Upcycled Beveled Glass Mirror With a Wood Frame.

Phillipcardjr
by Phillipcardjr
For four saturdays I set up and displayed for sale some of my artwork and numerous re-purposed items. There were nice paintings on canvas boards , landscape scenes, florals, and animal paintings on handkerchiefs, and rocks I pulled out of the creek in the back yard. Hand painted bookmarks, and pickle jars, and even a few of the pill bottle recipe/phone message holders, and more.
This indoor market sees a good number of people most of the time, and according to the regular vendors sales are good.'' Other times of the year''.
The crafts and art I had available were priced fairly but not garage sale prices ,so I used this time to work on better displays for future Craft Fairs and Craft Bazaars where people are thinking art. There is some good things that came from this experience even beyond the good deals I found on some glass vases and this featured mirror.
I did not get a lot of pictures to go with this project, it all moved along rather fast. This finished mirror was done quite differently than what got me in to buying this old mirror in the first place. But it looks rather nice just the same.
I was actually thinking about Tracy Downy's posted project titled'' Dump to divine''. Her Unicorn Spit challenge turned out great , and I really liked the way the colors worked in to the wood surface. ( see her post, she tells it better; and you can also see what I mean about the colors).


Here with the mirror....a neighbor across the way at the flea market had lots of items to look through but I saw the mirror and old wood frame so I thought to try sanding and staining the wood similarly to Tracy's table.


The mirror itself was in pretty good shape for its age, and the frame appeared to be all wood including the carving. Maybe not as old as I thought since the carved part has a plastic laminate over it.
The frame itself is in three sections . I took the mirror out of its frame and painted the frame using two coats of Valspar gold spray paint. Each coat was allowed to dry thoroughly and later two coats of Rustoleum clear gloss was applied hoping to avoid leaving any finger prints.
So I can share the steps before the finished frame of the above photo here is a look at the original frame just from a different angle. The fame was all going to be sanded down, until it was decided that I was going to paint the wood without trying to show a multicolored stained piece. The stain process was tested on a section of the frame using acrylic artists paints and worked nicely.


I took and washed the entire frame down with soap and water, then wiped it down with plain water.


After this the outside frame was taped off and using Rustoleum flat black spray paint, two good coats were applied to the carved piece. Because of all the angles in this part it took some extra spraying to then cover it all.


once this part of the frame was dry and using the same tape from the outside frame the (faux) carving was covered and a primer coat was applied to the outside frame work. Once this was dry a second coat of the Zinsser primer was painted on, and while this was still wet, acrylic black was dabbed around the entire frame. Then going around the frame once more the black was blended in only slightly, allowing for the marbled look. Now after everything was dry a double coat of Rustoleum clear gloss was sprayed on.
This would be anti climatic if this were the last photo , it is the next to last. After the paint and gloss had dried and had a day to cure the mirror was secured in its frame with rubber silicone. This might have been enough to hold the glass but to be absolutely sure the glass is also held in place with finishing nails. (3 ? ). The mirrors support was then secured to the main frame with finishing nails. I should have kept the mirror out of its support until after the support was secured in place but this was hind sight, and I didn't break the glass.
It would not have mattered what angle the mirror was set since the entire area is full of things done or needing done. The mirror can be hung vertically or horizontally, just not withe the cable it came with. I got the cable tied back on and carefully picked the mirror up....good so far. I then marked how wide the wall hooks should be, And then lifted the mirror up from the floor. There were two strands of cable, one broke then the other. No harm to the glass or frame, glad it happened then instead of when I hung it on the wall. It is a heavy piece. The beveled mirror is 18.5'' wide and 32'' long, plus the weight of the wood.


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Today , 7/4 I wired the back with heavy gage coat hanger wire and added a second wire to aid the first. This also allowed me to have 4 eye screws, 2 on each side to handle the weight properly. I have also hung it in my room to get a better idea of how the mirror will look hung.
Phillipcardjr
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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