls and mugs in half to use as them as planters.

Stunning mosaic wall planter made by upcycling broken crockery. Full step by step tutorial.

I can’t decide whether to have this mosaic wall planter in the garden with bedding plants or to have it inside with succulents. I will just have to carry on collecting another box of broken crockery and make another one.

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What I used to make a mosaic wall planter

The tools used ..

A few specialist tools were needed for this project. Listed are the ones I used.

Any tile cutter will do, if you don’t have one perhaps you could borrow one.

The other bits and pieces needed…

  • Collection of broken or chipped plates, mugs, and bowls.
Broken crockery to be upcycled into a stunning succulents mosaic wall planter
  • A piece of wood to mount your mosaic wall planter on. You will want something that is suitable for outside (or it will warp). If you don’t have a suitable piece of wood that is treated for outdoor use you can use a concrete backed board. The type that is used when plastering bathrooms.  You should find this in your local DIY store.
  • Outdoor wood varnish
  • White ready mixed tile adhesive and grout.

How to construct a mosaic wall planter

Preparing the base..

1. The first thing you will need to do is to prepare the base that you will use for your wall planter. I used an old kitchen cupboard door rescued from a friend’s skip (dumpster). The door was solid wood, the right size and had hinges which I thought would be useful for hanging. In order to weatherproof the wood, I coated it all over with outdoor marine wood varnish.

Preparing the crockery..

This is where the power tools come in handy. You need something that will saw and drill into tiles/porcelain.

2. Next, use a specialist drill bit to drill a couple of holes in the bottom of each bowl and cup. However, if your planter is going to be out of the rain then you may be able to skip this bit.

Drilling hole in base of cup.

2. Then, using a Dremel rotary saw carefully cut each bowl and cup in half. Don’t forget to wear safety goggles when doing this as little bits of porcelain fly all over the place.

Sawing porcelain cups and bowls in half

3. Next, place the rest of the crockery in a box and smash it into smaller pieces with a hammer. If you want a piece of crockery a particular shape and size then you can also use the tile nippers.

Smashed crockery for mosaic wall planter

Making the mosaic wall planter..

4. This was a random piece of mosaic there was no design to follow. I did, however, lay my bowls out on the door and take a photo of them. This gave me a reference of where I would like them placed on the finished mosaic wall planter

Testing mosaic layout

6. This next stage is the fun part. Spread a layer of the ready-mixed adhesive and grout to a thickness of about 3mm on the door. Using the photo as a reference push the cups into the adhesive.

crockery for mosaic wall planter

7. Next, stick the individual broken pieces of crockery around the cups until the whole board is covered. Sometimes it helps to put some of the adhesive mixture onto the broken china as well as the board. You will need to work quickly as the adhesive will start to set (about 30mins).

Sticking the broken plates and bowls to the board.

8. Leave the covered board overnight to dry. Before picking up the board gentle wiggle each piece to ensure it has stuck down firmly. If not just apply some more adhesive to it.

upcycle them into a gorgeous mosaic wall planter?

9. Finally, leave the mosaic wall planter as is, or smooth it out with more grout. However, bare in mind these are random pieces of ceramics of different thicknesses. Some bits are even curved so you will never get a flat finish like with a tiled mosaic.

smoothing grout
mosaic wall planter

Once fully dried the mosaic wall planter is ready for planting. Either with pretty bedding plants and flowers or succulents and cacti.

You could even have it as a herb planter. In the right kitchen, it could look fantastic.

Don't throw away your beautiful broken plates and bowls why not upcycle them into a gorgeous mosaic wall planter. Lovely in the garden with bedding plants or in the kitchen with herbs
succulent mosaic wall planter

I love making planters here are a few of my other planter ideas you might want to check out.

This China upcycle featured under the letter C in the A to Z of upcycling projects. It also featured in the 50 best garden upcycles.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Connie

      Hi Claire! I have some practical questions…how did it hold up when watering the plants and the drainage holes? Does it stain below the cups? How did you hang it?
      I’ve done a table top and a few pots but nothing this in-depth! So beautiful!

      Reply

      • Claire Armstrong

        Hi Connie, I didn’t hang it as I just rested it against my brick wall in the garden. But if I would hang it I would have just drilled some big screws into the wall and hung it from them. It has held up well and there has been no staining below the cups. I just use it for bedding plants at the beginning of the summer. It stays in the garden empty over the winter.

        Reply

  3. Lisa

    Have you thought about using a darker colored grout? Black grout would really make your ceramic dishes colors POP! A great idea though! I saw one recently for your house numbers in the HGTV magazine. Retail…$215! And no fun but clicking a mouse button! Now, I have 2 great outdoor gardening mosaic projects to try! Thanks!

    Reply

  4. Pat

    Thank you for very informative detailed instructions. I keep searching and reading blogs trying to take the leap into mosaic design. Thank you!

    Reply

  7. Rita C at Panoply

    This is great, Claire! I have old cabinet doors from a recent remodel, and plenty of vintage chipped china. I just might give it a go! Well-deserved feature of the month on Vintage Charm!
    Rita C at Panoply

    Reply

  8. Florence

    That is gorgeous & you make the process sound so easy! I would love to try that, but I don’t have the pretty pieces of china that you’ve been collecting…boo. I have done a little tiling like this, but never with cups. I just love it! A well-deserved feature!

    Reply

  11. Diana

    Love this project, Claire and wanted to let you know I featured you at last week’s Vintage Charm party 🙂 Thanks for linking up!

    Reply

  12. Leanna

    This is a fantastic reuse of broken china. So sad that this beautiful china is broken but you found a way to make it beautiful and useful again. Great inspiration!! Can’t pin this one fast enough. Love it.

    Reply

  17. Susan

    I’m a huge fan of repurposed and upycled products. Your planter is so lovely. The colors and designs are so very pretty and cheery together. Congrats, you’re featured this week at the #ThisIsHowWeRoll Link Party.

    Reply

  18. Cynthia

    I am so in love with this idea. I think I would have a hard time breaking the pretty dishes, but I would do it for something this lovely. Thanks so much for sharing this at the This Is How We Roll Link party. Your post was the most viewed last week. It has been shared on 2 bloggers social media channels. See you this week!

    Reply

  19. debbie

    This is so clever and really looks like a piece of art regardless of using it as a planter. The planter part just takes it to another level. No way would I have ever saved broken pottery because I would have never thought that I could do anything with it. thank you for joining us at TADA! Thursdays

    Reply

  21. Julie

    This is beautiful, such a great use of your old crockery.
    I would suggest keeping this indoors, maybe put it out in the summer but bring it in for winter.
    When my kids were little we did a mosaic with broken tiles, plastic lids and marbles. It hung outside for years but eventually the frost got in and some bits dropped off so when we moved it didn’t make it with us. I’m inspired to make another, though I don’t supposed I’ll be able to get the kids to get involved these days!

    Reply

  25. Katy SkipTheBag

    This is so beautiful. At first I was wondering how you were able to break your cups and bowls perfectly in half. 😉 Seeing this makes my all white dishes look so boring! Although I am able to coordinate for every holiday! Thanks for sharing on the Waste Less Wednesday Blog Hop!

    Reply

  32. creativejewishmom/sara

    gorgeous Claire! having done quite a bit of broken pottery mosaic in the distant past I do have quite a few boxes of stuff, nothing quite as gorgeous as yours, but maybe now I’ll finally put them to use.thanks for the inspiration and for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

    Reply

  36. Leah

    I love this idea, I think anything mosaic is just so beautiful! It kind of reminds me of a scene in How to Make an American Quilt, have you seen it? Thanks for sharing with #wastelesswednesday!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  6. […] Feature Claire, who blogs at Pillar Box Blue, wowed us all with her amazing mosaic wall planter, created with pieces of broken vintage china. What makes this project truly unique are the halved […]

    Reply

  11. […] DIY that just blows my mind. Using an assortment of vintage china and tea cups, she created a mosaic wall planter that serves as both a planter and a stunning piece of artwork. I especially love it planted with […]

    Reply

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