Mirror, mirror on the wall, crafted with wood, I made it all!

06 Mar 2024

This is one of those magical DIY projects that looks both charming and high-end, yet is simple and, if you would believe, is made from ice block sticks! We’ve gone for a natural look, using different shades of Resene Colorwood wood stains, but you could also use your favourite Resene paint colours too. If you’d like to make a larger mirror, just use bigger lengths of wood and follow the same steps as below. Have fun DIY-ing!

You will need:

• Saw
• Thin wood, either pine or plywood
• Electric drill
• Jig saw
• Sandpaper
• Ice block sticks
• Round mirror
• Round thin MDF for backing board
• Strong adhesive
• Wood glue
• Paintbrush
• Resene Aquaclear Satin
• Resene Colorwood Natural, Resene Colorwood Matai and Resene Colorwood Teak

Step 1: Start by cutting the ice block sticks into three different lengths. Fleur’s are 10.5cm, 8cm and 5cm. Stain the sticks with your chosen Resene Colorwood wood stain colour. Fleur used Resene Colorwood tinted to Resene Natural, Resene Matai and Resene Teak. Stain each of the three different sizes in each of the three different colours.

Step 2: While the stain is drying, cut a thin piece of board, either pine or plywood, into a circle that is slightly bigger than the mirror you are using. Use an electric drill to make a hole in the middle and then use a jig saw to cut out the middle of the circle. Use some sandpaper to sand the edges round and smooth. This is the finishing collar that will go around the edge of the mirror. Note: If you’re already using a mirror with a wooden frame you can just sand this and stain it.

Step 3: Use some strong adhesive to glue the mirror to the MDF backing board. With some wood glue, start gluing on the longest ice block sticks around the outside edge of the mirror.

Step 4: Once the longest sticks are in place, glue the middle-sized sticks on top. Repeat with the smallest sized sticks.

Step 5: Stain the wood collar in your chosen Resene Colorwood stain. Fleur used Resene Colorwood Teak. Glue this on top of the mirror and finish by sealing the collar and the ice block sticks with two coats of Resene Aquaclear satin.

Wall painted in Resene Element.

project and images Fleur Thorpe

Published: 06 Mar 2024