Front room mirrors

Mirror one

Mirror two

As you can see, they are slightly different colors, but that's nothing that a little of this won't fix...

There is a bit of damage to the frame work on mirror two:

But fortunately, it's a paired set, so we have mirror one to make a mold and create a new piece!

With that in mind I set out to find an appropriate molding compound-- one that wouldn't stick to the frame work, and would a clean mold with a great capacity for detail.  There was only *one* option between the three stores that I visited (Home Depot, JoAnns, and Michaels) InstaMold:

I followed the directions for a "strong" mold and ended up with this:

Lumpy mess.  Can't make a mold with a lumpy mess.

Tried again with the recipe for an average mold:

Better!  made two molds, and stuck them on mirror two

But I worried!  Look how lumpy it is.  this is not what I expected at all.  I worried that the consistency of the mold would really end up showing in whatever casting I made.  

Uncastable.  It just won't work.  In the end, I concluded that InstaMold is a craft-level project, that might be just fine for making a fun craft project with your kids, but just won't do for a restoration job.  With that in mind, I turned to google and found this product.  Looks like exactly what I'm looking for!  A putty that is specifically made for restoration.  

Sorry that I don't have a good "after" this time!  I did clean and paint the frames, so you'll get to see them up on the wall, even though they will not be repaired right away