When TheMisterT’s first two published novels came out in trade paperback in the non-US English markets, I had one copy of each made into hardbound copies by a local archivist/book artist. I kept the covers, of course and we had planned on having them framed. Cut to mumblemumble years later and they still lay waiting in a folder. TheMisterT has a birthday soon, so this seemed a perfect time to get to it!
Over the last few months I have been searching the thrifts & antique malls for a suitable frame which I assumed I would cut a regular mat for displaying them together. During this time I also started sorting and purging and organizing our shop building and rediscoverd a mirror we’d taken out of one of the bathrooms shortly after we moved in here nearly 10 years ago. The local used building material places here won’t take unframed mirrors for obvious reasons, so my brain started wondering about what all I could do with it.
I decided to try distressing it as a background for the covers. I used this tutorial, made some mistakes, decided to proceed, put it all together, and am satisfied that it worked out well for this purpose.
Yet again I was faced with the difficultly of photographing a mirror! Always having to shoot at an angle to stay out of the shot and trying to get the reflection of plain things. Sigh. The shot directly above reflects a dark grey ceiling. The one a few pics up reflects a cream colored ceiling and the one below the forested yard.
I did take the mirror to a glazier for cutting and kept the scraps, so I hope to play around a bit more with distressing ideas in the future.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
I used the glass that came with the frame over the whole thing.
This was a professionally framed piece of calligraphy art originally, so very sturdy and with all the hardware to keep it so.
The backs of the book covers are covered in black paper to keep the reflection minimal.
The covers are mounted to the mirror with black foam squares for dimension and also minimal reflection.