Time for Reflection : Mirrors

Here's an "intriguing"-and according to me-"debatable" quote. :-) Anyway, I thought of putting it out here to kick off this post on mirrors!

"Men look at themselves in mirrors. Women look for themselves" - Elissa Melamed

Above: This oversize Entablature mirror from Restoration Hardware is what inspired us to do this post. (Image Courtesy: Restoration Hardware)

Some History: Mirrors come in all sizes and shapes and have been a fascination for mankind in some form or fashion as early as 6000 B.C. Early mirrors were made of polished metal or stone. The history of the modern glass mirror coated with mercury, as we know it today can be tracked to more recent times- around the 16th-18th centuries. You can read an exhaustive history on it on Wikipedia. (So we wont deep dive into it here). As many of you, we too have been curious and thrilled by mirrors and more so the work around the mirrors, and materials, and shapes, and sizes which have become equally important (if not more)- than rather just the reflective surface alone!

Materials: Wood is the most common material used in mirror frames, and metal comes in second. In recent times though, composite, driftwood, shells and pretty much anything you can wrap around a shiny surface has been used to frame mirrors.

Our Collection:
Below are some of the mirrors we have acquired in our personal collection over a period of time. And finally we thought we had enough pieces to start a post atleast. ;-) So here goes..

Below: This hand painted Chinese mirror is one of our favorites. It features delicate floral patterns and butterflies in a muted palette, set in a frame that's carved in a stepped manner. This one was quite a challenge mounting as it was close to a 100lbs. (More tips on hanging heavy mirrors below)

Below: It's important to envision the big picture, and to do careful consideration of positioning before committing to mounting large mirrors on walls, because it's not easy to undo, and move around like you can with smaller ones. The night-shot below doesn't do much justice to the details, but you can see how this mirror fits in overall.

Below: This is a much smaller mirror (about 1.5 ft apart at the longest ends of the oval). The mirror features plaster detail on the wood-work. Many mirrors (as well as frames) in the 1800-1900's featured plaster work molding on a wooden base, such as this one. I found this tucked away in an antique shop in Niles district. (We probably will do a separate post on Niles one of these days)

Below: This one's a French Ormolu mirror (metal), awaiting restoration. (est-1800's). This one probably held a beveled mirror which was missing by the time we got it. It's one of our projects awaiting restoration, and we are planning to have the rear-side upholstered, and use as a vanity mirror. So now we've already covered 3 totally different materials in mirror making (wood, plaster, and metal..and they all look beautiful in their own way!)


Mirrors & Space: Mirrors are a great tools for doubling or multiplying space. Though used in such grandeur such as the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, where these is no dearth of space, many of today's decor applications of mirrors come from the need to create an illusion of "increased space", and works very effectively in hallways, nooks, small rooms,basements and anywhere you really need to visually open up the space but cannot physically do it.

Some points to consider when installing a mirror:

Eyeballing the location: Though its a good idea to measure out the exact location for positioning a mirror on a wall, it's a science as well as art in getting it to the most aesthetically pleasing location. There ARE certain sweet-spots and for lighter mirrors, its a good idea to have some one hold it for you, so you can step back and take a look at the "big picture" before you start drilling. (Note: This may be difficult/not feasible for larger mirrors). Interestingly, the mathematical center of a wall is often NOT the ideal position, rather it maybe a little more to the left, or right, or up or down. It depends on where the "visual focus" of the room lies (which very often is different from the 'measured center'), and this depends on the other elements in the room- including furniture, windows, shape and size of wall, etc. For example, in one of our projects, we centered the mirror against the dining table not at the mathematical center of the wall (which was about 2 feet off). See below.

Use your Illusion*: What does the mirror reflect in its intended position? This is an interesting point, and one we often tend to omit (till the mirror actually goes up on the wall). The spot may be perfect, but remember the mirror may reflect something that is totally out of place with the setting (like the back of your television with all the wires, etc., for an example). So before you start 'digging for oil', make sure the reflection matches the overall picture you are trying to build. Otherwise it will really end up as a failed exercise.

Weight: Will the drywall hold it? Some mirrors like the hand-painted one we have featured here are over 100lbs and can be quite a challenge to install correctly (and safely). Use plastic or metal anchors. (You will find some very valuable tips here). Note that screws in the U.S. have weight ratings- 100lbs, 150lbs, 200lbs, etc. (It's safer to use ones that comfortably exceed the weight of the mirror.)
If you have a brick wall, be sure to use strong and deep nails that go beyond the plaster so that it will not crack and come off with time.

Tools: Tools that we have found very useful in mounting mirrors include a Stud finder to detect the strong points in a wall, Laser level to ensure level lines with other pictures, or reference points, Drill kit (very useful), Measuring Tape, Anchors/Molly.


Above: This one was featured on our post on our Dining room Salon wall. It's no antique but probably a commercial reproduction of an antique (though we really cant tell the difference when it sits on the wall). We love it for its fine lines, proportion and unique shape.

Below: This one came of a estate sale from a couple who had been collecting for over 60 years. It remains one of our favorite pieces.



A Special Note: Aranmula Kannadi (Mirror)
We wanted to include this as a tribute to the State we come from. The Aranmula Kannadi (Mirror) is made of metal that is polished to a high sheen. This process of metal mirror-making tradition survives ( from the 14th century ) at the small village of Aranmula, in the State of Kerala, in India. A unique composition is the most critical factor in giving it the ability to be polised to a mirror-like sheen (cast high-tin bronze mirror, 33% tin with highly polished surface.)
The British Museum in London has a 45 centimeter tall Aranmula metal mirror in its collection.

Below: The Aranmula Mirror featured below in conch shape design belongs to one of our friends.


Mirrors & Superstition: Probably one of the oldest superstitions worldwide-is still alive among millions of people today-the superstition that breaking a mirror brings 7 years of bad-luck. This one has been in vogue since the Roman days, when a mirror was believed to be a reflection of ones soul, and breaking it would have a connected impact. Our take on it? Well there's already enough bad stuff happening worldwide to people nowadays even without breaking mirrors. So don't worry about it. However, its probably better to handle these with care- more for your family's safety reasons especially with children around. :-)

Note: "Use your illusion" is a copyright of Guns'n'Roses

A Restoration Affair

A corner of our sitting room , with the latest addition- A restored antique steamer-trunk.

When we first saw this trunk, we didn’t want to touch it with a 10-foot pole. You’ll see what I mean when you scroll down. But I’ve been fascinated by my mothers old bridal trunk (which still awaits restoration), that I wanted to give this one a try for a pure "skills-test" purpose, before I ventured to take on larger projects.
After all-there’s still the option of putting it back on the kerb-side- in case things didn’t go as expected. :-P

After our usual modus operandi for tracking roots- which I must say has become a standardized process for us now (no ISO: 9001 yet, I confess), the process was something like this:
1. Trace by Baggage labels /Railroad labels,
2. Trace by Lock Manufacturer,
3. Trace by Trunk Manufacturer,
4. Merge all Traces, and you can pretty much narrow down a period with reasonbly good accuracy.

We will merge history and cleaning lessions as we go down the path of restoration.

Below: As-is condition. Pretty gruesome (and smell of old leather- not the good one, the bad one I mean).
Cleaning 101. Use of harsh chemical will damage the leather (that the old owner definitely cared for! as we can see). Anyway, under "new ownership", we must try and do as best as we can, shouldnt we? So back to basics- lightly moistened papertowels, and good old fashioned rubbing the grime off...for a few hours.
OK- onto History..
Trace by Baggage labels /Railroad labels- This is an interesting part- where have thou been? I know some trunks have fabled journey’s proof including travel labels from Shipping companies such as Cunard/White Star Lines (yep-The Titanic’s famed owner). Anyway, many of our trunk's labels are fully dilapidated, and in other places there are only marks that remain where labels have been. However, a few labels (newer ones) remain somewhat intact indicating last journeys around 1918-1928 - with the American Express Railroad Company (AREC) labels. AREC changed its name after 1929- so this trunk was on board, raibound, a few times before that year. (Labels show New York, Idaho, and Oakland, CA)

The details, I learnt, are very important in determining the age of trunks.
So now you know.
Above: One of the AREC labels, in still fairly readable form (i.e. The "printed" details. The handwritten details are long gone!)
Above: Another label. Possibly the last stop, since it's in California! Ship COLLECT! Uh Oh. Which in shipping terms means that the Receiver bears ALL freight charges, and will pay upon receiving/collecting the item. (So I dont think very valuable freight like perfume, and linens and spices would have arrived, atleast on that last consignment :-) )
Above: I really cant read this label, and I'm kinda cross-eyed by the time I got here. It does look intriguing though, and if anyone has any guesses, feel free to comment! (The letters AR are visible, and I think the next letter is G. Below are the smaller font words "Count on/off..whatever") Doesnt make much sense to me. Also is the small print "New York" on the below right corner.

OK, now... Trace by Lock Manufacturer-
Before 1830's steamer trunks were mostly handmade, but after around 1836 the trunk locks started to be machine made. Eventually steamer trunk manufacturing boomed in the US during 1860-1900. By then, many makers of trunks outsourced the lock part to expert lock manufacturers like Yale, Excelsior and Hartmann to name a few.

Yale lock Company was established in 1868 in Stamford, CT, by Linus Yale Sr., and Henry Towne. Yale Sr (inventor of the tumbler lock) died a few months after the company was formed, never knowing how world famous his locks would eventually be. And partner Henry Towne was probably gentleman enough not to drop his deceased partner's name, and the company was renamed Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co. in 1883. The reason I'm going to such depths is because ours bears the stamp of "Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co.". So we now know that the trunk was manufactured after 1883- possibly very close to that period, and the last 'recorded' travels were around 1918-1929 (from the Railroad labels above as we saw).

Unfortunately our trunk came with no key. I discovered a site called Antiquekeys, which will get you pretty much any key you may be looking for in your restoration. After photo-magnification (thanks to all the digital camera improvements in recent years), I could read through the rust, and see that our lock# was Yale-Y54.

**
Now back to "Cleaning", to give a break from our History lessons.
The fine art of rubbing with oil: This one was simply based on a whim. We initially tried cleaning it with the leather cleaner that I use for my car's inside. Not only was it a waste of cleaner- but it was more like a drop in the ocean on the century-plus old parched leather. A lightbulb moment brought us to try out with oil. (we used olive oil, but I'm sure you could do with others as well)- half a bowl should do the trick. At "First rub", the leather "drank" the oil, and we could see it dry up within a minute. Poor guy mustve been thirsty since the 1880's.


But the patience paid off. Subsequent rubs retained the oil, now that the leather was beginning to soak in it.
Above: Aha...now we're getting somewhere. See the colour change, and the deep black beginning to show! I must say that I didnt have much hope on this after the initial rounds, that it would ever get back in this shape.

Below: The latch locks, tee up and fit perfectly, like it's just rolled off the assembly line. Pretty amazing build quality.

Trace by Trunk Manufacturer- Trace the maker of the Trunk, or the retailer, or both, and find out the company history and period of existence.
The Manufacturer in our case: Standswell Trunks. Fortunately, most part of the label remains. I could find almost no record on Standswell trunks as an independant manufaturer, though I did find links to Perkiomen Trunk & Bag Co. in Philadephia, PA. Later labels show the Standswell Diamond logo merged with the Perkiomen Logo. (It's reasonable to assume that Perkiomen might have aquired Standwell Trunks). You can find some pretty good history of Old Trunk labels on OldTrunks.com
After extensive searches, I still couldnt find even a single trunk with ONLY the "Standswell" emblem- like ours. (I found 1-2 with Standswell-Perkiomen merged emblem though). So in its own charming way, this piece we have could be a rare part of the Great American Trunk history after all! :-)


Final Touches: Cedar blocks on the inside to absorb any odor, and keep it clean for the years to come. We must say that were were absolutely thrilled at the end state, and also amazed at how sturdily they built trunks in the olden times. In spite of all the abuse it has gone through, the structure is rock-solid, and who knows-perhaps built to take a few more centuries on!
Below: And so it has come to rest - for now. A conversation peice in our quiet chat corner. Thanks for stopping by, and look forward to your comments!