Happy Monday!
I am so
excited to start blogging again! We have quite a lot of changes going on the
past six months with starting Amy Howard At Home and releasing the new product
line this past January. The Amy Howard At Home line is a variety of DIY products
including One Step Paint (No prep and No Sealer! In 34 colors), an Antique
Mirror Kit, Zinc Solution, Powder Paints, High Performance Lacquer Spray paints,
and more!
http://shop.amyhowardathome.com/Antique-Mirror/
I have decided to release this product line after being in the
furniture industry for the past 22 years. With the way the market is these
days, people are no longer selling as much of the high-end pieces so I wanted
to be able to share my finishes in a different way. After researching, I found that over ten
million pieces of American made furniture are thrown away each year. I have
trademarked the phrase “Rescue. Restore. Redecorate.” The idea behind being
that you can easily rescue a piece, restore the piece using the At Home
products, and redecorate using the piece you have saved.
I cannot
believe it but already this year we have signed up over 150 retailers worldwide
that are selling the products. Each retailer is required to come and attend a
3-day workshop with me to learn how to use all of the products in the line. We
just returned last week from NY NOW market and are updating the website with
all of the current retailers who are offering the products. They are also
available at www.amyhowardathome.com.
I have
reorganized and decided to have more of a regular blogging schedule focusing
each week on a specific topic with emphasis on “Rescue. Restore. Redecorate.”
This week I will be talking about Antique Mirror.
Today,
mirrors are located everywhere…being functional or purely for decoration.
Throughout history, mirrors have been valued as precious items especially with
their ornate decorative qualities. Both King Henry VIII and Francis I were
mirror collectors. The mirror was once worth its weight in gold. For example in
1683, a mirror 3” x 4” in size was sold for three times the amount of a Rubens
painting! Many French noblemen were known to sell off their estates to buy a
single mirror! What we find so common today was so very precious.
In the
ancient beginnings, the ancient Mexicans were the first people to value mirrors
around 4000 B.C. By 3000 B.C., the Greeks and Romans
were using gold, silver, and bronze to create small handheld mirrors with
beautiful embellished details.
A Roman Bronze Mirror with Hercules club-shaped handle from the 1st-2nd century AD
The Romans first introduced mirrors made of
glass with a metal backing in the First Century. Not everyone favored mirrors
though- the early Church saw the mirror as a symbol of sin and vanity. It was
forbidden for anyone in the priesthood to own a mirror up until the 14th
century. Throughout the early Middle Ages, glass mirrors really disappeared.
In the 14th century, the excitement
about mirrors returned with the invention of glass blowing techniques. During
this time, many paintings include mirrors as a sign of status. Glassblowing
really had a huge impact with advancements in the making of mirrors. Venice was
the center of glass making and by the 16th century, Venetians had
become more focused on mirror making with inventing the way to make flat glass
mirrors with a reflective backing made of bronze and gold. The Venetians were
very secretive with their mirror making methods. A council was even developed
to protect their ways. The most talented craftsmen were sent to the island of
Murano to be isolated from the world. It was a dangerous craft with the
materials and amount of heat they were working with at the time. The backings
were later replaced with a mixture of mercury and tin, which ended up killing
many workers in Venetian factories. This dangerous backing method was continued
for about four hundred years across Europe. The monarchs began spying and espionage
to unveil the Venetian’s secrets. The Spanish and French used mirrors to code
and decode messages. The system had been developed da Vinci who wrote in code.
Mirrors were even used in the 30 Years War to blind the enemy as well as to
spy. Up until 1687, the Venetian craftsmen were able to keep their secret
methods but they were bribed and taken to France where they revealed the
methods. The French were then able to better the methods and created a way to
cast glass in large sheets. Soon after, work began on the Hall of Mirrors in
the Palace of Versailles.
The mirror method spread throughout Europe yet
France remained the key place for mirror making. Well-known designers and
cabinetmakers like Thomas Chippendale and John Linnell bought large quantities
of French glass to use for their English clients. The process of mirror making
was so dangerous and delicate that the mirrors were very valuable.
Late 18th century Russian Mirror from The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
When looking at actual antique mirrors, an
antique mirror glass should not be perfect. The silvering of the mirror is most
commonly worn and chips may be present. I like that antique mirrors give a
sense of mystery when looking into one. Antique mirrors take away that
perfection that modern mirrors have.
As an insight, mirrors will instantly make a small room feel much larger.
With the way mirrors are now mass-produced, it
is so easy to forget how precious mirrors used to be. Today, I feel that
antique mirrors offer a sense of beauty and allure to a room!
*Excited to add that the Antique Mirror Kit was featured in House Beautiful's September 2013 issue!
Sources:
Amy!
ReplyDeleteWe are super excited to get our stash to the "bragging rights" As a fellow blogger, I can see the troops just lining up to read your adventures and share in your passion.
You'll love it! I'll keep you posted with the first few projects we create!
Welcome back, Amy. It sounds like you are embarking on an exiting new phase of your career and I am looking forward to following along.
ReplyDeleteBest...Victoria