Antiquing Mirror

Happy Happy Monday.  It's an awesome Monday cause I didn't have to get the kiddos off to school early this morning.  Presidents Day may be more for me than my kids.

Anyway, since I slept in I have all this energy.  Lucky you.  Here is what I worked on over the weekend.

I have been wanting to try antiquing my own mirrors.  I bought these adorable side tables at a garage sale.  They came with clear glass in them.  I accidentally broke both pieces of glass.  Did I mention that I am a klutz?  Well, I figure what a great opportunity to try antiquing my own mirror.  I went to my local glass shop and had the pieces cut.  It came to about $20.00 and I had two pieces that were 16X14.

Step 1 - You need -  Jasco brand Premium Paint and Epoxy Remover, Neoprine Gloves, and Citric Acid ( like the kind used to clean pools).

Step 2 - Put on your gloves, put the mirror on a bucket or something that you aren't worried about ruining.  I also did it on my grass.  I didn't know if the chemicals would discolor my concrete and I figured the grass would just grow back.

Step 3 - Pour the remover all over the back side of the mirror and spread it around.  Wait 15 mins. and then take a flat edge texture scrapper or putty knife and start scrapping.  This only took me down one layer.

So then it looked like this, so I did it one more time.  I don't know what I was thinking after this point because I didn't take pictures of the next step.  I think I started getting nervous and excited.  After the second time of applying the epoxy remover I rinsed the mirror and dried it off. 

Step 4 -  I then put the citric acid in a spray bottle and sprayed the edges of the mirror.  Just a side note - do one mirror at a time during this process.  Leave on for 10 seconds then hose off.  Keep watching it.  Continue this process until you get the desired look.  Sometimes you have to take a paper towel and rub it a little to get some of the mirror backing off.  It should end up looking like this.  In the middle of spraying the acid my squirt bottle stopped working.  I think the acid ate the insides, so I resorted to pouring out of desperation.  I was going to finish this project no matter what.

As you can see, the top mirror has more backing eaten away.  That is because I tried to do both mirrors at the same time causing the acid to sit on one mirror too long.  I am still happy with the results and I like that they look different.

I made sure the mirror was rinsed thoroughly and dry.  I then sprayed the back of the mirror with spray adhesive and added a piece of fabric.  You could also use scrap booking paper.  There are so many pretty patterns to choose from.

How stinkin cute and fun is that?  Over at Vintage Revivals she uses this same technique, but creates a collage of antiqued mirrors.  Soooo cool.

I hope you try this project.  It was easy, fun and fast.  In all, it probably only took me an hour.  That is pretty good for transforming a piece of furniture.  Enjoy the rest of your Monday.

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