When you’re preparing your beautiful jubilee afternoon tea party, why not bring your personality and style to the event by hand-making your cake stands? With this easy to follow guide, you can upcycle an old tea set and also bring a gorgeous Victorian feel to your table.

What you’ll need

• • Selection of different sized plates. A dinner sized plate for the bottom, two side plates for the middle layers, and a saucer or teacup for the top
  • Ribbon
  • Tape measure
  • Screwdriver
  • Pen or pencil
  • Safety goggles
  • Cordless drill with a tile drill-bit (a normal drill-bit will crack your plates)
  • Four-tier cake stand fitting (these can be purchased cheaply on eBay or in craft stores)

Instructions

Step 1

Using a tape measure, take the diameter of the plates/teacups, using your pen to mark the middle of each plate/teacup where you will drill the hole.

Step 2

Find a place to drill your crockery that is secure and a surface that won’t matter if the drill goes through. Pop on your safety goggles.

Step 3

Flood each plate/teacup with a layer of water as you are drilling to keep it and the drill-bit cold, then slowly and carefully drill each one until you have a perfect hole. If you have anyone with you, then an extra pair of hands to hold the plates are very helpful here.

Step 4

For tier 1 start with the large dinner plate, put a washer (found in the cake stand fitting you purchased) underneath the plate and one on top of the plate and using a screwdriver turn the bottom screw into the plate. Apply the cake stand fitting and repeat until all four of the stand fixings have been attached.

Step 5

Tie some ribbon at the top and add a bow. Your cake stand is now ready to take pride of place at your Jubilee tea party – fit for a king or queen and anything in-between!

Tip: If you choose to use a teacup instead of a saucer at the top, you could pop chocolates or sweet treats in it.

If you follow our guide, don’t forget to share a photo of your beautiful handmade cake stands with us over on our Facebook page, or email us at marketing@hslchairs.com.