Free 'Portal 2' Inspired Mirror

I recently played Portal 2 for the first time, and I have to say it is an amazing game. I wanted to make something portal related for my room that was relatively quick and easy, and using only stuff I had lying around.

Thus I made my Portal 2 inspired mirror.

The materials are pretty simple. I used:

• A cheap old mirror
• A very old rope light
• A dimmer switch from who-knows-when
• And some paper, tape, scissors, paperclips, and nails

Obviously it would be best to use an Oval mirror for this project. But I looked online and buying one cost more than I was willing to spend on this little project.

So, I had to turn my old rectangular mirror into an approximation of an oval. I did this by cutting some corner masks out of printer paper, taping them to the mirror, and folding the edges back. It's not the perfect Portal shape, but its as close as 'free mirror' would get me.

Next I taped the rope light to the mirror, trying to get as little tape on the mirror itself as I could get away with. The rope light was too long by about three feet, so I doubled it up, and you can hardly tell actually.

Find a good place for it and stick it on your wall. I used little inch-long nails, hammered at an angle, to hold my mirror in place.

Now turn it on. Doesn't it almost look like a portal effect? Sort of? A bit? (maybe?)

OK it's a long shot. I admit. But for $0.00 it feels pretty good.  (^_^)

The dimmer switch had a bit of a Turret-look about it, with it's white body and red eye, so I taped on three paperclip legs and fed the cord through the back one. It actually doesn't look half bad! (A bit boxy, perhaps.)

There you have it. My stab at a free Portal inspired mirror. Hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to see what someone could do with a larger budget!