I had a project in mind and thankfully it was completed without a trip to the ER.
I had this old round mirror and wanted to wear off the reflective back enough to have a few poppies poking through. I took paint remover and got the black paint off the back of the mirror, then there is a reflective coating that makes it a mirror vs a piece of glass. I researched it and found one site that you could use oven cleaner to remove the reflective coating..... it didn't work. Another way was to use muratic acid. I also read all the dangers of using it and the bottle has skull and crossbones on it. I opted to not do it..... skull and crossbones were speaking to me.
Then my wonderful neighbor had some chrome cleaner that was pretty strong and he thought it might work. His wife brought it down and advised me to make sure I used it outside. Well his wife and I gave it a shot right inside the garage.... that enough ventilation right? It's a big garage..... We tried it on a new mirror that I had laying around so if it ruined it I didn't wreck this old round one. As we stood over it and watched it did nothing, we smelled nothing, no smoke, no green fumes..... nothing.... I wiped it off and some of the reflective coating came off too.
Fast forward to that night as I'm trying to fall asleep and my throat is sore and I have a bit of a dry cough. Coincidence.... I don't think so. I think the warning from the neighbor to do this outside was some pretty good advice. You'll be happy to know I did the old round mirror outside, even in the cold snow. This one didn't come off as easy as the newer mirror so it was a couple days standing outside trying to remove the reflective coating.
Finally got enough removed to still be able to know it was a mirror but have poppies peeking through.
This project wasn't something I would ever repeat again, both for the danger or it and I like the look but I don't LOVE it. The frame was painted in Annie Sloan Emperors Silk with dark wax.
Later.....
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