Does this ornament look mirror shiny, like the cap, to you?
No. Of course not. Because “someone” got an idea to make a shiny mirrored stenciled ornament. But “someone” didn’t read the directions on the Krylon Looking Glass spray paint can …
After the ornament didn’t look like a mirror, someone finally looked at the can.
“With Looking Glass Mirror-like paint you must paint the reverse of the side that will be showing.”
And:
“Paint sprays dull but reverse side has mirror-like effect.”
Oh. It even says right under the picture on the front that you must:
“Spray on reverse side of glass for a reflective finish.”
Someone — okay, ME! — had even filled a cute little sprayer with water to make a mottled mirror finish, like old mercury glass.
It’s hard to find good help nowadays, huh!
So. Now that I read the directions, it’s obvious why there’s no mercury glass happenin’ around here:
- The paint was sprayed so you don’t see the “front” of the paint.
- It was not sprayed on a glass object.
And now we know how NOT to use Krylon Looking Glass paint. And keep this in mind when dreaming up ideas about what to do with this paint!
An alternative if you want a shiny look on a non-transparent object is to use silver foil or silver leaf. I might be doing that to these ornaments because I’m really stuck on the original shiny silver idea.
Where to find KRYLON LOOKING GLASS PAINT
If you want to use Krylon Looking Glass paint, sometimes it can be hard to find. I was able to find it locally only at Hobby Lobby a few years ago, but now I’ve found it at Walmart and ACE Hardware stores.
If you want to order it online, you can order it from Joann.com and they often have 30-50% coupons. You can also buy it direct from Krylon through Amazon and they have bulk discounts.
A PROJECT PAINTED THE RIGHT WAY
As evidence that I do know how to use this paint the correct way, see my tutorial showing a DIY antique mirror tray made with Krylon Looking Glass paint:
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LOL! Well, at least you understood the directions once you read them. Me, even after I read them, I STILL don’t get it most of the time. Duh. Show us what your silver leaf looks like if you do it. I’ve seen gold leaf but not silver leaf. Pretty labor intensive and detailed work, n’e cest pas?
I will definitely share silver leaf if I do it! Or I might just stencil these as is … we’ll see …
You actually can paint the outside of items and get a shiny effect- but this only works on glossy items like porcelain or glass. I’ve put it on glass candleholders and the like.
I wants to prepare glass mirror by krylon spray pains pleasr guide me for my project.
I found a picture with pumpkins that were reflective. Directions said to purchase dollar tree pumpkins, paint them white and then paint with looking glass. I thought what a neat gift idea, so I did just that. I did read the directions on the can, but the picture and its directions said it was possible. Oh what a dull pumpkin the color of grey I now have! So sad that someone would give false information like that!
I know! If you can find glass pumpkins, spray the inside of the pumpkins, and you should have shiny mirror-like pumpkins. Or another option for the pumpkins you already have is spray them with a metallic silver to make them a bit shinier.
Annette, I saw the same picture and have already painted my Dollar Tree pumpkins white also have spent the day looking for the picture so I would know what kind of spray paint to purchase. Do you have the information or the web site? I guess I have to figure out what else to do with my pumpkins.
I am trying to restore some mirrored gazing globes. Wondering if I can spray the looking glass spray on the outside of the globe? Thanx
Hi Mary, it might be best to spray the looking glass paint on the inside of the globe, if possible, based on my experience, that’s what will give it the mirrored effect.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t read the entire can. Now, I’ll be walking downstairs to see how the back of my glasses work. I was so mad. The stuff stinks horribly bad. Then it wasn’t shiny. Ugh. Luckily I did do it on the glass pieces from frames… Ya know, I’m really anxious to see now how the underside looks.
I agree it stinks real bad! I wanted to do mercury glass Christmas ornaments but it was too cold in Chicago to do this in our sunroom (great ventilation there) or outside. Oh well. So how does the underside of your frames look?! I wonder how many people do this and are disappointed!
I love this post! I read it and thought-well no duh sherlock-of course you only use it on glass. Which is funny b/c I read it on my iphone at a red light on the way home from Ace after buying it at Ace. And the sales person at Ace showed that they had recently done a project with it on GLASS. So funny. I used Rust O’luem Metallic paint, silver-and it looked so much better anyway.
Hi Christina! Yeah it’s pretty much a paint for glass only. Also you wouldn’t know this from this post, but I work on preventing cell phone distracted driving as a full-time job! I am happy this post helped you, but I wish you had read it at home or other safe place. Please don’t read it at a red light – intersections are the places where most serious crashes happen. People might think they’re stopped so it’s safe to use a phone, but we gotta watch out for all the other distracted drivers. Plus even when we stop using a phone, our brains are distracted for awhile afterwards — I’ve personally experienced this, and it makes us not see things we should see, like what other cars are doing. I’d hate to think someone crashed because they were thinking about paint! It is not worth it. Stay safe out there! Deb
Very nice article, totally what I wantyed to find.