More Antiqued Mirrors

I picked up these frames at the same thrift store as this little spice rack and loved the carved wood insets. Knowing painting and glazing would bring out the detail, I was excited to make them over.

Then I saw the antique mirror tutorials from here and here and gave that a try on this project.  For these mirrors, I actually tried EZ-Off and it didn't really take off the silvering until I used some fine grade sandpaper. One of my readers, Aimee of Twigg Studios, suggested I try lime scale remover and acetone nail polish remover...isn't it wonderful how helpful you all are? ;) And go check out her blog - beautiful!

Here's how they looked at first:

Then they got a coating of homemade chalk paint in a creamy color

Then they were glazed to bring out the detail

See how a little glazing with a brownish tint really brings out the detail?

Then the mirrors got their treatment

Trying EZ-Off and wiping it off on the right...it doesn't work so well

While wet, a little 400 grit sandpaper helped the whole thing along...

...still not quite what I wanted, but with the addition of nail polish remover (acetone) and a lot of scrubbing with fine steel wool, I was able to get the look I wanted.

and some antique sheet music was placed behind the mirrors

Then I tried some fabric

Sorry about the reflection of my lovely garage, but mirrors are tough to photograph!

Pretty, right? It would be even prettier if it didn't reflect my grass and garage, but you get the idea ;)

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