More on mirrors

Yesterday someone asked what color I paint my mirrors so I thought I would repost my process. I've used different shades of white spray paint as the base color because I didn't want them to look all the same. I wanted it to look like I collected different white mirrors over time, not like I bought gold mirrors and sprayed them all the same.
Most of my mirrors are gold plastic from the 60s and 70s. I see these in the thrift stores often...
First take the mirror out of the frame. Usually there are little metal things that you can just bend up and the mirror will come out. Be careful the edges of the mirror are usually sharp!

First paint the back of the frame. You may think that this isn't important, but it is. If you don't paint the rim area where the mirror sits you will see the old color through the reflection in the mirror...I learned this the hard way! .

Let it dry and then turn it over. It dries really fast! Now spray the front and let that dry.



Now comes the fun part. I use Rub 'n Buff which you can buy at most hobby shops. It comes in a lot of different colors. I used a combination of Spanish Copper and Autumn Gold for this mirror.

Put a VERY small amount of Rub 'n Buff on the very tip of your index finger and lightly rub over some of the high edges of your mirror. You are adding paint but you are creating the effect of paint that has worn off so put it in places where paint would naturally wear off over time.

A little of this paint goes a long way. You may want to practice on something else before you use this so you get the feel of it.

Put the mirror back in and you're finished!