How to make a mirror out of a tire!

He was thrilled when his bicycle tire wore all the way through. Hours of skidding to a stop on his two-wheeler with a massive grin on his face…showing me the black mark he’d left on the sidewalk…quite proud of his accomplishment as he pointed to the length of the skid…how it twisted at different spots…how he’d managed to stay on the bike despite the danger and excitement of going full speed and then hitting the brake!

He was three…four tops.

And he had me save it.

(Right after he had me purchase a new one!)

For a number of years, I moved that tire to various places in the storage room…not knowing what possessed me to keep it…but there was something about it…the sense of excitement…the thrill on his face.

While I purged and threw things out from time to time…that worn out tire still seemed to avoid finding its way into a garbage bag.

Then a few years ago, I turned it into something useable.

The mirror, that hangs proudly in his bedroom.

And yes, that’s a whole whack of smelly stuff…various stickers, a wooden box holding treasures, a rubber frog, my painted childhood dresser and a life-sized cardboard cutout of Beyonce in the mirror’s reflection.

None of which I imagined when I saved that old worn out tire all those years ago.

How to make a tire mirror:

In case you’re feeling crafty and happen to have an old worn out tire hanging around (works perfectly with a child’s bicycle tire that has meaning to you, but I probably wouldn’t attempt it with those worn out winter tires you have piled in the garage)…here’s what I did…

1. I gathered the old tire that had been hanging around the storage room for years.
2. I brought it to my local glass and mirror shop and told them what I was doing…and how I needed a piece of mirror cut.
3. I came back in a few days later…only to discover that they put it all together for me! They used glue and black caulking where the mirror and rubber met (that I wouldn’t have known where to find anyway) and they added foam to the back to puff out the tire. On top of that, they didn’t charge me a cent because they thought it was a beautiful idea!
4. Hang in your kids room.
5. Bask in the nostalgia of it all.