Shattered Mirror Art

If you are the superstitious type, you might want to click away now and come back tomorrow. Seriously. Look away! For the rest of you, I have a fun project to share!

I saw this over at Potholes and Pantyhose a couple of years ago and with the large open wall space above the couch that needed decorating I finally had an excuse to try it out! 

Supplies:

Plywood

Paint

Mirror

Liquid Nails

Caulking Gun

Hammer

Gloves

Thick Paper Bag

Screws

Start by painting a large piece of plywood in your color of choice. I used a thin 2' x 4' sheet that we picked up for under $5 and painted it Ultra Pure White in Satin to match the wainscoting.

Find an old or broken mirror. My Dad saved this one during a bathroom remodel that he did and brought it to our yard sale. He was so careful not to break it when he was taking it down and then I snagged it so I could bash it into little pieces.  Sorry Dad!

Before you get started, make sure to put on some work gloves so keep yourself from getting cut. Those little pieces get pretty sharp.

Place the mirror into a heavy paper bag or butcher paper. I used the big lawn clipping bags.  Close the bag and gently start tapping it with a hammer. Mirrors of different weights may require more force. Gradually start hitting it harder until you hear it crack.

It's probably a good idea to do this outside. It was really hot and humid the day I was working on it though so I worked on the kitchen floor and then vacuumed really well when I was done to make sure that I got any slivers that jumped out of the bag.

Open up the bag and check out the pretty little mirror pieces. If they are still too big, just close it up and start hitting it again.

Arrange the mirror pieces however you think looks best. I recommend starting with the bigger pieces and then working your way down to the small ones. This way you get a more even distribution of sizes rather than a bunch of the same size grouped together.

Use your caulk gun to apply the liquid nails glue onto the backs of each mirror piece. Make sure you don't use too much because it will squirt out the sides when you press the mirror down.

Let the glue dry for 24 hours and admire the fun light that it casts onto the wall. :)  It is easy to miss some pieces or use too little glue so after the dry time is over, tilt the board forward to see if any of the pieces fall off. If they do, just glue them back in place and let it dry some more.

Hang your artwork on the wall, stand back, and admire your handiwork. It gets pretty heavy so you will definitely want someone around to help you with this part. Remember to wear gloves too. I got a small cut on my hand because I forgot about that.

To hang ours, we screwed it directly into the wall using drywall screws and then I painted the heads white. It is really hard to find the studs in our walls so we used about ten screws. That way we were sure to hit one somewhere and all of those screws gave it extra support.

You could also use a heavy duty picture hanging kit if you prefer.

Oooh! Shiny!

Sometimes it's fun to look at yourself in the mirror fragments and make weird faces like you are a crazy person in some movie who looses it and smashes their mirror against the wall. 

Or maybe that's just me.

Ahem.

Moving on...

The mirror is such a fun new addition to our living room decor and I love how it reflects the light! I have plans for a couple of decorative pieces to go on either side of the mirror but I'm not sure when I will have the time to work on them. For now, it looks pretty good on it's own. :)

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