Painting engraved mirrored acrylic

[Lee DeRaud]

I've been fooling around lately with some cheap mirrors, engraving the backing off and then painting them with spray lacquer. Every glass mirror I worked with worked fine. Then I tried some scraps of mirrored acrylic I had laying around. Same settings worked for the backing...so far so good.

Painting was another story. The designs I was using were very detailed (e.g. Aztec calendar), and it almost looked like the paint was wicking up out of the engraved areas and huddling on the (unengraved) peaks like rats fleeing a flood. After it dried it looked ok from the front, but from the back, holding it up to the light, you could see dozens of bright specks where the paint hadn't covered. So far I've tried the spray lacquer, spray enamel, and brushed acrylic artists' paint and the only thing that gives anything close to full coverage is the artists' acrylic applied unthinned (about halfway between honey and toothpaste), which I suspect is just forming a floating skin that (1) will flake off and (2) won't hold any kind of tape or adhesive.

I've got some artist oil paint to try next...probably try rubbing it on with a rag, but I'm hoping someone here knows the right answer.

[Dee Gallo]

Lee,

I don't really know anything about mirrored acrylic, but have you tried plastic spray paint? It's supposed to be formulated to stick to plastic, which I know it does. It comes under the name Fusion by Krylon. Just a thought.

:) dee

[Joe Pelonio]

I have done it 3 ways that have worked out well:

Fusion, sprayed in several light coats

Acrylic Latex rolled (3" roller)

Translucent vinyl

[Lee DeRaud]

I'll have to try to track down that Fusion stuff: I've used the Rustoleum equivalent they sell at Home Depot, and it's not very good.

[Mike Null]

Lee

I've had good luck with the Dutch Boy acrylic sprays from Sears. It always takes at least two coats but looks like a professional finish when done.

I generally use red, white or black for my jobs. No experience with gold.

[James Aldrich]

I use Krylon Fusion for all acrylic and glass mirror, it works great. It dries to touch in a short time. But if you use a backing material on the mirror it will stick. Krylon Fusion has a 5-7 day cure. I have also used spray mirror edge sealer (clear) first, and then just about any paint will stick to it.
Jim