DIY Chalkboard Tray

A fancy tray makes the food look tastier! In this article, I’ll show you a quick and easy way to make a chalkboard tray out of items that are available at home or can be purchased at a very cheap price. Once you’ve seen how easy it is to create the chalkboard tray, you’ll definitely want to try another hostess DIY.

Materials required- A canvas/ wooden frame/ pieces of wood, slate, chalk, acrylic paints, brushes, rough cloth, water mug, glue gun and creativity!

Secret serve- don’t put the food directly on the tray. Use a tissue or wax paper.

Steps-

1. Decide the base

If you have an old unused canvas or a canvas on which you painted but it’s of no relevance to you anymore, then that would make an ideal base. If not, then you can opt for making a frame out of pieces of wood joined together by a glue gun. (If you know how to handle screws and drilling, then go for it. Otherwise a glue gun works just fine). Cover one side of this frame with cardboard or any other sturdy material.

2. Decide the size of the tray

If you want to use the tray to serve water, you may choose a smaller size. If you want to serve food, you may want a bigger tray.

3. Paint

The first coat of paint will be the base colour so just use a single colour. I have used black. Now turn the canvas upside down and paint all the edges. Make sure you fill the gaps where the material overlaps. Let the paint dry. Usually acrylic paint dries off fast on canvas paper but this may take a while since we’ve painted the wood and the canvas, both. Once the paint dries off, decide the design that you want to paint on the tray. I chose to paint watermelon pieces because they give a happy and cheerful vibe.

4. Invite friends and relatives over

Show off your new DIY creation.

Secret serve- the slate is slippery. So make sure you have a steady hand while serving.

Different ideas for painting

- You could paint some drinks/ fruits or food items.

- You could also just randomly paint whatever comes to your mind- maybe some classical pattern? Flowers? Stripes?

- This one is interesting. You could cut fruits/ vegetables, dip them in paint and mark their impressions on the tray to create a design. Lemon and lady finger are popularly used for this kind of art.

What to serve?

Oh the options are endless! -Fruits and nuts, salad, drinks, ice cream… You could even make it a toppings tray with cups of olives, jalapenos, sauces, chutneys and the list goes on.

Different ways to use the tray

- First is to obviously serve food

- My mother loves this tray because now she can just make snacks for me, keep it on the tray, write a message and go out. She doesn’t need to wake me up from my sleep, to communicate the message.

- Lastly, if you don’t want to use the tray for food, you can use it to place your flowers pots on.

DIY Chalkboard Tray in less than a minute.