THE CAVENDER DIARY

Hardly a unique idea here, folks……far from it.

But I searched high and low on the internets and can’t find a single decent image of one.

Guess it’s up to us to solve that.

What better way to frame a mirror than with scrabble tiles? They sell the tiles solo, just for projects and I can only assume; scrap booking.

We found them on Amazon, pretty reasonable too, 10 bucks for 100 (10 cents each if you’re doing the math). It’s cheaper than buying the game just for the tiles…….unless you find the complete box at thrift stores or garage sales.

Jamie had this old mirror in his apartment, and it had a nice bevel to the glass. So this is our candidate – without the frame (Don’t y’all just love that it’s so filthy that it barely reflects anything?)

Sure, the frame is a little scratched, but every one of you knows damn well that I would just paint that sucker black anyway.

I Lay out my Scrabble pieces across the top and side of the mirror to gage the size of frame I need to cut.

Extending 3 tiles on all 4 sides makes my frame 20 7/8″ X 24 7/8″ with a 16 1/2″ X 20 1/2″ opening.

We started with a sheet of plywood from our “wood scrap pile” in the garage. Pretty sure this was left over from the banquette.

I used the table saw to cut it to 20 7/8 X 24 7/8″.

To cut out the inside of the frame, I measure out 2 3/8″ from the top and bottom, and 2 1/4″ from both sides.

I use a drill with a paddle bit to create holes in all for corners. That way I can stick the jig-saw blade into the center and cut it out……

Like so.

Far from perfectly straight lines……..but I’m pretty sure the scrabble tiles will hide all the imperfections.

Another way to hide those imperfections is the trim.

I found flat lattice by the foot, it’s about 1 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick, and used it to trim the outside of the frame. I nailed it on with brads using a Scrabble tile to judge the depth of my sides.

Now that I have the outside edge set, I can start glueing the tiles down………with Elmer’s Wood Glue Max.

After all my tiles are set, and dry – only takes a few hours – I glue and clamp the same lattice trim on the inside of the frame also.

A little natural wood filler hides any brad holes, or slight imperfections.

And believe you me, there were quite a few slight imperfections. (At this point, I began to remind myself that this was folk-art and they just added to the charm of the piece)

Looks pretty good so far.

I tried to add some words that meant something to us; favorite colors, foods, even the name of my old dog……..and Jamie’s horse.

You know. Words that will make us smile. (Don’t y’all worry, Harley is in there too)

Because I don’t want an overly glossy frame, I spray it with a Deft Clear Wood Finish in satin.

I glued my mirror onto the back with liquid nails, let it dry, and…….

Far from perfect..

But still charming for days.

Am I right?

I usually am about these things.