How should I fix a large mirror ball with many cracked mirrors?

Question

I've acquired a large (roughly 3 ft diameter) vintage mirror ball, which I'm super excited about. However, a number of the mirrors are cracked (maybe ~50-100 in total), which I wouldn't mind except for the small shards of glass that are coming off the ball.

How would folks recommend fixing such a large number of cracked mirrors?

Wikihow recommends using a resin to fix a cracked mirror, but the technique they describe seems super labor intensive to do across tens of mirrors. Is there another way of applying the resin that would be faster to do?

Alternately, I was thinking of just using scotch tape which might diminish the shine of the individual mirror but would stop glass shards from coming off.

Photo of the ball next to a chair for scale

Picture of a couple cracked mirrors

Answer 1

See if you can find some adhesive vinyl with a mirrored surface. I had some a few years ago and it was every bit as reflective as the individual squares of a mirror ball. The material is meant for use in a cricut or silhouette brand vinyl cutter and is probably sold at your local art supply store.

Cut the vinyl into squares the size of cracked mirror squares then peel off its wax paper backing and stick it over the cracked squares.

Answer 2

You might be able to fix the shards in place with a clear glass glue. Please don't try superglue because it dries matte and could leave a cloudy residue on the mirrors. Use special clear glass glue instead.

Another idea is crystal clear UV resin that is commonly used in crafting and for nail art. You can carefully put it on the cracked mirrors and then let the sun cure the resin. Please try this method on one mirror (or a piece of glass that's not part of the ball) to see if the resin cures clear. Be aware that resins have the tendency to yellow in sun light, so the color of the fixed mirrors might change in time.