Reshaping a Warped Acrylic Mirror Using Sunlight and Glass Panes
Acrylic mirrors offer a lightweight, shatter-resistant alternative to glass, but heat can cause them to bend out of shape. Rather than discarding a warped mirror, you can press it flat between two sheets of glass and let the sun do the work.
By Harper Adams6 steps
Framed, acrylic mirrors are common.
Decorating a room with acrylic mirrors is quick and budget-friendly. Unlike glass, acrylic won't shatter, and it weighs considerably less. The trade-off is that heat causes acrylic to bend easily. If your acrylic mirror has warped, there's no need to toss it — you can press it flat and hang it up again.
Step 1
Take off the backing. When the mirror sits in a frame, put on your safety gloves and carefully pull the mirror out from the rear by hand.
Step 2
Select two panes of smooth glass that are both longer and wider than the mirror.
Step 3
Set one glass pane on a protected surface in direct sunlight. Center the warped mirror on the glass with its reflective side facing down.
Step 4
Place the second glass pane over the mirror, aligning its edges with those of the bottom pane.
Step 5
Let the sun warm the glass. Once the mirror has softened and lies flat, transfer the glass sheets and mirror to a protected surface in the shade and leave them there until the acrylic cools and hardens.
Step 6
Take the mirror out from between the glass sheets. Put it back in the frame and reattach the backing.
