DIY Paper Mirror
If you’ve bee here before, you’ll already know that I like mirrors, and I love to make them myself. And the cool part is, that the more I make… the more ideas I get for new ones! This mirror is made from Dollar Tree paper plates. Can you believe it? And it is soooooo easy to make, well you’ll see!
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Paper Mirror Supplies
Dollar Tree:
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Sheet of black foam core
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Pink paper plates (or any colour)
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7″ Mirror
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Pink Self adhesive rhinestones
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Clear self adhesive rhinestones
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Hot glue
Foam Core
The foam core acts as the backing for the mirror. I used black, but you could also use white as it will be covered by the plates. I made a 19″ circle using a silver sharpie which shows up well on the foam core. I have a 19″ metal hoop, which I purchased at Michaels, and I use to trace most of my mirror backings, since it makes the best use of the sheet of foam core. If you don’t have something similar, just use a piece of string a pen and a pushpin or screwdriver as a makeshift compass.
Once my circle is drawn on, I use a very sharp X-acto blade to cut it out. Then I sand off any rough edges with a sanding block
Plates
The plates that I used for this project were from dollar tree and were from the Spring Fling collection. I bought them in hot pink and holographic. They also came in green and gold at my local dollar tree.
Cutting the Plates
I cut the plates into quarters. I found it easiest to stack them in piles of 3-5 plates. Any more then that and it made it difficult to cut through them cleanly. I marked them on the back of the stack with a ruler before cutting. But you could easily get away with cutting them freehand, as you won’t really see the cut edges once they are assembled. I used 2 packages for the larger pink mirror.
Assembling the plate sections
Before gluing the plate sections onto the backing, I marked the backing into quarters for a guide. Then glued the first sections on at the 4 quarter edges. Apply the glue to the pointed section and a line near the bend in the plate. Make sure that you apply all of the pieces the same depth, so that the edge of your mirror is even. After the first 4 pieces were glued, I added a section in between each of these and continued on like that. Here is what the first completed row looks like:
For the second row I alternated overlapping the joins from the first row. Here is what the second row looks like:
And then just continue adding pieces, alternating the overlap until you are close to the size of your mirror. Check with your mirror to ensure you have added enough pieces. When I got close to the end , I found it easiest to cut the ends off of the pie shaped sections, and just tuck them in around the mirror.
Mirror
Normally when I use these dollar tree mirrors, I paint the frames. For this project I did not paint the frame, because I wanted it to be dark. However, I found afterwards that the adhesive rhinestones did not stick that well to the plastic frame, so I would suggest painting it, since they seem to stick better to a painted surface. A coat of Rust-Oleum spray paint will do the trick. If you don’t paint the mirror frame I would suggest using glue on the rhinestones.
I popped the mirror backing off before working with the frame. I purchased self adhesive rhinestones in clear and hot pink, to match the plates. These were also from the dollar tree. I did a row of the pink around the outside edge of the mirror, and then another row around the inner edge. These are just peel and stick. Then I added another row of clear in between the two pink rows, and a row of the same sized clear gems inside the rim of the mirror. Then I used a slightly larger rhinestone for the side edge of the mirror frame.
Anchoring the mirror
Because of the curved nature of the paper plates, I found that the mirror didn’t sit completely flat in the center. In order to remedy this, I traced a 4″ circle onto foam core and cut it out. I just traced around a terra cotta pot that I had on hand. It doesn’t need to be exactly 4″, just big enough to elevate the mirror above the curved edges. I glued this to the centre of the backing, which raised it up just enough so that the mirror didn’t slip around any more. I then glued the mirror onto the foam core circle.
Holographic Mirror
As I mentioned above I also bought holographic plates from the spring fling collection, and I could not resist making another mirror using these amazing plates. For this mirror, I went slightly smaller. I traced around a 13″ charger plate to get my backing circle. And the mirror that I used for this one was a 4″ candle holder mirror from dollar tree. Here is the holographic version.
Look how nicely they go together
How’s that for a fun, easy and inexpensive project??
If you like diy Mirrors, here are a couple more for you:
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