DIY Stained Glass Mirror-Photo Frame

Your walls are covered, your table has no space left. You want one more photo frame, but you also need a mirror. At times you have no photos, and the frame is of no use. But if it is a mirror you can always take a look at yourself. So mirror it is.

What if it is a mirror and a frame? You needn't make a compromise between the two for lack of wall or desk space.

I made such a frame for my vacation project. Sometimes it serves as a frame and at other times as a mirror.

Step 1: Materials

1. A diamond tipped glass cutter
2. Two pairs of pliers
3. Magic Markers – preferably white and black
4. A grinder
5. Copper tape
6. Flux
7. A soldering machine
8. Patina
9. A mirror
10. Stained glass

Step 2: Draw Your Design

The first stage of making a stained glass frame-mirror is creating a design on paper.

Parts to design:

1. Frame with mirror in the centre
2. Transparent shield (glass) to protect the photograph
3. Two holders that will keep the shield from falling

When this is done you will have to transform what you have drawn into what looks like a collage of shapes. Remember that each shape will be cut out of glass, therefore cannot be too curvy because such forms tend to break during the cutting. And the joints will create their outlines. Number each of them, and then make a photocopy of your final drawing.

Step 3: Cutting the Glass

You will have to select the sheets of stained glass you intend to use for your composition and keep them aside. Then take the photocopy of your drawing and cut out each of the forms you numbered earlier. Place each form against their respective sheet of stained glass and using the Magic Marker – black against light colours and white against dark colours – mark them out and number them exactly as you did before. Press the tip of you glass cutter on the stained glass and follow the outlines you made with the marker. Grip the glass on either side of the cut you made and tug, and you will see the glass break neatly along it. When all you pieces are cut, pass the edges over the grinder to smoothen them.

Step 4: Putting It All Together

Clean their edges of your glass pieces of any dust or dirt with flux and then wrap the copper tape neatly all along the edges of each of them. Then place them out according to their numbers and your drawing. When you have arranged all the pieces, solder together their copper coated edges neatly. Take some copper wires, twist them tightly together and create supports to prop up the holders against frame (shown in picture), and a support to keep the shield from slipping off at the base of the mirror (also shown in picture). Cut away the extra wire, and solder the support onto the copper coated edge. Coat with solder all the places where copper is left exposed including at the back. Apply a patina solution, with a paintbrush on the solder. This will oxidise the metal and give it a permanent blackish tinge. Finally wipe the glass clean of the solution and your mirror-frame is ready for use!

This is my 1st instructable, hope it's helpful....

Good luck making it! :)