A finished bird that was etching on the back of mirror, shaded with highlighter and lit up with a black light.
I have talked about etching mirrors before and it is nothing new.
We also featured many others like Steffen who lit his welcome sign with LEDs, Ernie who used LEDs to light up his framed mirror, Dana with a similar interesting piece, Suzanne with her Harley Davidson etched mirror, Schelesia with her Ford Mustang car mirror, Mark with his hand-engraved mirror, Dave with his shade blastings on mirror of a tiger and dog here, and Jamie’s swordfish & elk etching.
I have even been testing some interesting techniques that can be done by etching mirrors and showing tutorials in the member’s area here.
There’s no surprise that etching mirrors is a favorite. There are some fun things that you can do. In this post, I wanted to share another idea of lighting up your etchings with a highlighter and black light. In this example, I etched a mirror but you can use this technique on all glass types.
This shows after the item was etched. I added the highlighter to it also but it is hard to see from the picture.
How I Etched & Lit the Mirror
- Etched the back of mirror. I first sandblasted the backside of the mirror. I sometimes like etching this side because it can be lit from behind so the light only goes through the etched portion of the design.
- Colored the etching with highlighter marker. Highlighters will add a little light color to your etching, but they really glow when a black light is applied to them. Highlighters come in various colors such as light green, orange, pink, blue, yellow and various other colors. You can purchase a multi-color pack for under a couple dollars on Amazon here. I used a light orange highlighter.
- Place a black light near the highlighted etching and watch it glow like the above photo! There are various black lights available from simple light bulbs to florescent light fixtures like I used. You can see through these various listings on Amazon for these here.
I’ve never seen anyone do this and thought of this idea a while back but just now got around to sharing it. I hope you liked it and will give you some interesting project ideas. You could make some awesome lit glass signs with this or a decorative light box of your artwork. Please let me know what you think about this idea in the comments below!
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Yes a good idea. Would transparent paint work as well?
I’ve been etching glass and mirrors since 1982 and have also used stain glass paint on the etching on the back of mirrors,I spray polyurethane on the etching to make it smooth,paint it,build a shadow box…Turn the light on…
@Dave, if you are referring to making the paint glow with a black light, you would need to use paint with fluorescent properties. It would be a fun experiment to dissolve highlighters in glass stain paint.
If you are referring to shining any light through to make the light shine that color paint, you could definitely do that. There are a few glass stains out there that can be used to let light shine through. We offer our own glass stains here https://www.glassetchingsecrets.com/Glass-Stain-Paint-Pack which are also sold on Amazon here http://amzn.to/2dgVpdu
@ Thom, would you be open to shares some photos of them and being featured on the blog? I always enjoy seeing projects!
That is really awesome looking. I am definitately gonna have to try it! Thanks for sharing
You can get Black light LEDs in strips that work well when placed on the edge of the glass. Nice post.
@ Dan Very cool! I wasn’t aware they made them in led strips but sure enough I can see them here: http://amzn.to/2qF9iUJ . Have you experimented with these before? If so, would you be interested in sharing some photos of those projects?
@Dink, thanks!
I have bought several pieces of etched glass with different scenes on them. I was wondering if I run a black light around the perimeter of the glass will the black light accent the etched and grooved scenery? Can anyone advise? It is glass and not a mirror. thanks, Gary
I love this idea! I haven’t etched a mirror yet, but I bought on to try. I think adding the highlighter gives it more dimension. Neat!
@Gary, yes you can add a black light to the outside to light it up, but how well it works depends on how clear and how big the glass is. I personally haven’t tested it yet but it definitely should light it up some.