Introduce a new family heirloom by fashioning a plain platter into your own seder plate. You will need to source food safe (and ideally dishwasher safe) ceramic paint. If you are not a confident painter, buy paint pens so that you can draw on your design or use painter’s tape to create stencils.
What you need:
Large white ceramic plate (ovenproof) – Blue ceramic paint (food safe) – Fine tip brush – Flat tip brush – 2-3 A4 sheets of card – Compass – Pen/pencil – Scissors – Double-sided tape – Measuring tape/ruler
Method:
- Measure the diameter of the plate with your measuring tape/ruler and set the compass to one eighth of the diameter.
- Use the compass to draw seven circles on the card and cut these out with the scissors.
- Use the double-sided tape to secure the card circles to the plate, making sure that the tape is placed around the edges of each circle. Place the first circle in the centre of the plate and space the remaining circles out evenly to form a ring around this. Position the ring so that there are gaps between each of the card circles.
- Use a fine tip brush and the blue paint/paint pen to draw a thin blue line around the edge of each card circle.
- Carefully peel the card circles off the plate before the paint dries (this will avoid any paint from the plate peeling off when the card is removed) and wipe off any unwanted paint with a damp cloth.
- Allow the painted circles to dry for 24 hours (or for the recommended time on the paint manufacturer’s instructions) before continuing with the decoration. Paint the star of St David in the central circle and then copy Hebrew writing for Karpas, Charoset, Maror, Hazeret, Zeroa and Beitzah in each of the surrounding circles.
- Allow the painted symbols to dry for 24 hours and unless the paint manufacturer’s instructions differ, place the plate in the oven and increase the temperature to 160°C (do not preheat the oven). After 40 minutes switch off the oven and allow the plate to cool inside the oven for at least two hours after baking. This should prevent cracks forming on the plate.
- Leave the seder plate to rest for at least 48 hours and hand wash in gentle soap and warm water before use.