Maybe try a few cabinet makers or furniture makers and see if they are interested in the work.

Our mirror frame (as well as the vanity and cabinet) were custom made by a cabinet maker. The painter stained them.
A glass man then took measurements to cut the glass to fit.
Monica

Yeah, you need to find a local cabinetmaker I think. My DH is making ours, but we are using Ikea mirrors, which are so inexpensive because they are quite thin glass, and therefore light, even at large sizes (ours is 39" H x 47" W)

I would be surprised if you couldn't find someone to make you a custom one for not much more than the craft stores, and it will probably be a lot better quality. (In addition to having been made locally rather than in China, which in my book is always a plus...) Make sure the guy knows its for a mirror, tell him how heavy, etc.

You'll probably do better price wise with a small independent guy (try Angies List or Craigslist) but make sure you see a good portfolio and call references, to see if he has experience doing the level of finish quality you need.

Look for a framing place that artists use. They can frame mirrors and the price will be less than Michael's.

I used a custom framing shop. I used a silver-leaf frame for the bathroom with brushed nickel faucets and a bronze frame for the bathroom with oil-rubbed bronze faucets. The framing place obtained the mirrors for me. They also offered bevelled mirrors, which I declined because of the increased cost. They had lots of wood frames, too, but I found it challenging to match the wood stain of the cabinetry. They never mentioned anything about excessive weight.

I think you are talking about much bigger mirrors than what we purchased but we used a frame shop too. Ours are
32 X 26. The price was about $275. Here is a pic:

{{gwi:1393707}}

We also shared your mirror problem.

We eventually used a custom framing service. They told us the mirror they used was not as thick as a glass/mirror store.

Our largest mirror is 60"w X 36"d, two inch thick wood frame with waterproof finish. It was installed with Z bar.

We have had a year and no problems.

emilynewhome - how did you find the custom framing service? that is exactly what we want. was it an art store or something?

I went to a local 'Frame Shop', where they frame prints, paintings etc.
The lady who owned and worked there was very helpful, she even came out to the house and helped hang the mirrors.
There are just so many choices and selections for framing your mirrors.
If you've had prints framed you know the price depends on the frame style, width etc. We spent just over $1,000 for 3 framed mirrors.
Good luck!

Thanks! We are going to give this a try so I'll let you know how it goes.

If you want to "hang" the mirror by the frame, then a weak frame could be a liability.

I've built many custom mirrors over the years, probably 3 or 4 for each house I've built.

You can have them built from scratch for a few hundred dollars.

You can sometimes take a store-bought frame that might be a little flimsy and back it with a piece of 1/4" luan and staple the luan to the frame. That'll stiffen the frame and joints. This does depend on the width of the frame though, it might not work with narrow frames. You can paint the edges of the luan black to minimize them showing from the side.

The easiest is what has been mentioned, hang the mirror glass on the wall, then build the frame over and around it. The frame holds no weight an the mirror will never tilt.

When hanging heavy or large custom mirrors that I've built, I usually hang them with a french cleat. Should the need arise, the french cleat makes it easy to remove the mirror from the wall. And when on the wall they'll always be secure and level.

Mongo

PS. Our framed mirrors have a wood backing. The mirror and frame were attached to the backing!

mongoct: thanks. We talked about mounting the mirror to the wall and building a frame around it and he wasn't enthused about the idea. Is there a reason not to do this? Is it difficult. We are inclined to frame the mirror then hang it so thanks for those tips as well.