Child's Silhouette Frosted Mirrors

I love the vintage look of a silhouette.  I collaborated with my crafty friend Sonya Nimri of Sonyastyle.com on how we could make modern silhouettes of our children. Here is what we came up with!  Love them!  And, quite easy to make. 

You need:
A digital photograph of your child's silhouette
printer 
craft mirrors - I used 8"
shelving paper
glue stick
sharp little scissors
a can of frosted glass spray paint
ribbon
glue gun
rhinestone "bling tape" or scrapbooking embellishments - optional

Begin by getting a silhouette photograph of your child.  The best way to do this is to sit them down on a chair against a blank wall.  Take photo's of your child looking slightly up, straight and slightly down.  You can decide which is best when you look at them on the computer.

Once decided, play with the contrast and definition controls if your photo program allows.  Try to obtain a nice crisp outline of the silhouette.    If taken inside, it helps to brighten the exposure up a bit.  Crop the photo so it's just your child's head and top part of his/her torso.  Print a Black and White 4x6 print onto plain printing paper.  This should give you the right size for an 8" mirror. 

Glue your photo onto shelving paper with a glue stick, or even better, spray glue.  Carefully cut out your child's silhouette.  I did this two ways so I got one mirror as a negative and one as a positive.  If you are going for the negative effect, meaning you want the silhouette frosted, make sure your shelving paper covers the entire mirror, and carefully cut a single slit at the bottom of the shelving paper.  once placed on the mirror, you can use an extra piece of shelving paper to block this cut off, so no spray gets in. 

When you are ready to place the silhouette positive or negative on your mirror, make sure the mirror is squeaky clean and dry.  Un-stick the backing from the shelving paper and stick down firmly, rubbing out any bubbles and securing all edges with a paper towel.  I don't suggest you use your fingers for this.  You want to keep your mirror very clean.

In a well ventilated area (the stuff stinks!) spray the mirror with your frosted glass paint.  Follow the directions on the can, as many brands vary in direction.  Once dry to touch, again on the can's guidelines, carefully remove shelving paper from mirror and reveal your child's silhouette! Carefully!  You don't want to nick the paint when removing.  Do this once the paint is dry to the touch.  If you wait until it drys completely, the shelving paper could pull of extra paint when removed.  If the paint has leaked in places, you can carefully scratch the leak off with a razor blade.



My octagon shaped mirror had a bevel on it, which I blocked off with extra shelving paper before I sprayed.  Then, once the mirror dried overnight, I used "bling tape" (it was actually called this) to fancy up the edges.  I then hot glued a ribbon on the back of my mirror as a hanger, and covered it with a piece of felt so it stayed nice and secure.  One of my mirrors came with drilled holes in the front for hanging, so I didn't have to do this to that one.

TIP:  Careful when cleaning!!!  If you smudged your mirror in the process, don't go spraying it with Windex once you think the paint is dry. I actually did this and had to re-due one of my mirrors completely.  The image speared badly.  My paint can recommendation was to wait 1 hour before cleaning, but NOT the case!  Next time I'm gust going to dust it lightly with a cotton towel, no Windex.