Introduction: Fun With Broken Mirrors...
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About: A Northern Ireland based maker with a propensity to cause trouble and freshly constructed family.
OK so I'm typing this with hands that have a pretty high glass content as of earlier, with some glue for good measure...
This would make an interesting gift or just as something interesting for a space, it casts beautiful reflections, and it's always good fun to break stuff...
This would make an interesting gift or just as something interesting for a space, it casts beautiful reflections, and it's always good fun to break stuff...
Step 1: Context and Safety.
A few nights ago I stood on this mirror on my floor and rather than smashing it crushed under pressure because it was leaning on a towel or something (was tidying my room at the time) and it ended up breaking in a very interesting pattern with lots of beautiful striations through the glass, not to mention a few bits left in my foot. however out of tiredness I left it alone and simply smeared some germolene on the wound and went to sleep, just to stave of infection. I picked the bits of glass out of my foot painstakingly after mashing them in deeply the next morning by forgetting all about it...
The mirror sat for two days undisturbed because it looked so cool, I just tidied around it until it came to being the last mess in my room...
So I decided to immortalize it on whatever I found first.
My suggestion for doing this would be during daylight hours, I had the reflections of halogen spotlights battering my helpless corneas everytime I moved with this...
Safety
A big point in this 'ible, when you're doing the actual gluing bit I strongly suggest gloves, my sparkly and bloody hands do too!
Breaking the mirror is not as dangerous as it would be for mosaic purposes, it's about breaking it under pressure, not smashing it... I'd suggest a stack of towels or rags and a heavy person would do it, alternatively using objects in different places and pressure would be good though too small and area will snap it in to a few large chunks.
The mirror sat for two days undisturbed because it looked so cool, I just tidied around it until it came to being the last mess in my room...
So I decided to immortalize it on whatever I found first.
My suggestion for doing this would be during daylight hours, I had the reflections of halogen spotlights battering my helpless corneas everytime I moved with this...
Safety
A big point in this 'ible, when you're doing the actual gluing bit I strongly suggest gloves, my sparkly and bloody hands do too!
Breaking the mirror is not as dangerous as it would be for mosaic purposes, it's about breaking it under pressure, not smashing it... I'd suggest a stack of towels or rags and a heavy person would do it, alternatively using objects in different places and pressure would be good though too small and area will snap it in to a few large chunks.
Step 2: Materials...
OK this was easy for me...
I used an old posterboard that wasn't fit for demonstrations any more, it's foamcore with a few bits of velcro on the back, since this was vaguely experimental looks weren't too important...
Glue I used something called Hi-Tack Fabric Glue, which has a million uses, wood glue, hot glue, any tacky and strong glue should do, don't bother with superglue it'll melt your foam and not stick the mirror...
I used an old posterboard that wasn't fit for demonstrations any more, it's foamcore with a few bits of velcro on the back, since this was vaguely experimental looks weren't too important...
Glue I used something called Hi-Tack Fabric Glue, which has a million uses, wood glue, hot glue, any tacky and strong glue should do, don't bother with superglue it'll melt your foam and not stick the mirror...
Step 3: We Can Rebuild Him.
Rebuilding the mirror is tedious, it's best to follow the break pattern and if you want a jigsaw fit slide them against eachother tight. However I put it together in a loose way kind of like an exploded view and it looks great for my purposes...
I just ran a copious amount of glue along the back of it and set the pieces in place... Start with large chunks for easy assembly and fan around the mirror... I'd say putting it together different ways would give different effects, assuming you follow my lead and only judge for a second or two. I prefer going with my gut for this stuff...
I just ran a copious amount of glue along the back of it and set the pieces in place... Start with large chunks for easy assembly and fan around the mirror... I'd say putting it together different ways would give different effects, assuming you follow my lead and only judge for a second or two. I prefer going with my gut for this stuff...
Step 4: Take Purdy Pictures...
This does lend itself to photos, and as said makes nice reflections.
I suppose you could mount it on a wall, wherever you put it, angle a light in it's general direction but not in front of it, it'll cast them nice shapes you love so much...
I suppose you could mount it on a wall, wherever you put it, angle a light in it's general direction but not in front of it, it'll cast them nice shapes you love so much...