Drilling through Ceramics

I bought a simple ceramic plate to experiment with the technique I have in mind. I want to drill a series of holes through a broken plate in order to reassemble the item so it can be 'used' (in a non conventional way) again.

I ran into some problems from the beginning though. Drilling holes in ceramics is not as easy as i had hoped. I managed to melt the drill bit without achieving a hole. This means that it is going to be unlikely for me to approach the mend in the way I had originally hoped.

I now need to come up with a new idea about how I am going to be able to mend my plates back together.

I started by playing around with wrapping wire around the pieces to give a strong ground for me to attach thread to.

I liked how it meant that the plate was once again whole, but i was hoping for a stronger structure to install within a gallery space. I have a vision that I'll have all these plates fixed together sitting next to one an other as if they were on display in a house. I also don't like how this detracts from the initial idea of using the object again. I think I need to think about this in depth over the next week to find a solution.