This is one of my favorite projects that I did for The Nate Show and I am so excited to be finally sharing it over here!

You will need:

A framed mirror (make sure the mirror isn’t older than 1980’s, if you are unsure you can have them cut at any glass store for really cheap)

Paint Stripper

Muriatic Acid

Silhouette Premium Vinyl

Silhouette Transfer Sheet

Silhouette Hook Tool

Silhouette Scraper Tool

Spray Adhesive

Fabric

Start with your framed mirror. This is one that I found at the thrift store for $2.00.

Take the backing off of your frame

Carefully remove the mirror, take it outside and place it face down on a soft surface. (I used a towel cause hello you can totally wash it!)

Put a big glob of stripper on the back of it and spread it around with a paint brush.

Let it sit for about 15 min. Every mirror that you do will be different. On some the paint comes off really easiy and on others you have to scrape it off. There is no way of knowing which its going to be…sorry!! But its sort of like a secret birthday surprise finding out what happens!

On this particular mirror the underlayer of paint was red and it came off really easily.

See how the back side of the mirror is reflective?

Hang on let me clean it off…..

Much better!! Not all of the paint needs to come off and its alright.

Next I used Madonna my Silhouette to cut out my design. I used the moroccan pattern design.

Once I carefully peeled off the negatie space I used the greatest invention since sliced bread. The Hook Tool to get the rest of the negative space out. I kid you not this thing is awesome.

Then I used the Transfer Paper and Scraper to transfer it onto the back side of the mirror. Take it outside…now its time for the fun part!

Put on your neoprene gloves and very carefully spray some muriatic acid on the back of your mirror. (Muriatic acid is used to neutralize pool water and can be found at Home Depot or Lowes)Make sure that you have a hose on so that you can quickly rinse the acid off.

Depending on your mirror (once again they are all different) the acid will start to eat away the reflective coating. Sometimes it works really fast and sometimes it works really slow. Rinse it off after 5 or so seconds and see if it is working. If it seems like nothing is happening put more on and wait until you can start to see where it is eating it. The dark spot in the picture below is what it looks like when it starts to work.

Once your mirror looks the way that you want it to rinse it and dry it off. Peel off any loose pieces of vinyl. Use your favorite kind of spray adhesive. I love Krylon’s.

After its been sprayed lay your fabric face down on the back of the mirror. That way you can see the fabric through the empty spots!

Pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

The spray paint that I used is Coral Isle by Krylon. It’s the PERFECT color. I swear they are mind readers.

The post Amazing Acid Mirror appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

*Giveaway Closed

Don’t forget to enter the Epic Room Makeover Giveaway! Time is a tickin……

Hey everyone!

Guess What?

I am only 1/2 here today. That’s cause I am awesome enough to be guest posting over at I {Heart} Naptime’s Spring into Silhouette event spectacular! Holla!!

Do you want to know what my project is?

Here are some clues:

1. Nate said he has never seen anything like it before….

2. It involves vinyl and acid……

3. It is one of my fave projects to do…

Any guesses?

So click over to I {hear} naptime to see the full tutorial!

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE!

Come back and leave a comment(or do it before you go) to win the mirror and all of the supplies that I used!

All you need to do is follow Silhouette’s Blog!(and leave a comment telling me you do!)

And for extra entries:

Like them on Facebook

Follow Vintage Revivals

And like always make the world a better place by performing a random act of kindness.

The post Silhouette-tastic Acid Mirror Giveaway appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

So we all are loving the antler/animal head trend right now right? I love it enough that I used antlers in my Christmas tree. This is taking it just a weeeeee bit further

Since I am sort of famous for my Anthro knockoffs you guys know that I could not pass up all of this awesomeness:

Now here is my disclaimer.
I have NEVER done anything like this before. So please be kind. I FREAKING LOVE how this all turned out…..
Here is what I did.

Really. That’s all you are going to get. I was learning as I went and so I don’t really feel qualified to write a tutorial on it. I started out with the front horn and snout and just sort of added to it. Maybe if I get lots of questions I can rebuild one….?

Next I mixed up a batch of paper mache. The trick is to make the paste thick like pancake batter. Tear your strips of newspaper (don’t cut them they leave harsh lines) and then go to town. I put about 3 layers on and then let it dry for a couple of days.
Once my Rhino was dry I Podged the crap out of it. I used pages from an old Readers Digest.

Now for the Mirror Mosaic.
I bought a 2×2 piece of wood at Home Depot for around $6.00. I used mirror that I had on hand and after a little bit of trial and error this is the best way that I have found to break the mirror without ending up with just shards.

Use a towel folded in half. Stick your mirror on it.

Fold your towel over and using something that has an edge (I used a candlestick) hit it hard enough to break it but not like its your neighbor whose cat keeps peeing on your back door. (that really has never happened to me, it would make me really mad though)

*The key is to use something that has an edge. A hammer will give you shards. Shards are bad. Shards are not your friend. Shards are your neighbors cat.

I am pointing to where I am going to attempt to hit the mirror. I don’t have a great aim, it’s a good thing that I am a girl…just sayin. (and yes my nails are nasty. get over it.)

Ba-BAM!

Then you piece it together. Like this:

And then you grout. Which I totally sucked at. FYI. Basically read the instructions and when it says to use  a putty knife to float it. Just do it mmmmkay.

So what do you think?

Tomorrow I am going to be posting about how to make your own Antlers with Paper Mache Clay.

Did you notice my NEW Board and Batten?….

Don’t forget to watch Studio 5 tomorrow at 11 for you Utahns. And for you non-utahns I will post the clip as soon as I can!

P.S. When I opened my laptop I saw that my 7 year old Googled
“Math Second Grade 9-6-3=what”
Someone pray for me.

The post Faux Taxidermy Part 1 appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

There have been a few versions floating around blogland of how to make mirrors like this:

This was my inspiration:

The issue that I have with most of the tutorials are the mirrors are just completely gone in spots. Theres no color variation, no depth. This is the difference:

This mirror was done using oven cleaner:

See how ALL of the reflective coating is gone?

These are what some done with acid look like:

Much better right?

So heres how to do it.

You will need:

Neoprene Gloves
Jasco Brand Paint and Epoxy Remover
Muratic Acid
Old Shirt or Carpet (So that your mirror doesnt get scratched)
Possibly a scraper.

Ok so first you want to lay your mirrors out face down on a surface that cant be damaged by the paint remover.

UPDATE:
A reader just informed me that mirrors that are made before 1941 can have mercury in them. 90% of the mirrors that I do have to be cut for the frames, so I dont worry about it too much BUT if for any reason you think that your mirror might be close that that era. DO NOT RISK IT. Just have another piece cut. You and I will both sleep better at night!

The post Anthropologie Acid Mirror appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

I hope that everybody had a chance to go and check out the Crafting With The Stars entries this round. They were in a word INSANE! Every.single.one of them. This was my entry:

This is a little desk area in my 7 year old daughters room. I found the desk at the DI for $5.00. I peed a little when they told me that’s how much it was……cause I was so excited!

It needed a TON of work though.

There were HUGE gouges in the top and the veneer was peeling off of the drawers. But I thought she was Beautiful!!

Kind of sick right?

I started by peeling off the veneer on the places where is was chipping (the arch at the bottom of the drawers and the middle drawer)  Then I used drywall putty and covered the entire spot. Once that was dry I lightly sanded the entire desk down.

And then I sanded the top more heavily with an electric sander to remove some of the scratches. (don’t forget to leave some character ladies!)

Once all of the sanding was finished I wiped it down with a wet rag and primed it with Kilz Spray Primer. (It took 1 and 1/4 cans)  Then I went to bed. (which is why there are no pics)

The color I used is my favorite red ever. Its Krylon Banner Red. It has more of a orange undertone than pink. The best advice that I can give regarding spray paint is make sure (especially on the first coat) that its light. There is no way that you should even attempt to cover everything in one or 2 coats,  you will just get a drippy mess.

Next comes the LOVE of my life (besides my hubs) Ralph Lauren Faux Glaze in Black Silk. You can see my glazing technique {here}and {here}

Glazing is really easy to do on heavily carved pieces,  because there are lots of nooks and crannies to stick to. A piece like this desk is a little harder because its almost 100% flat. So I am going to show you my technique to glaze a flat surface.

Get your gear! I use an old t shirt with 1/2 of it wet. My glaze and one of the $.99 crappy brushes from Home Depot.

Start by putting the glaze in whatever crack you do have.

 

It will leave glaze in your minute crevice. Here is another example:

For the drawers I spread a small amount of glaze on the whole surface (concentrating on places that had cracks and dings.)  Then I really lightly wipe it off. (picture the way the the 4th grade lunchroom workers would wipe a table off)

I loved the tarnished brass handles but the drawers needed a little updating so I moved them from the middle of the drawer to the top. Its a simple change but I think made a huge difference!

And there you go!

The post Awesome-fied Desk and Mirrors appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

Ok so technically it still is Monday so I didnt break my promise. It was just postponed by an emergency dentist visit. I am SO SO SO excited!  

Goodnight and Good Luck!

The post Giveaway Day! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.

So last night it hit me at 3:00 in the morning,  I will get busy today and tomorrow and the giveaway will be open on monday!

FYI: It may or may not be a knockoff of this $400 mirror from Anthro….just sayin.

The post I Know What To Giveaway!! appeared first on Vintage Revivals.