Mosaic mirror making - building your mirror
I build unique custom-made mosaic mirrors, a replica of your beloved car, van, truck, including licence plate number, etc. using nice 'n' shiny coloured vitreous glass mosaic tiles. When mosaic mirror making, firstly I scale up a photograph of your vehicle, cut a paper template and cut the holes where the mirror will be placed, i.e. the windscreen, headlights etc. I also mark definitions lines that prevent the adjoining sections of vehicle becoming one, thus avoiding building a final mass of colour. Then I transfer that to 12mm mdf and cut out your design and mirrored glass holes. It's now ready to start mosaic tiling.
The Mosaic Tile
It is a vitreous glass mosaic tile - simply, a fired glass of lovely texture and colour - not to be confused with ceramic mosaic. Each mosaic tile is nipped (cut) by hand and fixed using a strong quick-drying building adhesive, one by one, slowly building the mirror, until every tile is glued into position. The Standard mirror has between 1200 and 1500 pieces of nipped tile!
Mirror and Grout
The mirror is fixed on next, from behind, then grouting starts. I use a waterproof, mould-resistant grout, usually in brilliant white but it can be various other colours if required. Polishing follows and the back of the mirror is painted to seal against water penetration. The mosaic mirrors can therefore be hung in the bathroom without problems.
Silver Leaf / Gold Leaf Gilding
Silver and gold leaf gilding is available and is a bit more involved. There are several gilding processes including a final varnish to protect the gild.
Take a look at the build photos - click on any below to display the full size mosaic mirror build image.
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