I am surrounded by gorgeous mirrors every day of my life. Something I am often asked, is how are they made? While the answer is quite straight forward for some styles, it is definitely not for Venetian mirrors. As I find the process so fascinating, I decided to share the manufacture method with you.
🌷What Defines a Venetian Mirror? 🌷
Technically, like champagne, a Venetian mirror is only a Venetian mirror if it is from the Venetian island of Murano. Murano is a famous area for glass making and glass blowing, known for their hundreds of years of exprtise in glass and mirror making.
Some of the defining features of Venetian mirrors are the stunning crowns, the hand blown flowers and the hand painted and etched designs on the frames of the mirrors
🌷How Are Venetian Mirror Mades? 🌷
The traditional method is quite special, and this is why I want to show you.
Basically, a piece of glass is cut by hand, and the designs are etched onto the inside of the mirror. These etches are painted by hand. Once dry, the piece of glass is covered in tin chloride, which helps the silver film to adhere. Then, the silver foil is pasted onto the glass. In the past, another method was used, where a liquid called silver nitrate was poured onto the glass.
I have found this beautiful video to show how it is done. It is such an amazing, century old method.
Such a beautiful and age old tradition!
Here are some beautiful antique versions:
This is one of the mirrors I have had designed for the shop - inspired by Venetian mirrors, with the cloudy mirrored pieces. The second image has the rosettes, as the antique Venetians had.
Some stunning examples here - I hope you have enjoyed this quick little lesson on Venetian Mirrors 🌷🌷
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