Engraving | Photos on mirror

Has anyone done photos on mirrors? If so do you have any suggestions or procedures?

I met a man in Florida who had great results on glass and mirror by adhering a lightweight paper to the surface. I haven’t had a chance to test this myself. He claimed this worked great on all kinds of polished or reflective surfaces.

I have great results with a light film of liquid manual dishwashing liquid with no paper over it and small paper pieces don’t get sucked into the exhaust fan. Using the photo setting even with text reduces the chipping. Also use a light grey shade of color instead of solid black. I actually use colors which are converted to greyscale. Leaded crystal requires the lightest-yellow. Lime green for very large letters and a bright purple works on most everything else. I use a very low speed 10 and 90 % power with a 25 watt laser. I use 400 dpi on larger items and 600 dpi on small 2 inch cubes. I am doing some large 10 inch awards and the lasering is smooth to the touch with a nice even frosted look an no chipping or cracking.

I’ve lasered a resist on the back of the mirror and sand blasted it from behind. The put holes in the silver. Then i paint the back of the mirror black. It’s pretty cool, but I’m not sure where I’m going with the process. I’ve considered doing a mural. The resolution is limited because of how thick the and strong the backing paint is on mirrors.

I have found that once photos have been engraved a way to make them really pop out at you is to cover the photo on the back side with white vinyl. It makes the picture stand out and leaves and excellent looking piece. I’ve done this many times, different bright colors of vinyl work well to, depends on the kind of goal you are trying to achieve in the end. With the vinyl you won’t have to worry about it coming off, rubbing off or peeling off unless someone really works at it! And it’s fairly inexpensive too!

Hi, just wondering what kind of vinyl you are using? is it a hard plastic or some kind of pliable self adhesive?

I’m sorry I didn’t quite type that out very well. We not only do laser engraving here but have a sign company, and a big part of our business is doing the decals and lettering for vehicles. So the vinyl would be a self adhesive.


			Photos on mirror Has anyone done photos on mirrors? If so do you have any suggestions or procedures? I met a man in Florida who had great results on glass and mirror by adhering a lightweight paper to the surface. I haven’t had a chance to test this myself. He claimed this worked great on all kinds of polished or reflective surfaces. I have great results with a light film of liquid manual dishwashing liquid with no paper over it and small paper pieces don’t get sucked into the exhaust fan. Using the photo setting even with text reduces the chipping. Also use a light grey shade of color instead of solid black. I actually use colors which are converted to greyscale. Leaded crystal requires the lightest-yellow. Lime green for very large letters and a bright purple works on most everything else. I use a very low speed 10 and 90 % power with a 25 watt laser. I use 400 dpi on larger items and 600 dpi on small 2 inch cubes. I am doing some large 10 inch awards and the lasering is smooth to the touch with a nice even frosted look an no chipping or cracking. I’ve lasered a resist on the back of the mirror and sand blasted it from behind. The put holes in the silver. Then i paint the back of the mirror black. It’s pretty cool, but I’m not sure where I’m going with the process. I’ve considered doing a mural. The resolution is limited because of how thick the and strong the backing paint is on mirrors. I have found that once photos have been engraved a way to make them really pop out at you is to cover the photo on the back side with white vinyl. It makes the picture stand out and leaves and excellent looking piece. I’ve done this many times, different bright colors of vinyl work well to, depends on the kind of goal you are trying to achieve in the end. With the vinyl you won’t have to worry about it coming off, rubbing off or peeling off unless someone really works at it! And it’s fairly inexpensive too! Hi, just wondering what kind of vinyl you are using? is it a hard plastic or some kind of pliable self adhesive? I’m sorry I didn’t quite type that out very well. We not only do laser engraving here but have a sign company, and a big part of our business is doing the decals and lettering for vehicles. So the vinyl would be a self adhesive. Possibly related: Laser engraving glass, mirror, and pricing Laserlight Engraving photos Double frames Glass, why specialty tape?