Mosaic Mirror in a Fancy Shape

I wanted to make a mirror with a scroll outline but spend minimum money making it. My idea was to buy two sheets of very thin plywood at Home Depot and a dirt cheap rectangle mirror from the local 5 & Dime. I removed the thin mirror from the cheap frame it came in and glued the two sheets of scroll cut plywood around it.

I first cut the center area out of the top piece in a shape using a paper pattern that I made. I was careful to be sure that the center section would not be any larger than the size of my mirror. You can see my pencil lines of the shape I will next cut with both pieces clamped together. I cut them together so I could be sure that they were EXACTLY alike since I planned to glue them together with the mirror sandwiched between.

Here you can see the frame during the jigsaw cutting stage. I had to remove the clamps where I was cutting, and slide them here and there as I cut around the plywood.

I did my cutting without the mirror in place since there is much vibration during the cut out process.

Once all the sawing was done, I removed the clamps, placed my thin mirror between the layers and put a good bit of wood glue on the pieces to be glued together. The clamps went back on to hold everything as tight as possible until the glue dried.

I then applied glass mosaic tiles to the plywood frame. On this mirror I used tiny tiles that I cut from 3/4 in. glass ones by cutting them into quarters.

To enhance the water-splash look & cool blu colors, I grouted this mirror with a pale blue grout that I made by adding a bit of blue tint to Snow White Grout from Home Depot.

I gave this mirror to the Art for Heart fundraiser auction here in Gulf Shores, Alabama for the Heart Association. Wondering what price it brought? About $175 as I recall.