Grow: Pass It On Pie Plate

Should I start this post with “This was the project that would never end?” No? Well, it was, but luckily for you, you can learn from my many, many mistakes.

I don’t know about you, but I have been making a lot of meals for people lately. From babies to sickness, I have been offering my hospitality skills in the form of hot, comforting meals. Tiffany said it best one day on her facebook page when she quoted  Jennifer Schimdt from her blog Balancing Beauty and Bedlam:

That was so profound to me when I read it. And it is so encouraging to me a I prepare these meals to go out. I am doing something of true importance.

And that brings me to this project.

One of my favorite things to give away is a Vegetable Quiche (check back next week for the recipe!) because a) it freezes well, b) I always have eggs, c) it’s got vegetable in the name so it’s got to be healthy, d) I always make them in pairs, and e) they are really yummy!

The problem with giving a quiche (or pie) away is the pan. You can go the disposable route, but those are so flimsy and significantly smaller than the average pie pan. Plus, the crust is more prone to burn in those things. So I don’t really like using them.

But I really want to give away pies!

So what’s a girl to do? My solution was to just give away real pie plates. I know revolutionary.

But the pie pan is more than just a pie plate, it’s a call to action.

It is my hope that by first giving this pie plate to someone that they will in turn do the same for someone else. So really I’m not just giving a pie or a pie plate, I’m giving hospitality.

So if you want to start your own chain of hospitality, here’s how you can get started.

First, get a pie plate. I found mine at thrift stores for a few bucks. I got one ceramic one and one glass one.

Then you need to decorate it with the words “Pass It On Pie Plate.” My intention was to do the sharpie baking technique on the ceramic one and glass etching on the glass one. Both failed. Go me.

I learned that Sharpie baking works best on cheap ceramics, so while my pie plate was cheap to me, since I got it at a thrift store used, it was actually a decent pie plate with a good glaze. Sharpie baking fail. So instead of using regular Sharpies that I had around the house, I had to resort to buying an oil-based Sharpie that claims to be permanent. I didn’t have time to truly test this, but with handwashing, it didn’t come off.

For the glass pie plate, I also ran into a quality issue. As in, my pie plate was too good of a quality for what I wanted to do. I was so excited to try out this technique. I painstakingly cut out my letters in vinyl (my thumb literally went numb a few times). I applied the cream for longer than recommended. I rinsed off the cream only to see…nothing. No etching. Just wasted time and unfulfilled dreams. The bottle did say that it may not work on some Pyrex. Guess what my glass pie plate was made by. Yeah. So, I resorted to just marking it with that oil-based Sharpie I had bought earlier. It said it could work on glass. I’m not so certain that this one will stay, since I got a little rub off when washing. But I was so ready for this project to be over, and so I left it at that.

So do this project, but just learn from what I did wrong. Buy cheap stuff. Or buy an oil-based Sharpie. The end. Or…and I thought of this way later, wouldn’t it be fun to do to one of those paint-your-own-pottery places and do it that way? I might do that in the future. It won’t be as cheap, but it would definitely be fun.

Linked on Tasteful Tuesday and Titus 2 Tuesday and Tuesday Talent Show and Wonderful Wednesday and Wow Me Wednesday and On Display Monday.