DesignerDeco

Mirrors

Posted on 17. Feb, 2009 by DesignerDeco in Modern Decor

Mirrors are tools or objects that reflect back light and images cast upon it. Preferably, mirrors have smooth and even surfaces made of glass with silver coating on one side in order to clearly reflect light and images back.

History of mirrors

Before silver-backed glass was discovered, a variety of reflective materials and objects were used by early man. The first mirrors were said to be pools of still dark waters. Some people poured water in special containers in order to see their reflections.

mirrors made of obsidian glass

The first man-made mirrors were made of naturally occurring volcanic glass that people gathered and polished to a bright finish.

Mirrors made of polished metals

Copper and bronze were also used as mirrors as early as 4000 BC. Bronze mirrors had highly polished sides that reflected light and images as well. Some of the bronze and copper mirrors used during these times also had very decorative designs on the other side. However, because of the high level of corrosiveness of metals, polished copper and bronze mirrors were not very effective in refelcting clear images of the person looking into it.

Silver-backed glass mirrors

Around the 16th century though, a town in Venice, Italy famous for glassworks found even more fame when its artisans discovered an effective method of coating glass in order to make it fully reflective. Glass was just the perfect material as it achieved a smoother surface faster and more easily. Silver on the other hand, was used to coat one side of the glass to make it reflective. An amalgam of different reflective metals such as silver, tin, and even copper was then discovered to be a more effective backing for glass when making mirrors.

Uses of mirrors

For vanity

The most obvious purpose of mirrors is to supplant the vanity needs of people. Men and women looked into handheld looking glasses in order to appraise their appearances. However, it wasn’t until later that full-length mirrors were invented. Eventually, mirrors were also incorporated with frames and stands as well as into wardrobes and other furniture.

For painting

Some famous artists made use of the mirror in order to gain a better perspective of their subject or their painting. Leonardo da Vinci even wrote and drew his masterpieces and developed a style of handwriting called mirror writing. His diaries, seemingly full of gibberish, needed to be read with a mirror in order to make sense of them.

Mirrors can further be classified according to their uses. Two-way mirrors are used in order to observe one people on one side of the mirror without being seen. This is most used in police interrogation, in car windows, and even in infrastructure. Acoustic mirrors do not reflect light at all, but instead reflect sound and sound waves. Mirrors have also been used in astronomy, being main components of telescopes and even space satellites.

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