Project: Recycled Mosaic Mirror
When going through charity shops, I always saw a lot a single pretty plates. I thought there's probably not many people out there buying one nice plate on its own but the collector ones are often the nicest. To that end, I descided to smash some up and put them on a mirror.
The first step was adding a frame of OSB to our old bedroom mirror. My bofriend kindly offered to make this but in a foul twist of fate he accidentally knicked the corner of the glass while drilling and it shattered. Oh dear. So instead I found a nice one on Facebook marketplace (still secondhand) which didn't need the frame and I set to work...
Materials
The following things are needed to complete a project similar to this. I suspect you could use a powdered grout but I got the adhesive premade kind to make sure the tiles really stuck on there.
- 5 old plates (with pretty designs)
- Mirror (or other object to mosaic)
- Tile Nippers
- Painters Masking Tape
- Grout - a pot of premixed (wet) adhesive and grout combo
- Hammer (Optional)
Preparing
The first step was to prepare the tiles. First I picked different green plates from different charity shops and tried to pick 5 with all different kinds of designs on. One was a green willow pattern, some bird and plant collectors plates, a plain sage Ikea one and a glassy one with a green backing. Smashing the plates on the garage floor was extremely satifying. I just threw them on the floor (as did my friends and boyfriend) and then used the hammer to break them into smaller pieces. I then nipped them into small squares, removed any of uneven thickness and they were ready to use.
I then taped the mirror carefully so as to maintain the shape and keep it clean.
Mosaic
Day 1: I applied a thick coat of grout to the mirror including both sides. Then I placed tiles to cove the whole frame area and the edges. I tried to keep the tiles mostly clean (but found out this doesn't really matter later).I let it dry overnight
Day 2: The next step was to over-grout this to fill in the gaps between the tiles. I put a large dollop of grout over the tiles and pushed it over (making sure to really apply some pressure in the gaps). I added a large amount of grout to the edge closest to the mirror to make a taper into the mirror. Then I wiped the majority of the grout of each tile to make it easier to clean after. Left it to dry again.
Day 3: Not quite dry yet.
Day 4: Final dry! I wiped each tile of painstakingly with a wet cloth and a BP loyalty card and it was done.
Final Form
This is the finished article from a few angles. He's as bit lumpy but very loveable. I really like the idea of looking at my reflection surrounded by shards of broken collectors plates which used to be so precious.
If this were in an art gallery here would be my little plaque: This is a commentary on the fleeting nature of life, everything that was once treasured soon will be smashed up and put on my mirror and all that. Or is it a reflection on generational differences, in the past an ornate collectors plate bought with money was treasured but now a mirror I made with my spare time is one of my most precious things. Or did I just want to smash plates in the garage without being wasteful.
