Today I thought I would share a quick tutorial on how I hang plates on the wall, without the hanging hardware being exposed.  The most common way of hanging plates is with these commercial plate hangers.   They clamp onto you plate and then you attach them to the wall.

I personally HATE THEM.   They tend to slide around the edges of your plate, if you buy the cheap ones, they don’t come with rubber bumpers and they scratch the rim of the plates.  I can't stand that they SHOW when they are hanging on the wall.  UGH.
Plus they run about $4-8 each!  If you are doing a ‘gallery wall’ of plates, that can really add up.  I gave up on them long ago..

For Halloween this year, I wanted to make a version of a set of plates I saw at Hobby Lobby:

The plates were $12 each! yikes. $50 for 4?!  I’ll pass.  Instead I bought 4 solid black plates at the dollar store and used my Silhouette to cut out some Halloween motifs out of non-permanant vinyl.

Here is my version:


The framed silhouettes in the ornate frames were directly from the Silhouette store: Bride of Frankenstein, Pumpkin, Witch, Skeleton (you must be logged in for the links to work.)
So how are they hung on the wall? 

I use these adhesive wall hangers: I picked these specific ones up at my local hardware store for $3 (there were 5 in the package) and they are available at places like Michael’s as well.  But if you can’t find them, you can get a 6 pack (three hooks and three eyelets) on Amazon for $5. The ones I use are rated to hold up to 5 pounds (which would be a REALLY heavy plate.) You can actually buy another version specifically for plates, but they cost more ($12 for four) and are the same thing only in a different shape.

The adhesive wall hangers are actually meant to stick on the wall and hold up a picture frame with a hook, but instead I stick them to the plate and use a nail in the wall.  I really like them because they don’t damage the plate AT ALL.  Plus the are really secure but if you eventually want to remove them in order to actually use the plate, they are removable.

I have seen a lot of tutorials on Pinterest where you use super glue to attach a paper clip (or other type of hanger) to the back, but that is risky since you are depending on the glue to hold (which doesn’t always work out).  Plus you now end up with a paper clip permanently on the back of your plate.   (Not something you want to do with grandma’s fine China!)

source

The adhesive hangers are easy, inexpensive (between 50-80 cents/plate), reliable and removable: The perfect mix!  If you buy a set of hangers that includes both the hooks and eyelet types, the eyelet hangers are already ready-to-go, but the hook types need a little modification:

Using a pliers (or your fingers if you have tough fingers) you need to bend the hook flat so it doesn’t hit the back of your plate:
When you are done, it will look like this:

To attach it to the back of your plate you just need to dampen the adhesive surface (like a stamp) and stick it to the plate.  For most plates, they can go anywhere on the back, but since my plates had a directional motif, I needed to make sure they were centered at the top.

My trick for centering the hanger is to use a post it note.  Stick it to the backside of the plate making sure it is parallel with the center line:

Then when you flip the plate over you will have the center lined marked for you so you know exactly where you want hanger:

The hole in the sticker should be right along the center line (indicated by the edge of your post-it note.)

Remember, if you want the plate to be FLUSH AGAINST THE WALL YOU NEED THE EYELET TO BE WHERE THE PLATE CURVES UPWARDS.. otherwise the nail will go through the hole and hit the back of you plate, making it wobbly.Once you have the hangers attached to the plates (and allow them to dry for 35 minutes) you need to  drive a nail into the wall (I personally like paneling nails since they have a head which prevents the eyelet from sliding off) and you can hang your plates: 
You can see from the side that the hanger is virtually invisible. It is like the plates are floating on the wall:
If you are wondering how well the adhesive holds up, I can tell you from experience that they work great.  I have had large plates hanging over my sofa for more than three years (and though a half dozen earthquakes) and they are still solid:
It is so nice to not see the hanging hardware. And on these square plates, traditional spring hangers wouldn't fit well anyhow.

Now I thought I'd give you a little sneak preview of my halloween mantel in progress (with my new Halloween silhouette plates): 
I am happy with how my plates came out, and the best part is because I used the reusable vinyl (Oracal 631) I can peel it off after Halloween and use them for something else!


But that is just the tip of the Halloween decor iceberg!   I actually will be giving a full halloween house tour with a bunch of other fabulous bloggers on Monday Oct. 20th.   Be sure you have signed up to get my posts delivered via email, and you won’t miss it.