Today, buying a mirror of any size and configuration is not a problem. However, there are craftsmen who enjoy the very process of making a familiar product with their own hands. You can make a glass mirror at home, but for this you need to equip an entire chemical laboratory in the room. Stock up on the necessary reagents, vessels, and a beautifully carved piece of smooth glass without any flaws.
It is necessary
- - Latex gloves
- - A piece of good quality glass
- - Tanks for solution preparation and silvering
- - tin dichloride
- - Silver nitrate
- - Distilled water
- - Caustic potassium or sodium
- - A piece of chalk
- - Ammonia
- - Formalin
- - Glass rod
- - Nitric acid
- - Alcohol
- - Cotton wool
- - Colorless varnish
- - Spray gun
- - Paint
- - Brush with soft bristles
- - Wood frame or leaf and clips
Instructions
Step 1
Put on rubber gloves and rinse the glass with distilled water and crushed chalk on all sides, including the ends. Then treat all surfaces with a 10% degreasing solution of any caustic alkali (sodium or potassium). Rinse the glass again with distilled water. In the process of making a glass mirror, hold it very carefully by the edges so as not to stain the smooth surface.
Step 2
Wipe cleaned glass with a cotton swab dipping it in a solution (1%) of tin dichloride. After that, you need to immediately place the glass in a container filled with distilled water. While the future self-made mirror is getting wet there, clean and degrease the vessel in which you will silver the glass with the same alkali. It is important to remember that the temperature of the glass surface in water should be 10 degrees higher than that of silvering solutions.
Step 3
Prepare two silver coating solutions for smooth glass using only distilled water.
1) Dissolve silver nitrate (1.6 g) in water (30 ml). Until the formed precipitate completely disappears, drip ammonia (25%) into the liquid. Top up with half a glass of water.
2) In a flask or other container with graduations, accurately measure 5 mg of a 40% formalin solution.
Step 4
Mix the resulting solutions; transfer the glass horizontally into the container prepared for silvering. Pour the chemical mixture over the middle of the glass surface and roll it out evenly with a glass rod. You can dip the glass into the solution so as not to flood the opposite side with silver. "Mirroring" lasts from 3 to 10 minutes, depending on the temperature of the working solution.
Step 5
Place the self-made mirror on its edge vertically, leaning it against the support with the glass side (the silver layer has not yet fully hardened and may be damaged). Dry the product for 2 hours in 100-degree heat, then let it cool. If silver streaks are found on the glass, you can wipe them off with cotton wool dipped in a weak solution of nitric acid.
Step 6
Rinse the mirror in water, then alcohol. Spray the cooled silver-plated layer of the mirror with clear varnish from a spray bottle. After drying, paint the darkened surface. It is advisable to use a wide brush with soft bristles (for example, ferret bristle flutes) and rubbed red lead diluted with turpentine. However, you can take any other paint. If you managed to correctly make a glass mirror, all that remains is to install it in a beautiful frame or on a wooden canvas, strengthening it with clamps.
