Mirror silvering

Kosh · Dec 5, 2006

What types of mirrors are silvered? I was thinking of putting one in a drug store; is the processed reserved for the fancy shmancy stuff?

Kentuk · Dec 5, 2006

Do they still silver mirrors? I thought it was just the old kind.

Ol' Fashioned Girl · Dec 5, 2006

Silvering is still done, it's just done with different compounds than it used to be.

Here's a couple links I found:

http://www.science-education.org/classroom_activities/chlorine_compound/stannous.html

http://www.make-stuff.com/formulas/mirrors.html

http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/glass/birm6.html (this is a clip - very interesting!)

And here's some history of mirrors:

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Mirror.html

arrowqueen · Dec 6, 2006

And as a complete non sequitur:

Little Willie, from the mirror
Licked the mercury all off;
Thinking, in his childish error
It would cure the whooping cough.
At the funeral Willie's mother
Smartly said to Mrs. Brown,
"'Twas a chilly day for Willie
When the mercury went down."

arrowqueen · Dec 6, 2006

Well, not really. Just to show that mirrors were at one point 'silvered' with mercury.

mooncars · Dec 6, 2006

Now, this is an interesting thread! Thanks.

In a reflective mood,
Rick

WildScribe · Dec 6, 2006

arrowqueen said:
And as a complete non sequitur:

Little Willie, from the mirror
Licked the mercury all off;
Thinking, in his childish error
It would cure the whooping cough.
At the funeral Willie's mother
Smartly said to Mrs. Brown,
"'Twas a chilly day for Willie
When the mercury went down."

Great poem... in a sad, spooky kind of way.

pdr · Dec 6, 2006

And...

you can date a mirror from the way it reflects.
The antique mirrors apparently can't be recreated today and if you point your finger until it rests on the glass, an 18th C mirror will have the reflected finger appear to be 'touching' yours. With a modern mirror there's always a gap between the fingers.

Mirror silvering

Kosh

Will Write for Food

Kentuk

I want to write what I want to write

Ol' Fashioned Girl

Hand? What hand?

arrowqueen

RIP, our sarky besom

arrowqueen

RIP, our sarky besom

mooncars

WildScribe

Slave to the Wordcount

pdr