A Project

One of my favorite things to do is decorate if I thought I could I would probably make a career out of interior decorating. Anyway...one day I was browsing urban outfitters website for something new to add to my room and I came across this really sweet mirror that was made out recycled magazines. I decided then that I must have this mirror but like most things at that store it was a bit on the pricey side and me being a poor college student I figured I probably shouldn't spend the little hard earned money I did have on something I only wanted and didn't need and seeing as it was made out of recycled paper really what am I paying for? I then decided that this could easily be reproduced for little cost to no cost at all. After long pain staking hours of rolling paper with my boyfriend it was complete, fragile, but complete and it was perfect! The total cost was around $5 for a mirror from the craft store, the rest of the supplies I had found around my house. Over the two years it's been hanging in my room I have received many complements and I recently decided to attempt at making another one. The original one I had made was round this one is square and I used a few more bought I items but heres how it went:

Supplies:
1. Magazines
2. Knitting Needle
3. Glue Sticks
4. Hot Glue Gun
5. Modge Podge (optional)
6. Paper Trimmer (optional)
7. Scissors
8. Mirror
9. Canvas

Steps:
1.) Getting supplies

First you need to decide what size mirror you would like to make. For mine I wanted a square mirror so I went to the store and picked out a plain 12x12 canvas. The canvas is going to be used as the frame of the mirror. To do this I took the canvas and turned it around to the back side, the mirror is going to fit in the middle of the wooden frame so make sure when selecting a mirror you choose one small enough to fit in the middle of the back side of the canvas with extra room along edges. I believe that the mirror I had picked was 11x11. Heres a picture with labels of the different sections I will be talking about:


2.) Cutting magazines
Next you need to cut the magazine pages into squares. To do this I removed the front of the magazine  to make it easier to separate the pages. After you have all the pages separated you can then cut the pages into squares. I used a paper trimmer so that the cuts I made were precise and the squares I made were 3x3 you can make them larger or smaller depending on the size you want your outside frame to be. I found 3 inches to be the perfect size so then I could cut them down later if needed. There isn't a set number of squares I used, it's going to depend of the size of the mirror. To get an idea I cut up a whole magazine and almost used all the squares.







3.) Preparing the Canvas
I like to cover the canvas with the squares of magazines so whatever parts aren't covered with the rolled magazines or the mirror look nice. This step is optional but I recommend it. First take a paint brush and paint modge podge onto a section of the canvas. Take a square of paper and lay it over the painted on area. Keep doing this into ever part of the canvas is covered (the squares don't have to be perfectly in line I layer mine and turn them in different directions but its really up to you). Try to get the bubbles out from under the paper as well as you can and let it dry. Next you can paint more of the modge podge over the top of the paper to get it more of a finished look if you want.

3.) Creating the rolls
Now the fun part!! Take a single cut square and lay it flat on a table. Apply glue with a glue stick to the very top edge of the square. Now take the knitting needle and roll the square starting from the opposite end that you applied the glue to the end with the glue so that the roll will be held in place. You can then slide the rolled square off the needle. Repeat many times you're going to need a whole lot of these! The larger around your needle is the larger around your roll is going to be. I like to use smaller rolls.

4.) The Inner Side
Take one of the rolls you created and stand in up vertically on the inner side of the frame. Cut the roll so that it come up to the top of the frame. Cut as many of this size roll as needed for the inside of the frame. Take a hot glue gun and glue the rolls to the inside of the frame keeping them as close together as possible without smashing the roll in.

5.) The Outer Side
Repeat the same step up for the outside of the frame. This time aline the roll out from the table top to the top of the frame, it's going to be just slightly larger then the previous. Glue these rolls to the outside to the frame also keeping them as close together as possible. I went in a different order in the picture but this order will be the easiest.

6.) The Top Side
These rolls are going to be the largest because you need to cover not only the front of the frame but also the inner and outer rolls. Just lay the roll over the top alining one end of the roll to the inner side and cut as close to the outer side as possible. After cutting the rolls down glue them on as previous steps.

7.) Trimming
After all the rolls are in place there might be a few that are longer then other I just like to trim the down a bit to make the look uniform.

8.) Mirror placing
You can use whatever you think will work best for keeping the mirror in place. I used 3M tabs that are used to hang pictures on walls because I didn't think hot glue would hold as well. It is up to you however.

9.) Mounting
You can use whatever you want to hang the mirror up with. I used items out of a picture hanging kit.

Then finally:

A New Day Means New Opportunities

Despite recent events I have been inspired to start something new. My mind has been filled with ideas for projects for this summer and my intentions for this blog is to be used as some sort of archive of progress as well as the road blocks I come across (I'm sure I will hit many). Its a new day, heres to a fresh start.