Anthropologie Plate Art Knockoff Tutorial

In March I competed in Creating with the Stars over at East Coast Creative. For week 2 of the contest my challenge was to come up with a "knockoff" and it turned out to be my most successful week while spending the least amount of money... oh yeah! If you want to know how I DIY'd this Anthroplogie Plate Art, read on.

I tried to recreate Lost Arcadia By Molly Hatch is sold by Anthropologie for $7,500! Since that's about $7,450 over my budget, it had to be done on the cheap. Here's what you do.

Supplies

• 30 plates - I got mine at Dollar Tree for a buck! (you might want to buy a couple extras just incase... trust me)
• Something to hang the plates with - I used 30 medium Command Strips. You could use actual plate hangers but they were too expensive for me (around $3 each). I've also seen some people hot glue some sort of loop on the back to hang plates. Any method will do!
• A Sharpie - I only used one
• A projector - My husband was lucky enough to borrow one from work that hooked up to the computer, but I think you can rent/borrow them from libraries too. Also, there are lots of tutorials around the net on how to make a projector if you don't have access to one.

Step 1

Buy some plates! I don't think I need to explain shopping but I have this picture I took at Dollar Tree while buying them so I thought I'd share :)

Step 2

Stick Command Strips to all of your plates just inside the rim on the back and label your plates. A1, A2, A3... B1, B2, B3... etc. This way, when they come down, you'll know how to put them back up.

Step 3

Make a level line on your wall to align the first row of plates. I taped a scrap board to my wall to act as a ledge. I stuck the center plate up first and then stuck the next ones right beside almost touching.

Step 4

Continue sticking your plates. I put the center plate up first for each row and then worked my way out from there. Push hard. I just eyeballed to get it in the center of the plate below. Keep going until all of your plates are up.

Step 5

Take the plates down! I repeat. Take the plates down! (this is why you need to label them). The Command Strips clearly say to stick your item, then rip it off the wall leaving only the Command Strip on the wall to cure before hanging your piece permanently. I failed to do this, (my bad) and had a plate crash down like a giant game of Plinko... taking the plates below with it. I might also add that this happened at 2am. My husband thought we were being invaded. It was not a fun evening... not at all. Let's have a moment of silence for the 2 plates lost in the chaos.

Step 6

After your strips cure and you stick the plates back up (this time it worked... they've been up over a week... no casualties), you're ready to trace. I chose to do a botanical print I found via this blog, Thrifty Decor Chick. It's from the NYC Digital Gallery and you can read Sarah's post about it here. Set up the projector so the image is fairly centered and go to town. The tracing part only took maybe an hour.

After I had it all traced, I went back over some parts to make them darker. 

That's it, you're done! I think these would look really nice in color too but for the knockoff week, I wanted to stay as close to the inspiration as possible.

(PS... that dresser is from Goodwill! Who gives stuff like that away!?)

And did you notice how my wall is beige in some pics and blue in others? Yep, midway through I decided white plates on beige walls wasn't looking that great. So I hit up Home Depot and got a gallon of "oops paint" for $5! And then proceeded to  paint a square around the Command Strips that were already on the wall.  Yeahhh... landlord, if you're seeing this... don't worry! It will be beige again in no time! : |