The mirror has been an indispensable attribute of human life for several centuries. It is difficult to imagine an apartment in which it is not there - such a room will be strange, lifeless, devoid of the usual comfort. Mirror decor adds personality to any interior, especially if it is made by hand, and not at a glass factory. They decorate this item in a variety of ways, decorate it in many styles, more details in our master classes on individual techniques made by hand.
Basic rules, principles of decorating mirrors
This direction of design uses all the materials that exist in nature, the industrial world, their waste. The remains of the plinth and saw cut wood, ice cream sticks and plastic utensils, threads and fabric, shells and pebbles, plastic and eggshells, beads and rhinestones, acrylic paints and paper - all this creates a unique, unique decor. Transparent silicone is usually used as an adhesive, and it is applied with a special gun. Silicone exists neutral and acid, they differ in price, setting time. In some cases, PVA glue, "Titan" is used.
There are two decorating techniques:
- decor outside the borders of the mirror - from cardboard, fiberboard, plywood, cut out the base of the desired shape, which should be chosen larger than the decoration itself. Decorative elements are glued along the edge, the base is dried, then a mirror is mounted on it, as if inserted into a frame;
- decorating a mirror surface - glue, along with decorations, is applied directly to the object itself, which allows you to get an "openwork" design.
Industrial decoration of mirror elements is carried out by etching, crackling, engraving, applying colored enamels, lithography, painting, etc.
Mirror decoration options
There are a lot of decor ideas suitable for different styles, here are just a few of them:
- for the loft style, the frame for the mirror is made from the remnants of the laminate, pieces of brick;
- in the interior of a marine style, it is decorated with sea shells, flat pebbles;
- for ethnic - the frame is woven from straw, decorated with dry flowers, varnished, dry cane tubes;
- in Provence, linen light fabric, ropes are used;
- an embroidered picture can become a decoration for a mirror in a classic style;
- the industrial interior is decorated with colored broken glass, plastic spoons and forks;
- for art, believe me, the mirror will be perfectly shaped with tubes of colored paper;
- a frame for a high-tech mirror, mounted from pieces of chrome-plated metal, tubes, bolts.
Paper sticks or tubes
Paper, one way or another, is in every home. For the decoration of mirrors are most often used:
- glossy magazines - they do not even have to be painted;
- newspapers;
- cigarette paper;
- egg cartons;
- napkins for decoupage.
To make a frame from tubes, they are twisted from a newspaper, making the desired length and thickness. They are laid out on an unnecessary substrate, painted with acrylic from a can from all sides. After that, glue is applied to the mirror, preferably round, on the back - silicone is bought necessarily neutral, acidic can easily destroy a thin mirror coating. Paper tubes are laid out in the form of a sun, a flower, dried in a horizontal position for a day and a new piece of decor is hung on the wall. For rooms with high humidity, this design is not suitable.
Sometimes, instead of paper tubes, plastic straws, rods from pens are used.
plastic spoons
The larger the mirror, the more spoons you will need. From them you need to cut off the scoops, which will later become the “petals” of the flower mirror, optionally painted in one color or different. Next, a piece of fiberboard, thick cardboard is cut out, the main decoration item is placed in the middle, which should be circled with a pencil, a marker - parts in three or four or more rows are glued between this line and the edge of the frame. The frame is dried, a mirror is glued to the center, a day later it is hung on the wall. Such a mirror will perfectly fit into the interior of a bright modern style bathroom, a romantic bedroom.
If you use the wide part of the forks instead of spoons, the design will be no less interesting, but prickly. In the same technique, a frame is made from buttons, small CDs, details of a children's designer.
Rope
The rope, the lace is chosen thicker, a real rope is suitable for a large mirror, a thin but strong twine, paracord is suitable for a small one. The base is cut out of cardboard, fiberboard, glue is applied to it, a lace is laid out round by round. The mirror can be glued at the very beginning, then a rope can be glued around it. For minimalism, they use a bright, not too textured rope, for a traditional one - linen.
If you use threads, ropes of different colors, you get a "rainbow", striped frame.
from wood
The wooden frame will fit perfectly into any modern interior, it can be made from:
- wooden clothespins;
- chopsticks for Chinese food, from ice cream;
- oblique wood cuts;
- rails, planks;
- branches.
If clothespins can simply be fastened around the perimeter of a thin mirror, then other options will require a little more time and effort. When there is access to woodworking machines, tools, then the profile necessary for a beautiful design is cut out of a solid bar on its own. Wooden planks, slats are bought at a store where everything is available for repairs. In the same place, services for sawing timber are sometimes provided - you can ask that the planks be cut at an angle of a certain length. At home, they will remain to be fastened together, painted, painted by hand, supplemented with carvings. For a figured frame made of wood, you need a jigsaw.
For eco style, a piece of plywood, cardboard is cut out, larger than the mirror itself, which is glued into the middle. Around, on the base, pieces of wood, pegs, sticks, large chips, thin saw cuts of twigs, snags are glued, nailed - the mirror turns out to be, as it were, recessed into the frame. If the decoration item is small, then it can be glued to a large wood saw cut, varnished - it is better that it has bark. When ice cream sticks are used for decoration, they should first be varnished, painted, painted.
A carved wooden frame is suitable for the Baroque style, decorated with snags - oriental, ethnic - decoration of thin twigs intertwined with each other, wooden clothespins with folk patterns.
shells
Shells brought from the sea, "shells" of snails used in the preparation of certain dishes, can become an original element of decor. Most often they are used to decorate a marine-style mirror - then it is hung against the background of photo wallpapers depicting a sea dawn, sunset. Sinks painted with bright colors will fit well into a futuristic interior, modern. Place such a frame most often in the bathroom, in the nursery.
If sea, river, lake shells have lost their color, they are soaked in ordinary bleach, then washed, dried, lubricated with sunflower oil, varnished. Next, a mirror is taken, which has a frame or on a plywood, wooden base. The shells are glued symmetrically, in discord - first large, then, between them, smaller ones. The frame is dried, varnished.
As an addition to shells, many use pearls, beads, beads, beautiful pebbles.
Mosaic, broken dishes
There is no need to rush to throw away broken dishes, especially if they were beautiful “during life” - the pieces are easy to use as decoration.
Usually used:
- broken colored glass, crystal;
- fragments of mirrors;
- pieces of aluminum foil;
- clay, porcelain shards;
- broken ceramic tiles.
In the presence of special equipment, glass is cut into pieces of any desired shape. Decorations are glued to a pre-prepared surface according to the required pattern, the voids between the parts are filled with any grout, decorated with pebbles, sparkles, mother-of-pearl.
For the ecological style, clay shards are used, Provence - faience, high-tech hallways are decorated with fragments of audio CDs.
gold leaf
An artificially aged frame is the best decor for a living room, bedroom of an expensive classic interior, pompous baroque and gothic styles.
Options for the "old" design:
- gilding;
- bronzing;
- silvering;
- patination.
Decorating the frame with gold leaf allows you to create a unique, luxurious item. Susal is the thinnest gold film, which is glued to the surface of an object for decorative purposes. It is produced in the form of squares with a side of 91.5 mm, but there are different thicknesses. For decorating furniture items, the thinnest is used - with a ligature weight of 1-2 grams.
By color, gold leaf is:
- white - contains palladium, silver;
- lemon - has a large percentage of silver;
- green - an alloy of silver and gold;
- yellow - contains 75% gold, silver, copper;
- orange - an alloy of copper and silver;
- red - has a lot of copper in the composition;
- pure - almost one hundred percent.
The material is sold in notebooks, packs, rolls, lined with tissue paper.
Created gold is produced in the form of a powder, which must be diluted, combined with tinsel.
From materials, tools you will need:
- wooden frame - best carved, the size of a mirror;
- gold sheets;
- glue - mezdrovy, on an oil, alcohol basis;
- paint for the background - if the gold coating is not continuous.
First, paint is applied to the frame, dried, carefully glued with gold sheets, polished so that there are no seams, and a mirror is fixed in the middle.
If you need to save a lot, instead of sheets of gold, gold leaf is used - a thin foil that looks like gold, but without precious metals in the composition.
Mirror decor
This finish is applied in the form of painting directly on the mirror surface, various stickers on it. You can decorate the wardrobe door in the dressing room, oval, rectangular in the corridor, lobby, plasterboard partition decorated with mirrors.
Of the materials, tools most often used:
- paints on glass;
- various stencils;
- pebbles, beads;
- beads, sequins;
- textile, polymer lace;
- thin, thick brushes.
For the style of minimalism, modern, you should use a mirror without a frame.
transparent stones
In the "stone" decor, certain conditions must be observed:
- do not place them too close to each other;
- it is recommended to use pebbles of different sizes, colors;
- you can lay them out according to pre-made stencils;
- glue not only along the very edge, but also locally in one or all corners.
A decoration made entirely of identical transparent stones is suitable for a minimalist style. In combination with plastic flowers, plants - a romantic style room, buttons, beads - for eclecticism, avant-garde. The glue is used transparent, it should be applied very carefully, carefully removing excess. Usually a special one is used - for working with glass, rhinestones.
Such pebbles are often sold in stores - individually, in whole sets.
hand-painted decoration
Wall mirrors, glass doors, and a dressing table are decorated with paintings. If you have certain artistic skills, the surface is easily painted with wonderful patterns, using acrylic paints, brushes of various thicknesses.
Most popular topic:
- New Year's patterns - like on windows in winter;
- fantastic birds, animals;
- undersea world;
- dotted, "Kudrinskaya" painting;
- geometric figures;
- vegetable ornaments.
For a mirror in a Provence-style children's room, light colors are used. In the classic bedroom of a teenage girl, surfaces are decorated with flowers in pastel colors, the industrial kitchen is decorated with figures of steel flowers. It will take at least an hour to hand-paint such a plan.
Another way is to paint with dye cans through special stencils. Perforated decoupage napkins are perfect for this role. Napkins are selected rubberized - so that they are easy to remove. They are simply laid out on the surface, and spray paint is applied on top, after which it should be dried for several hours.
When performing fine hand painting, designers recommend using a special contour for working with glass.
Beading
The most "home" interior is obtained by using the design of mirror surfaces with beads. Often it is combined with pictures, cushions, embroidered with beads, glass beads. For a traditional, neoclassical bedroom, this is one of the best solutions.
Beads, beads are ideally selected glass - so that they transmit light well without cluttering the surface too much. The color scheme should fit well into the interior of the room, without creating dissonance with it. You can glue it on a transparent silicone sealant, separating the surface to be decorated with adhesive tape. Separate volumetric elements can be used, made by stringing beads on a wire, fishing line, thread.
Popular topics:
- sea waves of turquoise and white shades;
- African, Old Russian ornaments;
- butterflies, dragonflies;
- geometric abstractions.
Accents of large transparent beads look great against the background of smaller details.
Do-it-yourself mirror frame from a ceiling plinth
From the materials you will need:
- furniture plywood;
- scissors, sharp knife;
- ruler, pencil, square;
- glue "Titan", PVA;
- acrylic dye;
- clothesline or twine;
- tissue sponge.
Step by step the frame is done like this:
- cuts are made at the base, where a strong cord is inserted for hanging the structure;
- the mirror is glued to plywood;
- cut the ceiling plinth, carefully working out the corners;
- their ends are smeared with Titanium glue, pressed tightly against each other;
- a special primer is applied to the plinth, and when it dries, acrylic paint;
- further, individual fragments are decorated with gold, silver, bronze paint;
- from the remains of the rope, lace, a floral ornament is laid out, which is complemented by contour, dot painting, sparkles, rhinestones;
As additional elements, any materials at hand that are suitable in style are used. Sandriks, corner pieces, rosettes (they are cut into several parts), fragments of ceiling ornaments, moldings, etc. are also used.
If possible, the pattern in the corners of the frame should be well chosen - this will turn out much more beautiful.
Vacation in the summer on the sea coast promises sure to bring souvenirs in memory of the beautiful hot days. There are many ways to use them at home. There are many options for using shells as decorations. You can decorate any room with your own hands and, if you have interesting ideas, create a beautiful decor from shells.
Seashell care
If there are many sea shells available, then at home, without proper care, they will quickly begin to darken. Worst of all is the smell that appears in this process. To extend the life of these souvenirs, you need to follow the step-by-step instructions.
Start caring for such a souvenir from freezing the product itself. Collect the shells in a bag and close it, then place it in the freezer indefinitely. When you can handle the shellfish, defrost them. Do not open the package right away or you will smell the fetid smell of sea rotten clams. It spreads very quickly throughout the room and does not volatilize well. Cover your mouth and nose with a cotton-gauze bandage, put on gloves and remove the insides of the shells with tweezers and a knife.
Pour the clams with water and boil for 15 minutes. Drain the water and after complete cooling, carefully remove the internal contents from there with tweezers. Place your shells under running water. Then they will be completely cleansed.
The next step is bleaching. Prepare a glass container, stack your sinks and fill them with some kind of bleach. In this state, you need to leave it all alone for a couple of hours. Then they need to be washed, dried and lubricated with vegetable oil, then covered with a colorless varnish.
ADVICE! When drying seashells, do not get carried away with sunbathing. If you overexpose the shells in the open sun, they will begin to crumble.
Items to decorate
Decorating with your own hands is a very exciting and useful activity. You can give free rein to your imagination and create something new, unique with your own hands. Such an option for transforming the premises will be very economical.
Related article: Selection and installation of balcony flower boxes (+ homemade pots)
New life in the home interior in this way can be given to objects of different sizes:
- mirrors;
- coffee tables;
- lampshades or nightlights;
- dressers;
- jewelry boxes;
- photo frames.
A variety of trinkets of a similar theme will serve as an excellent addition to the main material. It can be sea horses, corals, stars, pebbles, and many other small items. They will be in your home.
ADVICE! Do not overdo it with the decoration of rooms with shells. It should remain light and relaxed.
If you overload the space with such decor, it will look very stupid and ugly. Please note that this natural component is an excellent tool not only for creating a marine image with your own hands in the house. He can make the most strict interior softer and more interesting. Such a result is possible subject to the correct selection of material.
1st idea: shell mirrors
The first thing that many girls think about using a natural component to decorate their home with shells is photo frames or mirror rims. It is these products that are in special demand among ladies.
To design a beautiful mirror with your own hands, you will need:
- mirror (framed);
- hot glue gun (you can use Moment transparent glue when doing work);
- shells;
- beads, pearls, pebbles from the river and other decorations for decoration (they can be found at home);
- varnish (colorless);
- tweezers.
The very process of decorating a mirror with your own hands is very entertaining, but painstaking.
You need to put a mirror on the table. Cover it with a cloth or paper so as not to spoil it with glue or scratches. Then heat up the glue. Glue small shells along the inner rim.
Advice! To make them better fastened, it is necessary to pour glue on them.
After the outline is ready, start gluing the large shells. Do not forget about their organic placement relative to each other. Then the gaps between the shells are filled with decorative beads, pebbles, pearls, etc. After the mirror frame is completely covered with shells, leave the resulting product. It should dry well. It usually takes about a day. The final stage is to cover the mirror with shells with a colorless varnish.
Related article: 16 apartment decor ideas for the New Year 2019 (+43 photos)
2nd idea: photo frame
A stylish photo frame can make every photo unique. It will add a certain charm.
Making a unique frame is quite easy. This will require:
- glue;
- shells;
- rhinestones;
- sequins;
- pebbles;
- pearls.
When all the components are ready for work, you can proceed to the process itself. Take a wooden frame. Mark on it the location of the shells and other decorating trifles. Then use glue to bring the idea to life.
3rd idea: candlestick
One of the most interesting and unusual handmade jewelry is seashells as a candlestick. In order for such an interesting little thing to appear in the house, you will need a large shell, a wick and wax.
The process of preparing such a romantic attribute will not take much time and effort. You need to choose the largest shell. It should be comfortable and stable. Fix the wick in it, fill it with wax, and then let it cool.
Conclusion
Shell decor is a great chance to express yourself. It is pleasant to do it with your own hands, dream up, spend time usefully and with pleasure.
Decorating panels and bottles with your own hands (2 videos)
Seashell decor options (43 photos)
Record dated: 9-21-2016
This year, I finally realized my old dream - I made decor from sea shells. I collected shells for a long time - from each trip to the sea I brought with me a certain number of rapanchiks. Everyone was going to start making crafts from shells for the interior, but, as they say, “the fees were short-lived” 🙂 The only thing is that the shells were used to decorate miniature gardens in bowls, the creation of which I am fond of.
This year I was lucky to visit the sea near Anapa, in Art. Blagoveshchenskaya, where we camped on a sandy spit. There were absolutely extraordinary shells - the likes of which I had never seen in my life. They were large, bright, some even covered with some kind of calcareous coating, reminiscent of coral formations.
Of course, all the time of my vacation I was enthusiastically collecting this beauty, with the aim of subsequently making decor from shells. Other shells are smaller, I collected on the Sea of Azov when we went to the port of Kavkaz near Taman to meet a friend from the ferry.
When we were returning from the sea, we stopped at Ikea near Krasnodar and there I bought two wooden mirrors, hoping to decorate them with shells. I started decorating the mirror with my own hands while on a trip - it's nice to do something creative on vacation when there is a lot of free time. For this, I only needed pva glue, shells and the mirror itself.
How to stick seashells to glass
Many people are interested in me - how and with what kind of glue shells can be glued to glass - I will say with all responsibility that it is better not to come up with pva glue.
You need to glue the shells like this: squeeze the pva glue onto the surface (it should be thick and create a layer of 3 millimeters on the surface. Exactly, and not like many people do - just smear the surface with a brush. In the latter case, the shells will fall off almost immediately.
But if you squeeze out the glue in a thick layer, then carefully place the shells in the glue (do not be afraid, this will not hurt the beauty), then they will stick very well. When the glue dries, its layer will become thinner and it will become transparent and invisible. This is how I glued the shells on the mirror. Large orange ones are collected on the Black Sea, and small ones - on the Sea of Azov.
See the shells yourself in macro photography - the glue is not visible at all!
This is the original mirror.
Well, this is how it became after decorating with shells.
The next idea for execution is to make from shells. Fortunately, after the last trip I have a lot of them.
Required materials for a nautical style mirror
- Mirror (any shape);
- Starfish, river pebbles, various small shells. If it so happens that you do not have the opportunity to collect such materials immediately near the sea, you can buy ready-made kits in stores;
- Beads-pearls of different sizes;
- Adhesive composition (optimally - super-glue);
- Adhesive paper or bandage.
- Necessary labor tools: scissors, as well as tweezers.
How to decorate a mirror in a marine style
1. Before starting work, you need to clean the surface of the mirror with glass detergent, it is advisable to thoroughly rinse the shells, river pebbles, this is a rather important point, because the adhesive does not hold greasy or dirty surfaces together well.
2. Using an adhesive bandage (or paper), we will make a frame on the mirror.
If necessary, you can also glue the shells on the mirror surface, but the advantage of this “frame” is that it will help you clearly limit the place of gluing (serves as a contour), and in case of an oversight, the bandage is easier to separate from the mirror than very fragile materials.
3. Let's start gluing small shells. First you need to glue large shells on the frame. It is highly desirable that they be arranged symmetrically.
Try not to overload the frame, otherwise it will look overly cumbersome
Before applying the adhesive composition to the material, attach the selected shells to the frame, create several steps back at once, look at the mirror from afar. This will help to determine in advance which shells are much better combined with each other.
Glue must be applied to the shells.
4. Moving from the already glued large figures, we will attach small shells to the frame and, in addition, medium-sized sea river pebbles. Instead of river pebbles, you can also use very light, very flat pebbles, sold in flower shops to decorate potted plants. Don't forget to leave room for the beads.
5. Carefully enough, you need to glue the starfish. The important thing is that they are quite fragile. Therefore, at first, it is much better to glue the stars on an empty certain space, and only then place the rest around them.
6. It remains to fill the empty spaces with small small shells, pebbles, beads. For convenience, I advise you to use tweezers. This will make it easier to apply the adhesive to a small material.
Using tweezers, we will also fill in all the other gaps with beads.
In the same case, if you are unable to fill completely all the empty spaces between small shells (for example, along the edges or even small “holes”), leave them empty - only thanks to the bandage frame they will not catch your eye.
For all those who live near the sea, there is an alternative option - to fill the "holes" with adhesive and, accordingly, pour clean sea mountain sand into them. After some time, when the adhesive is completely dry, you will need to shake off excess clean mountain sand. Another method is to use small rather light beads instead of pure sand, for example, light cream, very light sand color tones.
7. Let's move on to the last stage of decorating the mirror in a marine style. When all the materials are glued to the frame, it remains to wait until the adhesive composition dries. Following this, you need to clean the surface of the mirror, as well as the shells from the remnants of the adhesive composition.
Following this, the decorated frame can also be covered with a completely colorless lacquer composition. However, this is not at all necessary: the varnish composition is needed to strengthen the structure.
Marine style mirror - photo
The original use of shells in the decor.
The shells themselves look very beautiful, so they are often used as a finishing material for all kinds of decor items. This page is dedicated to this, in which you will consider the ideas of using seashells for home decoration,
See how beautifully you can decorate the boxes with shells.
If you are fed up with a vase, change it by gluing shells with strong glue.
How chic a candlestick decorated with seashells looks!
Shells are also used to decorate topiary.
And another version of a chic candlestick trimmed with craquelure and shells.
Shell panel will decorate any interior! :)
Wow, they even make crowns! :)
To decorate a vase, it is quite possible to use shells to imitate craters.
A pendant is assembled from shells by gluing the shells with hot glue to the substrate.
I want to warn you that before using this decorative finishing material, it must be processed in a quality manner in order to get rid of an unpleasant odor and living microorganisms, and then the shells are polished and varnished.
we study the process of processing seashells collected at sea or purchased in a store:
We soak the finishing material for a day in warm water, after soaking it for 20 seconds in hydrochloric acid, due to which the shells will acquire a bright color. It is important to rinse thoroughly afterwards. Glossy shells do not soak in this saline solution! If you hold the shells in a hydrochloric acid solution for longer, they will become aged and limestone decomposition. I think you understand how important it is to observe all safety measures when working with this solution!
After daily soaking in water, wash the shells, dry and cover with Johnson's baby oil or acrylic varnish on top.
This finishing material can be supplemented with tiny pieces of natural stones, starfish, corals or even coarse sea sand and polished sticks aged by time and the sea.
Before gluing the shells to the surface, place them all on the surface and make sure they are in a beautiful compositional arrangement. Shells look beautiful on a background substrate, which uses river sand, pebbles or small shells.
Many masters prefer to use Elmer's multi-purpose glue for gluing shells to the surface. It is necessary to work with the glue very carefully so that it does not come out with its gloss and does not get on the surface of the neighboring shell.
This adhesive dries within 24 hours. After the glue has completely dried, the craftsmen cover the top with a finishing varnish.
Let's continue our tour of the original decor, trimmed with shells.
All kinds of frames on mirrors and photo frames are often trimmed with shells.
A beautiful brooch in the form of a flower is created from flat shells.
Applications are made from shells on the walls.
And how do you like this idea of decorating a mirror with starfish? :) Beauty!
But you shouldn’t apply a mosaic on a shell, since it in itself is a work of art of nature, but it’s quite appropriate to make a plaster cast, then it can be decorated using any technique and even with small shells themselves.
Shells go well with pearls.
Surely, after a summer vacation at the sea, you have accumulated a lot of this marine material, which you are now using in an original way for decorating by viewing this page :)
