The Cricut engraving tool works on so many surfaces including these mirror engravings. Truth be told, I did these months ago and planned to use them for Mother’s Day Gifts but it is really hard to take pictures of mirrors. And the pictures just don’t do them justice. Thank you to the folks at Jennifer Makers Blogging Group for helping me figure it out.
These mirrors were purchased at JoAnn’s. Mirrors with the rubber “feet” are too tall to work. I only found the “no feet” type there. You can cut off the “feet” on the dollar store mirrors but the results vary.
What you need:
- the Maker and the engraving tool
- mirror
- painter’s tape
- Download File
Measuring and Design for the Mirror Engraving
First thing to do is measure your mirror. Then subtract an inch to half inch so that you don’t run off the sides. Design Space has some very nice circle and oval line drawing designs. Pick the one you like or use my designs.
Once you have a design you like, weld the whole design together if you used separate elements. Then change the line type to engrave. This is done in the menu where you choose cut, draw, score, etc. Once you change it to engrave the image will become an outline. Make at least 3 copies of the design. The more copies you make the deeper the design will engrave. With mirrors I have found the magic number to be 5 or 6. (My designs have 3 so run them twice by pressing the C on the machine before you unload the mirror mat)
Then select all the copies and center them on top of each other and attach them. This is very important because you want it to go over the same lines each pass.
Attaching the Mirror Engraving to the Mat
Select edit on the mat view before cutting. Line up the design to be all the way up. The machine gives a half inch edge if you have more space at the top then move the design down. For example if there is a 1 inch gap between your mirror edge and the design edge move the design down another half inch. Center the design left/right around the center of the mirror (the 3 inch mark on my mirror engraving).
Start the making process with the engraving tool inserted. Choose the aluminum material setting. By the way, occasionally the Engraving tool will stop and the tip will spin for a few seconds. I don’t know why but this is completely normal. If you are using my designs or if you want the mirror engraving deeper, press the C button on the machine before you remove the mat and it will engrave again on the exact same line.
When it is done you can remove the mirror from the mat. Now everything I read said to use the strong grip mat but I used the regular grip Paper Studio Brand mats from Hobby Lobby and it worked fine.
It is very important to center the design properly on the mat or you get results like these spatulas I did awhile ago. (my oops) I now have extra spatulas in my kitchen. No sense in wasting them. LOL
The mirror looks great with a candle sitting in the middle of it or hanging on the wall.
If you have any other questions about using the Engraving tip, email me.
