DIY chrysanthemum mirror from plastic spoons
A leftover Halloween chip box.
Two bags of plastic spoons.
Hot glue.
Spraypaint.
Although the fabric store, the craft store, and the home improvement store are easily my three favourite shops in the world, it’s nice to do a project that doesn’t require dropping a lot of cash — especially during holiday shopping season!
The Pinterest world has been positively aquiver about making chrysanthemum mirrors from nothing more than plastic spoons and cardboard, so I had to give it a try.
The whole project cost me a grand total of $2 for a square mirror from Dollarama, and I was able to complete it while watching a few episodes of The Mindy Project, so it was a win-win.
Here’s how it all went down …
I never seem to have large pieces of cardboard on hand for projects (Note to self: find and hoard refrigerator boxes) so I taped together pieces of a Halloween potato chip box in order to make a big square. Then I traced a laundry basket in order to get a large circle, and traced a small bowl to make a cut-out for the mirror to show through.
The next stage was the most tedious. I ripped open two 100-count bags of plastic spoons, and started cutting the handles off with a pair of sharp scissors. These were spoons I’d dug out of my party-supplies box, and they were REALLY thick and sturdy — which made cutting them a pain. If you’re buying new spoons for this project, do your hands a favour and buy lightweight, flimsy spoons. I had to cut about 175 spoons in total. Ouch!
Once I had a stack of “petals” (spoons without handles) I started hot-gluing them around the edge of the large circle. Some of the cuts weren’t very tidy, but it didn’t matter because I knew they’d be covered up by other spoons.
I did four full rows of petals, all the way around the large circle, until I’d reached the small inner circle. Then I had to stop and think for a minute. Because the spoon cuts were so jagged, my poor cutting skills would be obvious — hanging over the edge of the mirror. So I cut 19 petals very, very carefully and took the time to round them as much as possible with my scissors. Then I sneakily glued them with the perfect side pointing in towards the mirror — the end of the spoon you’d use to slurp up chocolate pudding. This helped to disguise the rough cuts.
After the last spoon was glued into place, I gave the whole thing two light coats of green spray-paint (“Ivy Leaf” by Krylon) that was leftover from this one time I painted a ceramic owl.
When the paint was dry, I used pieces of duct tape to attach the $2 square mirror to the back. Then I added my favourite sticky picture-hanging strips to secure the mirror to the wall. The cardboard and spoons are very light, so I’m figuring (hoping?) that the strips will be strong enough to support the mirror up. The rainbow duct tape might also give it magical sticking powers.
Our new chrysanthemum mirror is hanging in our dining room, and I admit I’m pretty impressed with how it turned out. It’s not perfect, but it certainly looks more like something you’d buy in a home decor shop than just a hodge-podge of plastic spoons and cardboard … as long as no one examines it up close!
(Seriously, it turned out really awesome. Let’s hear it for projects made from crap you already have in the house!)
One Comment on “DIY chrysanthemum mirror from plastic spoons”
So what do you think?
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Heather's Handmade Life 
I missed this in print — looks so neat!
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