As soon as we saw Mc&Co’s irregularly shaped mirrors we thought WANT. We’ve been thinking for some time that our very angular Laboratory could use some organic forms to soften it, and have been mulling how we might do that with mirrors. Mc&Co’s mirrors look like portals into other rooms. Swell!
Although we’ve written about irregularly shaped mirrors in the past, we never looked into a) if we could cut one ourselves or b) how much it would cost to have a pro do it. Mc&Co’s hefty price tag — $900 for 24-inch, and $1200 for 36-inch — made us figure it out.
First we read the description on Mc&Co’s website so we’d understand the various aspects of their mirrors and questions to ask:
…the mirrors take their inspiration from natural and organic forms like rain puddles, river rocks and cumulus clouds.
In order to achieve the irregular non linear contour, each mc&co mirror is drawn, cut & finished by hand, through this process each mirror becomes a unique object.
the mc&co dayglow frame casts a slight reflective halo and animates the mirror from the side which adds another dimension to the mirror in addition to the reflective surface.
...the hanging brackets on the rear allow the dayglo frame mirrors to be installed on the wall in two different positions.
All seemed do-able except possibly the wonderful-but-not-essential, day-glo frame. We figured THAT’S most likely why they cost so much.
We watched a few YouTube videos about how to cut fairly large, oddly-shaped mirrors and glass and figured we could but probably didn’t want to mess with it.
We looked up a local mirror place and called to ask our questions: Could they do it? What is the process? How much would it cost?
Here’s what we found out:
Yes, they could do it. They would cut 3/16-inch mirror and polish the edges. If we want, they can afix a piece of plywood on the back to attach mirror hangers.
We just needed to bring them a cardboard template of what we wanted.
Cost: $110 for 24-inch; $140 for 36-inch.
As for the day-glo frame “3/4 inch thick, recessed 1/4 inch behind edge of mirror surface”, we’d try out some things once we had our mirror (knowing that the frame is not essential). We’re wondering about somehow applying wood 3/4-inch edge-tape painted a day-glo color by attaching it to a 3/4-inch plywood backing cut slightly smaller than the shape of the mirror… or simply applying day-glo tape all around the mirror’s edge.
We now know for sure that irregular and asymmetrical mirrors are totally do-able and not that expensive. There are lots of possible shapes, to use singly or in combination…
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…we might even try a version of Carlo Mollin0’s wonderful illusory nude…
AND you can always buy Mc&Co’s mirrors ready-made.
