Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Before and After: Gilded Mirror

Rescue. Restore. Redecorate. 

The three R's make up the concept behind Amy Howard At Home. In this Before and After, I found this broken mirror and saw potential with how I could rescue it, restore it, and redecorate using the piece. 

The mirror had a beautiful frame that had a few chipped spots and broken mirror but I knew for the frame that we could use One Step Paint and gilding supplies, and for the mirror, cut a piece of mirror and antique it.

The found Mirror : Before
First I painted it with the Black One Step Paint
I removed and discarded the broken mirror
I painted on a Legno Gesso where I was going to gild
Then I painted over the Legno Gesso with the Bole
Once I had put on the Bole, I added Size which acts as the tacky glue for the Gold Leaf
As you can see, I then placed the Gold Leaf over the Bole
I took a t-shirt rag to lightly wipe off the excess Gold Leaf and then rubbed the steel wool to get the distressed look with the Gesso and Bole showing through
I used a China Bristle brush to lightly cover the piece in Light Wax and then in Dark Wax
I buffed the piece using a t-shirt rag once the waxes had dried
I added the Dust of the Ages to get that fabulous distressed look.
Then buffed the mirror again with a t-shirt rag.
I inserted the Lightly Antiqued mirror into the frame and brushed it off
The Rescued Mirror was placed in an Entryway above a console!

What a transformation!!

All materials available on www.amyhowardathome.com.

Materials Needed:
-Piece of Furniture
-Amy Howard At Home One Step Paint
-Amy Howard At Home Bole
-Amy Howard At Home Gilding Size
-Amy Howard At Home Gold Leaf
-Amy Howard At Home Light Wax
-Amy Howard At Home Dark Wax
-Amy Howard At Home Dust of the Ages
-T-shirt rags
-China Bristle Brushes (2")
-Artist Brush for striping/detail
-Small sheets of sand paper
-Very fine steel wool
-Raw Mirror
-Amy Howard At Home Antique Mirror Kit


2 comments:

  1. I have just the mirror that I want to try this on.. OMGOODNESS thank you . YOUR blog will be my GO TO--When I get started. Just loved how yours turned out.

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  2. looks beautiful amy! if you could, close-up photo's would be so helpful
    cheers!
    debra

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