I’ve experimented with engraved the coating off the back of a mirror. It worked great: (EDIT: My brain misremembered. This was engraved on the front; my plan was to try engraving the back on the next one!)
Haven’t gotten around to doing anything else with it yet, but I’ll get back to it some day!
I’ll have to look when I get back down there. I was thinking I etched the silver off the back, but you’re right about the reflection; maybe my plan was to try the back the NEXT time, and my memory is playing tricks on me…
Dang. It’s one thing when you reach adulthood and start turning into your parents…now I’m finding myself turning into my grandparents!!!
To protect the mirror, I used the protective adhesive from one of my proofgrade pieces of acrylic. Just pealed it off and stuck it on the mirror. I wet my fingers and rubbed it on the adhesive–only because I saw a few samples on the forum that mentioned using a wet paper towel. So, the adhesive was a little damp.