A Technique in Etched Glass, 2015–2018
The Mirror Works
A run of work made with one technique: etching a design into a real glass mirror by laser, then stripping the copper backing with a chemical solution so the design reads clear through the glass. Worked out in 2015, it carried through to the Open House exhibition, the FOMO piece at the Lowry, and a set of mirrors for a pop-up shop. This is the method and the work it made.
The Method
The method is the point. I start with a real glass mirror and laser-etch the design into the back of it, burning off the protective covering in the shape I want. Then a solution of vinegar, salt and hydrogen peroxide goes over the exposed back, eating away the copper behind the glass wherever the covering has gone. What is left is a mirror with the design cut clean through it, so you catch your own reflection and the light behind it at the same time.
The First Tests
It started with tests, in 2015: small etched pieces, working out how far the chemistry would go and how fine the laser could cut before the whole thing failed. A slow, fiddly business of ruining a lot of mirrors to learn how to make one properly.
The Open House Mirrors
By 2017 the mirrors had become a body of work, shown as an Open House exhibition in the living room of a house and photographed by Jody Hartley. Etched with pattern and text and hung so you saw yourself in them, they turned a domestic room into a hall of slightly uneasy mirrors. That show has its own case study.
FOMO at the Lowry
The biggest single piece was FOMO, made for the Week 53 festival at the Lowry in Salford Quays. A mirror etched with the anxieties of turning mid-thirties, the festivals missed and the to-do list growing, so anyone who looked in it read their own version of the same worry over their reflection.
New Designs, and into a Shop
The technique kept going: new etched designs through 2018, and a set of mirrors made for a Christmas pop-up shop. Four years of the same patient household chemistry, from the first ruined tests to work in a gallery, at the Lowry, and on a shop wall.
Commission an Etched Mirror
If you want a piece like this, an etched mirror with your own design or words cut clean through the glass, get in touch.
Questions
How are they made?
I laser-etch the design into the back of a glass mirror, burning off the covering, then use a solution of vinegar, salt and hydrogen peroxide to strip the copper backing where it is exposed, so the design reads clear through the glass.
Where have they been shown?
As an Open House exhibition in 2017, at the Lowry for the Week 53 festival in 2018 (the FOMO piece), and in a Christmas pop-up shop.
Can I commission one?
Yes. Get in touch.
From the Journal
The Technique, Entry by Entry
Dated entries following the etched mirrors, from the first backyard tests to the Open House show and the FOMO piece at the Lowry.