DECORATING A MIRROR WITH VINTAGE

Here is an old mirror which I decorated with vintage necklaces and assorted craft materials... how kitsch is this! Definitely one-of-a-kind. If you are feeling crafty, you can decorate your boring old mirror too and give your dressing table a touch of whimsy!

I purchased this plastic mirror last minute for a jewellery booth many years back, and since I disliked how tacky it looked, it was immediately put away after that event so I didn't have to look at it lol.

Anyhow I re-found it and decided to 'deco-den' it just because. This is not my original idea by the way. When I was an intern (around 1999) at a local bags & accessories company, the boss requested me to decorate two table mirrors as frou frou-ish as I could, with cabochon and ric rac samples and scrap pink feathers because we had just revamped the stores with a fixed colour scheme. Haha, good times. Best thing was customers asked if they were for sale... unfortunately no. The mirrors did manage to get customers to stop by the shop so that was good.

This is the mirror before embellishing. It is red and silver. I guess it was meant to be futuristic but it doesn't fit my vintage shop. Only bought it because I needed a mirror with a sturdy base and a mirror face that stays put when tilted. Dug about my junk jewellery lot and found 3 beaded necklaces that was flat enough for securing. Actually I don't have an idea what I wanted at this point.

These are from the 1970s. I dismantled the clasps, and removed the cross off the faux pearl beaded one. Also cleaned the mirror and necklaces with alcohol.

Glued the hippie looking necklace from the bottom and ran it around the circumference. I used a normal hot glue gun.

Joined the second one where the first one ended. Unfortunately the necklaces were not long enough so I had to find something to hide the uncovered parts.

These are artificial flowers, fabric leaves and floral tape. I had them leftover from making bouquets for my dolls.

Assembled a small bunch and wrapped them with floral tape. Since the flowers have wire stems, they can be curved to fit the shape of the circumference.

Glued the whole bouquet down. And another bunch at the bottom for some balance.

I added the green leaves on the tops to hide some of the uneven spots, then used the white beaded dismantled necklace on the inner circumference. It was not long enough because that is just one side length of the necklace. The other side was used on the bottom rim. Then added some plastic jewels that came free with a package I bought, these have scratches on the surface so I can't use them anywhere else.

I decided to dismantle the beaded cross pendant and replicate the weave to finish that missing spot, unfortunately after gluing it down, I realised the beads were larger than the rest! Oh well. I might add a ribbon or something but the odd-sized continuation is partly obscured by the flowers, so will leave it for now.

Got these from Daiso. One is a black spangled sequins (has a hologram effect) and the other is black frilly lace.

Glued the frilly lace on the circumference to hide the backs of the bouquet. The width of the tulle was trimmed down as it was far too wide. I glued the sequins all around the mirror's base till it was fully covered, and done! Hope you like it, I will be displaying this at an event this June so customers can enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror while trying on my jewellery!