This small hand mirror was made by polishing bronze to a high finish and making a wooden casing for it. The client asked for the decoration to be something whimsical and medieval looking, but otherwise gave me free reign to do decorate it however I wanted. I took inspiration from a corbel carving that I’d seen in a Cathedral in England. After carving, I used darkened beeswax to make the details stand out.
The wood was from a fallen tree (birch?) I’d found in the woods. I split it with an axe, let the wood cure for many months, then hand planed it flat before finally carving it. No power tools ever touched it, which wasn’t specifically required of me, but the client particularly appreciated the focus on handwork with historical methods.
Historical Handcrafts 