The Faux Shaux

While cruising through chemistry experiments on youtube for inspiration, I came across a recipe for mirroring glass.  Peter Esveld and are drawn to this chemical reaction (of silver nitrate and sodium hydroxide) because it produces something permanent and beautiful in a relatively short period of time.

Here are two informative videos:

Mirrored glass is an expensive material due to its production process but there certainly is no shortage of glass objects.  As exciting as mirroring a flask or jar may be to the chemist, they’re rather boring objects to be mirrored.  We have all the solvents needed and we’re waiting on the silver nitrate from a chemical supplier.

In the meantime we’re searching for a cathode ray tube type television.  The glass screen will be separated from the neck of the CRT.  The glass will be masked with a graphic pattern laser cut from an adhesive sheet.  We still have to test what adhesive material will not dissolve or unstick while in the silvering bath.

Here are some illustrations to recapitulate how we’ll mirror the television.