DIY Decorating & Design host Nancy Golden creates a distinctive mirror frame by distressing the glass around the perimeter of a plain mirror and embellishing the distressed border with buttons and braid. Note: - Strong chemicals are used to create this distressed mirror frame. Make sure to work in a well-ventilated area and to wear long sleeves and protective gloves and eyewear.
Materials:
Mirror
Clear Con-Tact® adhesive-backed plastic
Paint stripper
Brush
Narrow putty knife
Rags
Sulfamic acid
Rubber gloves
Protective goggles
Glue for fabric and glass
Decorative braid and shank buttons
Wire cutter
- Turn the mirror face down on a worktable. The paint and mirrored surface will be removed from a 4" border around the perimeter of the frame. Protect the interior of the mirror by taping off the edge of the border with clear Con-Tact adhesive-backed plastic.
- Apply paint stripper to the border of the mirror, brushing it on in one direction (figure A). Allow it to set for a few minutes until it bubbles, then use a putty knife to scrape off the paint (figure B).
- After removing the paint, use sulfamic acid to remove some of the mirrored area from the border. Dab it on in a random manner (figure C), and when some of the mirrored surface has loosened, wipe it away with a rag. When the distressing is complete, remove the adhesive-backed plastic from the back of the mirror.
- Turn the mirror right side up, and decorate the border with braid and buttons. Nancy glued gold braid along both sides of the border and added buttons and diagonal strips of black braid between the strips of gold braid (figure D). Snap the backs off the buttons with a wire cutter before gluing them to the frame.
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