So a while ago I decided to be like the cool kids and I joined Pinterest. Then to make it even better, I decided to make some projects that I pinned on Pinterest. Whelp...that my friends was a bad idea.
Enter project #45676-The Spoon Mirror.
(Okay so I really haven't done that many...but you get the idea)
I was very blessed this past December, and I got my own office at work. It was this weird green color that I helped pick out when we built our new space last Spring. Hindsight being 20/20, I so would not have picked it out had I know this was to be my office, just sayin'. It is seriously the hardest color in the world to find a good color palette for. Tomato red would have been easier, I'm serious.
After much searching, and I mean much, I found a color palette from one of my digital scrapbook suppliers
Moo & Puppy Digital Paper Packs. It is the lovely colors of purple, teal and green...the same green on my wall.
How about that!
Well since I love teal and can't live without some purple in my life, I was finally ready to make my office mine!
I started, by grabbing the following supplies:
- 1 LARGE piece of cardboard for my base
- 700 (yes 700!) Plastic spoons- brand and kind really don't matter since it is so many (this varies and depends on your base size)
- Glue Gun
- new bag of glue sticks
- 3 colors of paint- I used 1 can of spray paint and 2 small tubes of acrylic paint from the hobby store
- Wire to hang
- 10" round mirror
- Sharp scissors or snips
First I opened up my large box and drew out the circle I wanted. My mirror is roughly 35" in diameter. I also traced the mirror exactly in the center so I know where to steer clear when I was gluing. I cut out the big circle, and I spray painted the back the same light teal/blue color as the first set of spoons. I did this because the box I choose had a wild and bright design and I wanted to minimize it.
Now comes the hard and boring part. The breaking/cutting of the spoons. I suggest finding something to watch while doing this. Please note if you are breaking your spoons, do it an area where others will not get attacked by flying bits of plastic. (My cats liked this part, they were chasing plastic pieces all over the house) Cutting really is better. I started with clear spoons, because I thought spray painting the fronts and not trying to spray the backs as well was clever. Luckily, this time my crazy thoughts paid off. The teal/blue color looked the same on the front and the back even though I only sprayed the front.
Once you get your spoons cut/broke, start gluing them down to your card board. There are two ways to work the design at this point, you can glue everything up against each other and create a mirror like this:
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| Image from http://www.craftaholicsanonymous.net |
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Or you can leave a gap and have a more chrysanthemum type look to your mirror, like I did.
On the next row, stagger your spoons when gluing. The gap made when we started will be a good guide. Repeat until you have your mirror complete, or if you are doing a
Ombre mirror like me until your first color rows are done. Again, grab a good movie, because gluing is going to take a while.
I decided that 8 rows was good for my first color, so I stopped gluing and went out side in the snow and spray painted the heck out the spoons. I also sprayed a fine layer in the center so I had a base in case you could see through the spoons.
Now it is time to paint the next layer of spoons. If they had 3 colors of blue/teal in spray paint that I could use, I would have spray painted the whole thing. Sadly, we are not at that level of spray paint sophistication yet.
I used cheap $1 plastic spoons from the dollar store for the spoons when I was hand painting. I painted all I needed for the next level, and then I started the glue thing all over again. In between each layer, I also put a coat of glossy Mod Podge on the spoons so that they have the same sheen as the spray painted ones.
Next, I hot glued the mirror in the center and started on painting the next row of spoons. Once painted I started the gluing process once again, as well as the Mod Podge layer for sheen. Since I actually butted the ends of the spoons against the mirror, I did fill in the spoon gaps on the cardboard with the dark teal paint to make it all flow together.
Now that it was all done, I realize I forgot to attach my wire through the cardboard! Whoops! So I just did a pretty ugly hot glue and duct tape job on mine. I suggest finding a better way, because I worry I will come in one morning and a broken spoon mirror will grace my office floor.
Here are some final project shots. Whaddya think of the green? ;)
Tips and tricks I learned along the way:
1. Find good shears to cut the spoons with, or if you do break them wear gloves. After breaking over 400 spoons I had a blood blister on finger the size of Texas. I cut the rest
2. Clean up all off your hot glue hairs before you spray paint. I know, that seems like a no brainer, but I was excited, and I wanted to see it colorful! If you don't you can see them... trust me.
3. Buy more spoons than you think you need. Trust me. You can use them for something else if you don't need them! I seriously had to go buy spoons 3 times!
That's about it!
Thanks for stopping!
Ash
