Make an Infinity Mirror
An infinity mirror is a magical illusion mirror that gives a perception of great depth to a very thin mirror array. The perceived depth can be very many feet even though the mirror may not be actually deeper than a couple of inches.
Steps
- Find a suitable wooden frame. Preferably get something with a deep frame or at least 1/2 half inch depth.
- Disassemble the frame and remove the glass.
- Prepare the glass by making it perfectly clean.
- Spray the glass with a little water and a drop of wash liquid.
- Take the roll of window film and cut a piece a couple of inches bigger than the mirror.
- Remove the backing from the window film
- Lay it over the glass pane. Starting from one corner, spray some liquid soap as you slowly lay this over the glass. Smooth out any bubbles and leave to dry.
- Once dry leave to one side for later.
- Obtain a mirror with the same size as the framed glass that was tinted.
- As an option, get a mirror in its frame and make another frame to go over the original to give more depth with the wooden splines. about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} to {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} is ideal for this.
- Assemble the framed glass you tinted, make sure the tinted area is facing the inside of the frame.
- Secure the tinted glass with glue.
- Add a inner frame to hold the mirror when it is placed on the frame.
- Using a cutter, create a groove for the LED wirings and adapter.
- Install the LED lights around the inner frame.
- Drill holes big enough for the lights to push into on the frame you just made. about halfway in the width of the wood and evenly around the entire frame.
- After adhering the LED lights, let the wiring out of the groove.
- Place the mirror on top of the frame.
- Glue this frame to the mirrors frame.
- Plug it and switch on your lights and enjoy.
Tips
- Smooth out any air-bubbles in the window tint using an old credit card, or gift card. Cut a small notch for the wire and LED's.
- An infinity mirror has three pieces. At the back is a normal, 100% reflective mirror like you have in your bathroom. In the middle is the perimeter of lights (usually LEDs). At the front is another mirror that's only partially reflective — it reflects some light back toward the rear mirror and some through to the observer. The reflected light then bounces back to the half-mirror, though now slightly dimmer. This process repeats infinitely, resulting in the smooth fading of the lights off into a dark background.
- There can be different programs for controlling the lighting, but the simple infinity mirror is just a 'sandwich' of a normal mirror, lights, and one-way mirror inside of a frame. The lights inside reflect off of the normal mirror and the shiny side of the one-way mirror repeatedly, giving the illusion of a tunnel to forever.
- To make one you will need a mirror you're willing to cannibalize for the project, a frame made of wood or another sturdy material, a roll of one-way mirror film, lights of some sort — preferably fairy lights or something as small — and something to hold it together with, like glue or duct tape.
- First, make sure you can open the frame. Also be sure to have a little hole or something for each of the lights.
- Place the regular mirror onto the workspace so that the shiny side is up. Glue or secure the back of the frame to the mirror so that the light-holes are up.
- Place the lights in the frame so that the light bulbs come through the holes. Make sure that you can see them over the mirror's surface.
- Place the top of the frame onto the project, closing off the lights' area. This would be a good time to align everything.
- Place the one-way mirror film onto the top, making sure it fits the shape of your project well.
- Take the duct tape or other adhesive and run it around the edges of the mirror.
Things You'll Need
- A mirror, a glass or PVC clear pane, the same size as your mirror
- Set of LED string lights or fairy bulbs.
- Mirrored window film (available at car shops and online)
- A picture frame for the mirror and another for the glass
- Some wooden spacing splines for the frames and bulbs
