DIY ORGANIC CURVY MIRROR
Recently I’ve noticed a lot of very minimalistic organic-shaped mirrors appearing on the walls of trendy interiors. Some of my favorite Danish design brands like Ferm Living have a delightful collection called the Pond Mirror, from where I drew most of my inspiration. My mirror is considerably larger than their version and I added a slim bent wood frame around it. When you’re cutting glass by hand you end up with little chips along the edge, so my DIY version required that I conceal the edge ever so slightly. The cutting of the glass is actually one of the easier parts of this project, so if you try this at home, I’ll warn you that it is the frame that the bulk of my time spent on this project.
One reason this project made sense for me to try is that I had a friend who built one of those home gyms in the early days of the pandemic lockdown. Eventually, he decided to move and no longer had a place for those mirrors. I decided to take the set of 3’-0 x 5’-0” mirrors off his hands, so even if I cracked several in trying to cut out this organic shape, I had plenty to keep trying on. But, luckily it all worked out on the first shot!
< Glass Cutting Tools
You’ll notice the metal ball on the end of the glass cutter, which is used to tap the back side of the mirror after scoring the glass with the cutter. The metal ball also screws off, allowing you to fill the cutter with oil which is helpful for cutting curves.
Things You’ll Need for the Mirror
Sheet of Mirror Glass - Mine was 3’-0” x 5’-0”
Washable Marker
Safety Glasses
Bucket/Wastebin for unused glass pieces
1/2” Plywood/MDF for the backing
Jigsaw to cut out the backing
Radial Sander + Sandpaper
Caulking Gun sized Tube of Glue/Adhesive
Caulking Gun
Marker/Pencil
2x D-hooks or other wall-hanging hardware (you’ll want to attach this before the glass is applied to avoid cracking it accidentally)
Things You’ll Need for the Frame
1” Wood Veneer Edge Banding (I’d recommend trying this with 1” Metal Band edging for a less fussy project)
Wood Glue
Acetone/Paint Thinner (to get any glue off the glass)
Painters Tape
Paint/Stain for the wood
How to cut glass:
Cutting glass is not so hard with the right tools! The trick is to only score your line once, and the best way to do that is to apply even pressure for the entire length of your line. You can break up your line into smaller sections, but try to do this only where your curves flatten out as you'll end up with a hard angle when you start and stop your score line and it's a lot more obvious on a tight curve. Filling your glass cutter with oil and running it on a piece of paper towel before pressing the glass will also help ensure a clean break. You'll also want to place your glass on a table, probably with a soft drop cloth draped over it.
Start by taking a washable marker and marking the glass where you plan to cut. It’s important to use a washable or wipeable marker so that you can wipe it off the glass later. To cut out your glass you'll need to score your glass on the table where you can apply a nice even pressure, but then slide the glass out over the edge of the table where the glass may "pop" off just from the force of gravity if there is no support below. But you may also need to lightly tap the backside along your score line. Hold the piece you're removing from the main piece with your other hand so that it doesn't fall and shatter all over the floor. Be sure to wear your safety glasses, as it would be incredibly painful if any stray shards of a glass ended up in your eye!
Place all the broken pieces that you're removing in a bin to throw away later. Continue scoring, tapping, and removing until you're satisfied with the shape of your mirror. You make take a piece of sandpaper and * lightly * sand the edges, to get rid of any super sharp edges. I did try to use a dremel on a hand drill to smooth out any curves but found that it chipped the glass more.
Cutting out the Backing:
Carefully lay the your mirror cutout on your plywood or MDF and trace the outline of your mirror. Then take the wood backing and cut out the shape using a jigsaw. Be sure to wear your safety glasses and use the appropriate jigsaw blade and speed for the curves you are creating. Try your best to be perpendicular to the wood when cutting the backing. Cut the backing out in sections if you have to, as overstretching is both dangerous and you won’t get the right angle for the edge of your backing.
Then use your radial sander to smooth out any rough patches on your wood backing. This may be less of an issue with MDF, but I used rough plywood as it is actually lighter than MDF and since I had to hang my final mirror from a Victorian picture rail, weight was a concern. This is also the point that you should mount any hardware to the backing before the glass is applied - make sure you place it on the correct side!
Gluing the Mirror to the Backing:
Take your adhesive and go crazy with it all over the backing. Then carefully lay the your mirror cutout on your plywood or MDF and once aligned, you’ll want to weight the glass down to ensure a snug fit. I placed small stacks all over the mirror on the backing while it dried for approximately 24 hours.
Adding the Frame:
This is the part where if I were to do this again, I’d probably make some changes. I’ll share with you what I did for posterity’s sake, but feel free to go your own way.
After your mirror is glued to the backing, it is time for you to add your frame. This process started by taking the quarter-round edging and using clear gorilla glue, attaching it to the glass. Then after that has set, which could easily take 12+ hours, take the wood edge banding material and use wood glue to attach it to the backing/glass/quarter round all the way around the perimeter of the mirror. Then wait for the glue to fully dry before making any edits with more wood glue. I had to repeat this process a few times to get the frame to be nice and snug around the whole edge.
Painting the Frame:
Once you’ve gone through the tedious process of gluing and sanding and repeating that whole process a couple of times over, your frame will be ready for painting! Start by covering the glass and taping the edge to make clean-up easier. Since I was going for a hammered metallic look, I started by painting a few layers of ModePodge and Gesso to the wood, to smooth out any imperfections. Then for a final even coat of paint, I used a mirror-finish metallic silver spray paint.
Et viola, there you have it! A truly unique organic shaped mirror that seriously looks like you spent thousands of dollars on it, but in actuality came in at maybe a few hundred tops!
