My Acid Mirrors

I have been seeing posts on doing an acid treatment on mirrors and it looks so pretty. I knew I had to try it but to tell the truth it was not one of those projects that I was looking forward too. Jasco stripper and I are not friends. I feel like my skin burns if I just look at the can. When people described stripping the back off the mirror with that and then using muriatic acid to get the reflective stuff off the mirror I figured this project could easily land me in the emergency room! I talked my daughter into doing it with me and we were very cautious. If you plan to do this project I would recommend you look at as many blog tutorials as you can. This is one where you can start..doodlecraft acid mirror tutorial.

Though my mirrors by no means came out perfect there was a lot of learning and it leaves me wanting to do more! Here is the mirror I did for my bedroom...

The backing really didn't want to come off this mirror--I actually did the Jasco stuff like 3 or 4 times leaving it on for like a couple hours. I ended up having to scrap it which left some marks you can see. The fabric is an old Rachel Ashwell fabric that I adore but it probably would have looked better with something more vibrant.  I still like it though.

Then I did one for the entryway and tried using a photograph of my sweet Wyatt when he was 2 years old...

I made a paper copy of the picture and then put a vibrant fabric behind that--but actually didn't get off as much of the reflective stuff as I would have liked so the fabric doesn't show much.  I love this picture of Wyatt because at that age I could hardly get him to hold still long enough for me to take his picture and I remember him putting his hood up and saying "Mama-take a picture with my hood up-I look cute with my hood up" so even though the mirror isn't perfect (and Janae thinks it looks haunted) that picture is such a sweet memory for me that I love it.

My favorite project acid mirror is one that is in the dining room and has a window look to it--

This mirror it was actually so hard to get the backing off that I just gave up. I left part of the backing on and I think it turned out the best!  I used a Robert Kauffman fabric that I have had for years and I think it is just perfect for this project.  This one I wouldn't change at all--I really like it!

As I said before,  I did not enjoy the process but I know I will be doing this again.  I am not sure that you have a whole lot of control on how it turns out and so that is kind of frustrating to someone like me who is kind of a perfectionist and likes to be in control. The problem is the result is so cool I just have to try again. An added bonus is my husband loves these mirrors--he usually shows very little interest in my projects but this one he really liked! He said he feels our house is the house of mirrors and so toning down the reflections is a good idea in his opinion. He said he gets tired of seeing himself everywhere he walks in the house.

So if anyone out there has any suggestions or anything to share about acid mirrors, please do!