How To Make Mirrors by Silvering Glass

Modern mirrors are made by depositing aluminum. But back in the victorian era aluminum wasn't available and so they made their mirrors using silver metal. Using silver nitrate (available online, or can be made in another wikihow) you can make your own mirrors.

Step 1  

Get 1 gram of silver nitrate and 1 gram of sodium hydroxide in seperate containers and add enough water to both to dissolve them.

Step 2  

Mix the two solutions together. A black precipitate of silver oxide will form.

Step 3  

Add ammonia until the precipitate completely redissolves.

Step 4  

Add 4 grams of sugar and stir until dissolved.

Step 5  

Place your article you want to silver into the solution, or pour the solution into a tray containing your article (for larger articles like glass panes)

Step 6  

GENTLY heat the solution but DO NOT let it boil. Boiling tears the silver off the surface.

Step 7  

Eventually the solution will turn to a cream color and your article is now silvered, take it out and wipe off the silver from where you don't want it.

Step 8  

If the silver is really stuck to places you don't want it you can apply hydrochloric acid.

Tips

• The gass must be VERY clean. Oil and dirt will give bad bonding of the silver.
• For more information on the chemistry Google "tollens reagent".
• use tape to cover up parts you don't want to silver.
• If you want thicker layers or have bigger articles you want to silver then scale up the recipie.
• This process produces back-silvered mirrors. Which is the same type of mirror as most domestic mirrors. Front-silvered mirrors cannot be made by this process.

Warnings

• Upon heating the solution will emit ammonia fumes, so do this outside or in a well-ventilated area.
• Perform the whole setup to finish in less than two hours, or else the solution may produce a potentially explosive concentration of silver nitride/imide/amide. (See "The Hazards Associated with Silvering Mirrors, Vacuum Flasks, etc.", Health and Safety Executive OC 687/7)
• Keep away from children or pets while you're doing this.
• When you're done, flush all chemicals and clean all surfaces with lots of water.
• Hydrchloric acid will burn" your skin if you get it on you.