News & Notes

Our customers are creative, imaginative people who ask all kinds of questions about the mirroring process. We wanted to share this dynamic discussion with you, so we set up News & Notes to post ideas, problems and solutions as they arise. Bookmark this page and check back often.

Please contact us with your questions. We will answer you personally and, if we are able to solve the problem, we will post the answer here so that everyone can benefit from your inspiration and experience. News & Notes is designed to supplement the information contained in our Written Instructions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Questions on the chemistry of mirroring are answered by our staff chemist.

Silver Stains on Your Skin – December 6, 2005

Silver solutions will stain you skin brown. This is not a health hazard, but it is unsightly. To lighten or remove fresh stains, rub them with water and table salt and then wash well with soap and water.

Mirroring Tempered Glass - March 16, 2006

If you are going to mirror tempered glass, be sure that the edges of the glass are polished with water, and not with oil, before the glass goes into the tempering oven. If your glazier uses oil to lubricate the polisher, the oil bakes into the glass and no amount of scrubbing will get the it out. The mirrored surface will not deposit evenly because it will be repelled by the oil on (in?) the glass.

Tempering strengthens the glass so that it can't be cut after it is tempered; it just breaks into tiny, relatively harmless pieces. If the glass has jagged edges before it goes into the tempering oven, it will heat unevenly and break in the oven. It is easy to clean cutting oil from the edges, but you can't remove oil that has been ground in and baked on.

Painted Mirrors – Courtesy of Larry White – March 29, 2006

Method 1: Clean glass completely and dry it. Use vinyl paint mask to mask off areas that will be painted later. Silver the glass and back it with asphaltum. Let the asphaltum dry and peel off the mask. Protect the asphaltum with shellac so the solvents in the paint won't dissolve it. Paint you design in the clear areas.

Method 2: Paint the design on the glass with Japan paint and protect it with asphaltum adding a fine black outline with asphaltum. Then clean and silver the glass. Back the silver with a second layer of asphaltum.

Mirroring Plastic – May 30, 2006

It is easier to mirror polycarbonate plastics, such as Lexan, than it is to mirror acrylics. Use new plastic and do not remove the protective film until you are ready to mirror it. Plastic scratches easily so it can not be clean by scrubbing. The water will not sheet off the glass, but you can over come this problem by using a larger volume of tin. Rinse the plastic with diluted glass cleaner and then distilled water. Pour on a double quantity of tin (increase the amount – not the dilution ratio) and let it sit for 30 seconds. Rinse with distilled water and proceed as usual. Gold deposits just as easily as silver.

Copper over Silver and Gold – June 8, 2006

To make a rose gold mirror, deposit a layer of gold on the glass as you would for Angel Gilding. Then add a layer of copper instead of a layer of silver. The gold replaces the palladium as a sensitizer. A thick gold layer gives you a rosey gold look; a thin one gives you a really warm copper color.

To create a pale copper mirror, tin the glass with Tin for Silver. Then mix up you silvering chemicals, pour them on the glass and let them deposit for only 30 seconds. Pour off and add the coppering solutions. The copper will destroy a heavy layer of silver, but not a “flash: layer. Again, you do not need to use palladium in this procedure.

Copper without Palladium Sensitizer – July 30, 2006

A copper mirror needs tin plus another metal to adhere to the glass. The other metal can be an invisible layer of Palladium Sensitizer, a “flash” layer of silver or a layer of gold. Silver and gold will affect the color of the copper. Palladium does not. If you omit the second layer, all you get is a thin pink haze on the glass – not a mirrored surface. This effect might be useful for blown glass sculptures.