Posted by Gary Dodge on April 03, 2003 at 16:52:21:
In Reply to: Mirror posted by Phyllis on April 02, 2003 at 22:59:03:
Hi Phyllis,
Cutting mirror is the easy part. It cuts soft and easy and has good flexibility. The problems are in protecting the mirror backing as you work and not going crosseyed while trying to distinguish your cut line from its' reflection in the mirror.
To protect the backing you need to work on top of a terrycloth towel. Score the glass on the towel but break the mirror over your garbage can so you keep the chips off the towel where they can scratch through the protective paint on the back of the mirror. Shake the towel out frequently all the same.
If you groze you need to take extra care that you don't create any chipping on the back, because the back surface has the silvering and chips will be very obvious from the front. If you use the grinder hold the glass just above the stage (tip the back end of the mirror up) so the backing doesn't get scratched on the grinder table. If any grinder chips land on the front of the glass you should rinse them off with water rather than brushing them off, because mirror is such soft glass the the surface is easily scratched and because of the way mirror is viewed the scratches always show up well.
If you have a really hard time seeing the lines to cut, you might consider gluing your patterns to the mirror and cutting around them.
For more about working with mirror check out Black edge in the glassworkers tips area.
GaryD
: Gary, Love your site!! Very helpful. I know a while back
: I saw your answer to working with mirror,Can't find it!
: So, how do I cut mirror?Thanks, Phyllis