Lake Superior Rock Mirror

Several years ago when I was in between second and third grades we met my family at the lake house in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  While on that trip we decided to go to the log slide at Lake Superior and my grandfather told us of these amazingly smooth rocks that we could collect.  So my grandparents sent us down the extremely steep log slide with our plastic grocery bags to collect rocks and the agreement they would  meet us "right around that corner."  Well my mom, her two sisters, my two cousins, my very young brother and myself reached that corner and realized that the stretch of beach kept going.  And going.  And going.  For six miles.  Keep in mind that we kids were collecting rocks in plastic bags- so you can imagine how well those bags held up.  Hours later we finally met my grandparents with each of our approximately 13 pounds of rocks that the adults were carrying in their shirts.

Needless to say, we have been talking about this trip for years.  This year we went back to that same stretch of beach and to the log slide. I saw these amazing rocks that I just saw as the perfect rocks for some kind of craft.  Initially I thought that I would make a side table, but changed my mind and decided that since mirrors will be essential to making our small apartment appear larger, a mirror would be a better use of the rocks.

I have to say that I am very happy with the results.  It definitely doesn't look professional, but for having done something like this for the first time, I can't complain.  The best part about it is that every time I look at it I will be flooded with all kinds of memories.

To make this mirror I found a mirror at Goodwill for $3.99 with a simple while frame.  Then I bought styrofoam poster board that I created a two inch frame to cover the wooden frame with.  I then cut (and by I cut, I really mean that Munchkie's Daddy cut) strips to frame the outside and inside with.  Then filled the "trough" with plaster of paris and dropped the rocks in.  I had laid out the rocks ahead of time, flipped them over onto a piece of cardboard to put back in the same spot.  But that didn't work at all.  I ended up just putting them in however I could get them to fit.  At the end, I painted all of the visible styrofoam board an ash gray color.  It's still slightly undone, but I was just so proud of it that I had to share.