Repairing with plaster moulding

When I bought a damaged gilt mirror I thought repairing it would be a snap.  All it needed was a little cording and some paint and I could make it look good as new.   Au contraire.  The cording soaked up the glue and began to disintegrate.  I tried again with different cording material but the same thing happened.

Faced with a damaged mirror that I couldn't sell and didn't need at home I was about to place it on the curb when I remembered a blurb in a magazine many years ago about making a plaster mold to repair a French gilt bench.

A search of the internet showed me several possibilities.  Combining what I'd read from a number of sources I set out to give it a try.  After all, I had nothing to lose at this point.  A trip to Michael's had me standing in front of the clay aisle reading and re-reading every package.  I decided to use the kind you baked, although I had no plans to bake it.  I bought Dap plaster of paris from Home Depot.  A huge container. The only size they had in my local HD.  Enough to last me several years, I'm sure.

I worked some of the clay in my hands to soften it, brushed a little baby powder on the frame, and pushed the clay onto the frame just above the repair site so I had a replica of the rope trim as well as the depth of the space.  When I removed it I had a perfect indentation for the mold.

I mixed a small amount of plaster following the directions on the container.  I brushed a little more baby powder into the mold and filled it with plaster. When it hardened I gently peeled the clay away.

Fitting the plaster piece to the hole in the frame I trimmed it down using nail scissors, cuticle clippers, nail file and emery board to the size and pattern I needed.  I glued it in place with E6000 glue.  After it dried I painted  the new piece to match the frame with Liquid Gold and both brown and black acrylic craft paint for aging.

I made a few improvements after these pics were taken, filling in the spaces where the new trim and the old trim joined, cleaned around the site and touched up the painting.  I didn't take a before and after.  Sharing this on a blog was the farthest thing from my mind.

I admit, though, I was pretty proud of myself.  I not only repaired the mirror but, most importantly, realized how much I enjoyed doing it.  I've always said I had the patience of Job.  Nice to know I was right.