I love all sorts of mirrors. There is the enormous (sadly, recently smashed) Mafia Mirror with its smugglers cavity, which Gill kindly picked up for me from the ‘Russians’ last summer, but at the other end of the size scale I have a few damaged 99p jobbies, one of which is splayed on a towel on my living room floor awaiting further surgery this evening
Before and after bending with pliers, then applying elbow grease with rottenstone and good old WD40. It still has a patina but is no longer filthy
I tend to think of mirrors as things to look at, rather than to look into. And ironically for someone so mirror-happy I spend way less time in front of one than many people, and probably less time than I should, taking the ‘casual’ approach to clothing and make up to the extreme. This despite the fact that I have hung good mirrors either side of the front door, in an attempt to remind me to check myself before leaving. (At least C and Baz use them)
Recent examples include:
Leaving yoga class last week I looked down at the logo on my vest top, wondering if it was Adidas, Sweaty Betty, New Balance etc, and realised that it was just a blob of grey undercoat. When I pointed this out to C she just said she assumed I already knew
Recently, Baz has pointed out blobs of face cream as I get into the car to work in the morning
One morning, C turned to me in the hallway and asked me, without a trace of irony: ‘Aren’t you going to work today then?’
To be fair, the skanky chicken-flavoured flip-flops didn’t help the look
I genuinely admire people who take the trouble to look good but I fully believe that one day it will be discovered that there’s an actual gene which compels some women to match handbags and shoes to outfits and to iron their clothes. Sadly, it’s a gene I do not possess, but thanks to Baz’s side of the family, C has inherited it (in part. Not the ironing!)
Isn’t nature wonderful
I’m not hideous, but I rarely get compliments on my appearance, even when I have made a real effort. At one excruciating Boxing Day family get-together where I was wearing a nice top with good jeans, someone remarked cattily that ‘I see you’re wearing your best socks’ and everyone roared with laughter. I wasn’t wearing my best socks, of course, but Baz’s socks as always. I just hadn’t dressed to impress
So why all the mirrors for someone so unglamorous? I love the light they bring in to a room, and the way a bevel (I do LOVE a bevel) sends light and reflections shooting off. Of course I buy mirrors with a past, so damage is acceptable and foxing is actually desirable because it just adds to the mystery
And it means I don’t have to look too closely at my reflection
But I digress. Back to the patient: its dear little asymmetrical bevelled mirror has had a hard life and the silvering comes away from the back in large thick flakes, so I’ll clean it up and put acrylic mirror (90p) behind to cover the silver losses. It’s very effective
And after all, it won’t often get called into active duty!
Poshbird with Passion 
Even I love mirrors a lot !! I make sure to keep all my house mirrors as well as car side mirror and rear mirror neat and tidy. The reason behind this is that a mirror reflects you, then why should the reflection be Dirty? Keep it clean as much as you can 🙂
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What a lovely post. You had me smiling. (Needed as we lost a young male duck to a (possible) fox last night.) Speaking of, what is ‘foxing’?
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Hi, foxing is just where the silver gets discoloured and creates dark spots etc.
So sorry to hear about your duck. We recently lost all 3 local cygnets to mink, and we have had to rat-proof the chicken area as well. Predators are everywhere 😦
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So very true. Our dachshund has started imitating our cats, who catch our local mice, except he prefers to go for something slightly bigger. He has now caught 2 rats. (And yes he plays with them, throwing them around, before killing them, just like the cats. He was obviously watching closely. It’s funny and sickening at the same time.)
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I know it seems cruel, but the rats are a huge risk to the little chickens (ours are bantams and smaller)
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I’m convinced that the world would be a happier place if we could scrap all the mirrors. That said, I’ve stared into old mirrors and wondered whether a fraction of a distant ancestor could be captured within.
1000x mag…I’d crack it or it would crack me, either way we couldn’t possibly live together!
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You mean as though the mirror gathers a part of the soul looking into it? I love that idea. But just think how much it could harvest at 1000x mag!!
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Ha, ha! There would be nothing left but a hole in the floor.
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The opposite of the Lady of Shalot, perhaps?
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Mirrors are great for bouncing light around and looking cool- but I also don’t actually like looking into them. Unless it’s by candlelight.
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Love mirrors; large , small, foxed, wavy, bevelled, venetian,framed, unframed
Would rather buy mirrors than handbags ANY day
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One of husband’s young relatives has a mirror on every wall in every room, and she stops to examine herself often. I’ve never seen her pass one without stopping to look. She is not blazingly ambitious, except about her looks.
At my Pilates class tonight, the instructor revealed she has a 1000x magnifying mirror with a light. We all counseled her to get rid of it–too much information. Nobody needs to see that much detail!
The nice thing about mirrors above fireplaces is they don’t show much of the people in the room. They mostly bounce around light and are pretty with their gilded decorations.
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1000x magnification? I struggle with real-life-size!
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Can you imagine? She said her sister looked in it and screamed.
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