For this project I chose a mirror that recently broke in our dorm and has been lying there for 2 weeks. There are some parts missing and most of the glass is cracked. I think repair is an important skill to learn because we need to reduce trash in this day and age. Upcycling, recycling objects will make sustainability prominent and prevent the mitigation of resources. Repairing a mirror was a difficult task because it seems like it has one job and that is to reflect your image. However, there were 2 ways I thought of repairing this as my initial ideas:
The front of the mirror is stuck on a cardboard piece and framed with a wooden border. I thought of removing the glass pieces and converting the cardboard layer into a chalkboard using chalkboard paint. Using the glass, I could create a design on the back of the frame which could make it dual purposed. One side as functional and other as decorative. I will need some heavy tool like a hammer to break the glass pieces tinier, so I can make it easier to assemble the pieces for the design.
For the second idea I was thinking of transforming this full-length mirror into a face mirror. I could remove all the material between the wooden frame and create an empty space. Then I would cut off the shorter sides of the wooden border to make it only to long wood sticks. Using a hard board which is thick enough, I would cut a circle shape. I would then stick the mirror pieces on the circular board both front and back. Then using some sort of screw or rod I would attach that board to the edges of the wooden border. This would make it rotatable so that 2 people can use it at the same time from 2 sides.
My final repair was not any one of them but rather a combination of both. I made a face mirror with a chalkboard on the back. There were a series of technical and practical difficulties I faced while proceeding with my project. First was the fact that the mirror pieced were embedded in the border and I didn’t know how to extract them even with a glass cutter. Second the mirror pieces were tightly glued to the cardboard and hence when I tried removing glass pieces it scraped off the entire cardboard. This is what happened while disassembling the parts:
Hence I took a large piece of mirror that was intact and attached tiny, long pieces of mirror on the top of it. The tiny mirrors were not for use but as decorative elements. The large piece of mirror acted like a face mirror. I then painted the tinier pieces of mirror bluish-green. The entire mirror sculpture resembled the Lady Liberty’s face structure.
I let the acrylic paint dry and then painted the back of the mirror with chalkboard paint. One layer took an hour to dry and then I applied the second coat. This would dry and become a chalkboard on which one could write.
This is what the final piece looked like:
I think that I would yet use this as a face mirror, although I would like to make the edges a little smooth. It was also interesting to know that repairing could make something more purposeful, like the chalkboard on the back. I am really happy how the colors look, I believe they make the mirror more beautiful and abstract. I would also try adding a handle on the back to make it more convenient however I didn’t want to use extra products. I really enjoyed this process although it didn’t work out the exact way but it was exciting to find out alternate ways. These ideas of up-cycling and recycling are very crucial to our environment because only if we believe in repair will the materials sustain.
