Do-it-yourself mirror finish according to all the rules

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

Successors of masters of past centuries

A mirror is not only a stylish and functional element of the interior of any room in a house or apartment. A lot of legends, beliefs, fortunetelling are connected with the mirror.
It is believed that the mirror, which the woman constantly looks at, preserves her youth. How to decorate a mirror with your own hands and whether it is possible to make its design so as to emphasize the individuality of the room.
Nothing is impossible for people with intelligence. You need to look at the photo gallery and video clips, where professionals, with knowledge of their field, will enlighten in detail step by step creative people who love the beauty, comfort, style and luxury of the simplest things.

Interesting mirror design ideas

Choose a mirror that would immediately fit perfectly room decoration quite complicated and problematic. Either the size is not the same, the frame is too simple or completely absent, then the shape wants to be the best.
The only way out is to purchase a mirror canvas. Choose the options for finishing mirrors and make it to your liking.
There is another alternative solution to this problem, the old mirror cloth left over from the old dressing table, trellis or other furniture thrown out as unnecessary, but with the remaining mirrors of different sizes. They can be handed over to the framing workshop and ordered a frame for the mirror, suitable for the interior of the room.
The old mirror painting will sparkle and delight you with a new look. Still, do not lose the opportunity to please your loved ones with an insanely interesting activity devoted to the design of mirrors.
Any material is chosen to create stylish frames and decorate the mirror canvas. All available materials are really used: shells, matches, salt dough, bolts and nuts, wire and sand.

Stylish frames for mirrors

Selected depending on the type of mirror:

• Horizontal and vertical mirrors with carved frames. Visually expand the space, allow you to see the image at full height, look great in any interior.
• The floor mirror is intended for sufficiently large spaces.
• For round and curved mirrors, you can try on baroque frames. They are used to create a nice and attractive interior, they require a particularly thorough, thoughtful approach to framing.

Restrictions for the imagination of the artist does not exist.

Attention: For those who can not draw, make and decorate the frame for the mirror, you can use a stencil.

• If Entrance door looks like a visiting card of the apartment, the hallway is the face of the owners and an important place in the decor of the room is the mirror. The dimensions of the hallway visually change from the competently applied properties of the mirror - to increase the space.
  The mirror provides an opportunity to take a last look and evaluate yourself before leaving home and meeting people.

The design of the mirror in the hallway

To get a stylish frame, you should prepare the material and tool:

• Acrylic paint and wax to obtain a gilded surface.
• A stencil with a pattern that you want to receive on the frame.
• A brush with a hard pile and a brush with synthetic pile, because less falls out.
• Varnish, potal itself and glue for her.

The creative process of obtaining a stylish frame on a mirror begins with its painting in the selected color and preparing a stencil with drawings. Patterns are transferred to the mirror frame.
It uses golden, beige, light brown, sand colors, you can use contrasting or halftone:

• After the drawing has completely dried, which may take 20-30 minutes, a special glue is applied for poured

Note: Imitation of a gold coating in the form of sheets of foil is called potal, and the technique of applying it to a frame or other surface is a decorative gilding of the surface.

• The glue dries for another 30 minutes and should become sticky, but not wet, which indicates the continuation of work. Glue is applied to the patterns treated with glue, gently smoothed and fixed at the same time.
• The edges of the frame are treated with special wax for gilding. It dries almost immediately after application and gives the entire surface of the mirror frame a luxurious, elegant look of antique mirrors.
  Strengthen the effect of antiquity allows surface treatment with very fine sandpaper.
• After performing decorative work, the frame is covered with a protective varnish. Water-based varnish is absolutely not compatible with potal, and experts categorically prohibit its use.

Mosaic in the design of the mirror

Mosaic and mirror

There is no limit to perfection and ideas that come to mind. Smooth squares of the same size of the mosaic and instructions on the packaging with grout and glue, inspired the idea to refine the mirror in the house.
Although the mosaic in the decoration of the mirror is not a new idea and has long been tested by time.
Nevertheless, I wanted to quickly engage in the creative process:

• Prepared a mirror.
• Paper tape as a less sticky material and more convenient to use.
• Scissors, glass mosaic with a chip size of 1x1 cm.
• Glue and grout for her.
• The mirror is processed and wiped with alcohol.
• The tape is unwound in size slightly longer than the side of the mirror and the mirror is finished with mosaic, laying the pieces with the ribbed side up.
• 4 rows are filled and each subsequent row contains one less mosaic element.
• Adhesive tape is cut in the middle, and the resulting mosaic stripes are generously smeared with glue, each tile has its own glue blot.
• The sides of the mirror are decorated with the obtained strips, the free edge of the adhesive tape allows them to align to the size of the mirror.
• The work remains under pressure all night, then the adhesive tape is carefully removed.
• In the center it is necessary to place the size of the mirror, some object. It can be a plate or a dish.

Attention: It is important not to forget to remove the object from the center before the row closes.

• After the completion of the circle formation, empty corners are filled with mosaics in random order.
• Again the press and again the night.
• At the last stage, grouting is carried out with a thick sour cream solution, when all the free space between the mosaic is filled and smeared. Wet sponge erases the grout, the process of filling the cracks and releasing the glass itself from it is controlled.
• Once again, it remains overnight, then a dry sponge vigorously removes grouting dust after washing.

Similarly, the mirrors are decorated with mosaics, where mosaic elements can be assembled into a variety of patterns, and original color compositions are selected.

Mirror or canvas of the artist

Painting the mirror surface is a complex technique, completely dependent on the experience of the artist, on his skill and his intuition. The price of such products is formed and depends on many factors.
These products do not need to be compared with mirrors painted with flowers. Custom-made mirror mirrors that perform the function of an interior item are distinguished by exclusivity, originality of performance, and versatility that complement any interior, combinability in complex compositions.
Caring for their surface is not difficult. Do not use abrasive or aggressive compositions, hard brushes, wipes, sponges with a rough surface.
To remove dust, complex dirt, just wipe the surface with a soft, damp cloth.

Sandblasting Mirror

A special technique has been developed to obtain a matte pattern on a mirror canvas.

This picture will last a long time.

The matte pattern on the mirror differs in originality, both from the back side of the coating, and from the front, mirror side.Matte drawings are used by independent interior solutions or elements that complement the overall picture in the form of wardrobe doors and wardrobes, interior doors and partitions, glass and mirror inserts in niches, openings.
At home, there is also the possibility of obtaining matte patterns on the mirror.