DIY Watercolor Seder Plate

one of the first things i realized when i was planning out the #nextyearinperson campaign (more on that here and here for the uninitiated) was that i was woefully unprepared for passover in a pandemic. here in my little apartment, where i’ve been living in near-total isolation for a little over three weeks now, i don’t happen to have a pile of haggadot lying around. nor am i well-stocked on the groceries and even pantry staples required to craft an authentic pesach menu…let alone a multi-course menu of any kind. personally, i’ve been subsisting on a diet of frozen peas and carefully-rationed hershey’s kisses (two per day!!) and even if i did have the ingredients for, say, matzah ball soup, i can assure you i would’ve eaten them already—long before the first seder.

#sorrynotsorry. hypothetically.

but perhaps what was most distressing was the realization that i don’t own a seder plate—the centerpiece of the passover table. like many of you, i’m used to spending passover with my family, so i’ve never actually purchased any of the requisite ritual objects that go along with the holiday. and it just felt odd and almost sacrilegious to consider conducting a seder without a seder plate present.

actually, let me clarify that—seder plate or not, if you’re able to observe passover in any capacity, you totally should. forget all the little details and just go for it. but here in quarantine, with a lot of extra time on my hands, i knew i could probably figure out a solution.

aaaand that’s what i did! with the stuff i already had on hand in my apartment, i managed to craft the world’s most minimal seder plate out of a single piece of watercolor paper and some paint and…yeah nope that’s it. i did also use some kraft paper to cut out that “shank bone.”

please don’t laugh at him; he’s very self-conscious about the way he looks.

oh, and before someone yells at me: yes, i do know that a purple flower isn’t a seder plate thing. these are desperate times, friends. you try ordering a single potato on amazon.

below, i’m sharing the very sparse, very basic tutorial behind crafting one of these non-traditional-but-at-least-somewhat-traditional seder plates for yourself. recognize that in every step of this process (and life!), a little messiness / imperfection is all but inevitable. that’s okay. what’s important is the act of trying. because we shouldn’t let this virus come in between us and a passover table that looks like, well, a passover table.

(…but we *should* let it come between us and our would-be passover guests.)

(#nextyearinperson.)

diy watercolor paper seder plate

what you’ll need:

• one extra-large piece of watercolor paper or thick card-stock
• watercolor paint in a color of your choice—or just a black pen
• a paintbrush
• scissors
• kraft paper or a paper bag

what you’ll do:

1. cut the paper into a large circle. i traced the circumference of a large dinner plate with a pencil before cutting, but you could just eyeball it.
2. place small pieces of scrap paper in the areas where you’d like the circles to be. if you’re running low on supplies, you’ll really want to plan this out. it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it would be a shame to make a mistake and be left with no supplies with which to start over.
3. carefully paint watercolor circles in those previously-chosen areas. i kind of love a haphazard, messy look, but you can be as perfectionist about these as you want!
4. unless, by some miracle, you are somehow already in possession of an actual shank bone, cut a little “shank bone” out of a brown paper bag or kraft paper. maybe look up some photos of shank bones before you start. maybe come back here and empathize with me after you start.
5. place your other symbolic foods on the paper “dish.”

optional: to give the dish a little height, you can prop it up on an upside-down dinner plate or serving board. i used a round wooden tray.