How to make a custom mirror . (Add any design to a mirror)

[@WhaleBones]

Please keep posting these! You're filling in a ton of gaps in my gilding knowledge. This helped me a lot with vectoring/masking especially :) Thank you for your knowledge

[@happygilder]

Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you're finding them useful! As long as the channel continues to grow, I'll keep making content :)

[@CaptRich-bi3gp]

@@happygilder Please do! I'm brand new to this, until I found your tutorials I was intimidated away from attempting. Thank you, thank you from the States.

[@happygilder]

@@CaptRich-bi3gp Really glad you're liking them!!

[@VektorHaus]

"amateur" dudes work is amazing and hes taught us so much!

[@happygilder]

Thanks!!

[@jamieparis6492]

From someone who works with vinyl and its application everyday, it's far easier to weed your design before applying the application tape , it's easier to lift vinyl from its backing paper than it is from your finished material,

[@happygilder]

Thanks for the advice! I used to weed before application but with small intricate designs I had problems with the unwanted bits taking bits of the design with it. Probably a combination of my cutter settings and using cheap vinyl :)

[@manlymcstud8588]

the jaguar my ex uses in our shop ran about $3K or so, but it's pretty amazing -- very quick, very accurate, very quiet. if it's something you're going to use every day like she does, something like that is worth the investment. we started off with some uscutter thing that was about $500, and it worked for years for what we needed it to do, but, yeah, if someone can afford the nicer stuff it's usually well worth it. another great reason to get a vendor's license (i'm in the u.s.) is that way you can get into trade shows once these companies and event organizers realize you exist. you meet vendors, see new products, can buy show-used equipment and/or get a show discount. shoo, i'd won all sorts of stuff one time, and the (then) wife took some class where she won a brand new sawgrass sublimation printer... the exact same model we had just bought! lol. that was okay, though, it was probably a $350 printer and it's always nice to have a back-up. the kind of industry that has vinyl cutters/plotters is the same industry for trophies, plaques, t-shirts, sublimation, heat pressing, car wraps, printing (when you've seen a 15' wide printer, you'll be impressed), that kind of thing. skip that cricut/silhouette bullshit, those are toys. spend a couple hundred more and get the big boy gear, don't get stuck in the etsy mindset of homemade hobby crafts where you're making 37 cents an hour.

[@1MissEllyLove]

I have a Silhouette Cameo and the Business edition of the studio but shut down my Etsy vinyl decal shop when they were taking 40% after shipping and fees and taxes for a $6 sticker. But now I'm stumped at how to turn this addictive hobby into a service since projects like these are essentially one-of-a-kind. How do you even begin to calculate pricing?

[@manlymcstud8588]

@@1MissEllyLove a lot of people charge by the inch of vinyl. whenever you have a business like this, how to price things are always going to be an issue and one of those big questions. there are all sorts of formulas and 'industry standards,' most of which fly right out the window when you're in competition with idiots who undercut you and encourages other idiots into a race to the bottom. don't play that game! let those fools play themselves out of a side gig, someone will buy their equipment and stock and give it a go as a hobby. hopefully someone will tell you how they charge. our pricing was a mystery to me, she always did that and i know she didn't use any kind of formula. the ex and i had very different ideas on how to run a small business, but since she did all that work i let her do it her way. what i can tell you is she's very conscious of material prices. beyond that i think she just charged what she thought was fair and competitive. you'll find that with better equipment you'll have less scrap, less mechanical problems, and you can work faster with more reliability and accuracy. it'll open up a whole new world of cost savings and opportunities. but, you have to crunch some numbers and find out what your costs are. you have to look at your legitimate competitors and see if you even want to compete. you probably know those costs, but factor in your labour, too. you probably know how long it takes to do a job. ask yourself how much do you want to make an hour after expenses and how close you are to that goal. then there are ppl who want to charge for the 'artwork,' or the design of it, or have to clean up someone's 8 pixels they want turned into a soaring eagle requiring hours of weeding. a lot of these hobbyists or would-be tycoons have no idea how much they're making and eventually wonder why they're working so much but aren't making any money. because they're clowns posing as 'business owners.' they've never even done a basic business plan available online for free, and that's where i suggest anyone start. doing vinyl is tricky because there are a lot of variables, that's why i think the ex just charged by the job and ballparked the work she thought was involved. she does a lot of shirts, though, she has a reputation built on years of being fair, correcting her rare mistakes, and charging a very competitive price for very good work, not to mention getting it done in a timely manner. some jobs are simply going to pay better than others. i won't tell you how to price something because there are so many ways of doing it. my suggestion is just to google it and look at what others do until you find a method that strikes you as being pretty reasonable. i personally would turn down a lot of work that my ex does just because i know it's not going to pay for itself and i don't like working for nothing. call me crazy... lol. i'm in the same boat in pricing as i'm wanting to tuft rugs this summer when i'm off from driving a school bus. i know who my customers are going to be, though, and there isn't any real competition that i'm aware of.

[@1MissEllyLove]

@@manlymcstud8588 thank you for your reply! As a stay at home mom to 5 little ones my time is unaffordable but I'm going stir crazy chasing 4 year old twins and NEED my creative outlet back. I keep sitting on my hands telling myself it's silly to buy materials to "waste" on practicing with no goal/business in mind. These skills took so much practice to build that I don't want to lose them but I have no idea what to use them for. I don't have the luxury of free time to start a business and the frustrations you mentioned are excellent reasons not too. Back to pushing around cheap paint on trash with cheap brushes just for the physical therapy. :/

[@manlymcstud8588]

@@1MissEllyLove yeah, your time is tight for sure. i would imagine money isn't exactly bountiful, lol. but, after a little while you can use the kids for child labour and call it playtime or something. there's absolutely nothing wrong with keeping it on a hobby level as a side gig, either. you did the right thing getting off etsy, that place is a rip-off! keep your skills up if you can, maybe you can use this time to build up a small clientele. most of the business i had with the ex was shirts. of course, 'we' did some storefront stuff like business hours for the door, some window things. we'd sold quite a bit of car decals, cheerleader stuff with names on it, that kind of thing. some stuff to go on tumblers. something you might enjoy, too, is sublimation. it takes a special printer and heat press, though, but that's just a whole new world of stuff you can do. there's so much you can do with a vinyl cutter and heat press. i've dealt with the kind of vinyl for these types of machines, and it's a nightmare. so, if you can someday swing a decent cutter and heat press, get a vendor's license and LLC, you can recoup your investment pretty quick if people know you're out there. suppliers will find you, lol. if i were to do it kind of for fun and not do shirts and that kind of thing and perhaps take the show to a flea market (yeah, that's a thing), i'd probably use it to make stencils for hobbyists.

[@1MissEllyLove]

@@manlymcstud8588 custom stencils are a good idea! I feel I'm best at the designing on the computer part but haven't had enough hands on with paint and a brush as I crave. My husband is an OR nurse so, frustratingly, time is even tighter than money around here. He's in an after hours surgery right now actually, hence why I'm here on KZbin learning to keep myself busy 😅 I have a heat press that I used twice then realized heat press vinyl feels so cheap compared to screenprinting or even fabric paint. I used metallic siser vinyls and layered original designs which turned out excellent only to crack in the wash/dry after only a few wears. Half of crafting these days feels like learning what NOT to spend our time on or using. I did 3 epoxy and alcohol ink tumblers with gold leaf and water slide decals before deciding to never touch toxic, plastic-crap epoxy again. I miss the gold leaf and alcohol ink part but 6 days of curing for 1 cup was more time than I am willing to wait for a project to dry and not trust the safety of it enough to use it (my dad died from stomach cancer and 3 years after making the cup the FDA approved food-safe epoxy STILL has a smell/taste to it I can't get past, even though it's only on the cup's exterior). I do ceramics and plaster mold making too and that's worth waiting several days and firings for the finished, forever result. The gold colored vinyl (oracal 651) bear family decals I made for my van 5 years ago are so sun bleached you can barely see them. I'm tempted to gild them instead with real gold leaf and see how they hold up. Vinyl has literally lost it's luster for me. I did a few large (12"x30') projects on the Silhouette Cameo and it's really been great for everything I've ever asked it to do. If I had the time I'd take it to events and do custom decals. Thanks for the stencil idea! I have a huge roll of oracal 631 that's supposed to be decent for stencil and some copper leaf I want to play with but I've hit artist's block on what seems worthy of spending my time and materials on.

[@jbob2014]

It's the first alcoholic, dairy based protin drink! 😂 love the video. I was just looking at making a sign for my friend's bar and ran into this. You definitely earned my subscription.

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much, glad you liked it!! 🍻💪

[@laurac4562]

just found your channel, going to have to binge watch all so that I can catch up. Subscribed also, keep them coming. thanks

[@happygilder]

Thanks for subscribing!! I hope you enjoy the vids!! 😀

[@darkscreensleepers3002]

Can't wait for more design tutorials. Just purchased the exact cutter like yours. Waiting for mail right now. Thanks for all the info! Looking forward for future vids..

[@happygilder]

Nice one, glad you’re getting started! I’ve had a few requests for design tutorials so I’ll definitely do some soon. I’ve also set up an Etsy shop selling some mirror design templates. There’s only a few in there at the moment but I’m going through my back catalogue of designs each night so I’ll gradually add more :)

[@cambridgestainedglass3391]

Really enjoyed it!! Can't wait for the next vid!!

[@happygilder]

Cheers mate!!

[@poppopopp-k3j]

This comes timely! I was just looking into starting gilding myself. Please, keep your videos coming.

[@happygilder]

Thanks Poppy!! :)

[@lovedecors]

Fantastic, great video.

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much!!

[@HDAmodelworx]

Love your work. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I am fascinated and excited to learn how all these techniques are done! Thank you. Excellent videos,

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much!!!

[@Farrin_Music]

Brilliant. Very interesting! Look forward to more videos.

[@happygilder]

Thanks Ben!!

[@swarook927]

Fight Milk mirror awesome idea.

[@happygilder]

Thanks mate!!

[@dingdongden]

Yes, a brilliant set of videos which gives confidence to those willing to experiment in glass art. Just spent my easter sunday watching the full series. And the background music is compelling. Who is it playing.?

[@happygilder]

Thanks Den I'm really glad you're enjoying the vids. The music is from a website called bensound.com . They have loads of royalty free music

[@David-wm9lo]

Great video keep up the shows

[@happygilder]

Thanks David!!

[@jeinst1]

muchas gracias por tus videos

[@mreightytwenty8709]

Love it mate

[@happygilder]

Cheers mate!!

[@Kmunik8Au]

Excellent

[@happygilder]

Thank you!

[@jdemaestri4300]

Excellent video and thank you so much for sharing the information,definitely going to be following you! You Rock!!!

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much!!! 🙏

[@johnhayes6414]

I like all the glass on the wall. Sure would buy dvds how too on all types of techniques glue chipped wet guilded marble gilded etc. Framing Theirs not alot of info out there

[@happygilder]

Thanks! No need to buy DVD’s, I plan on covering all of those things in future vids. I’ve already done one on glue chipping and water gilding. I’m doing the marbling vid in a couple of weeks :)

[@eldeletrista]

Amazing video!! 🙌🏻 Did you olan to do one avout silver mirroring? It would be amazing!! Thanks for your dedication!!

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much! I have all of the chemicals for silvering but I've never done it successfully. So I'll keep trying and once I've mastered it, I'll do a video :)

[@eldeletrista]

Oh! It would be awesome, I tried too but wasn't truly succeful, thanks for all this work!

[@Nelly211506]

Nice video.

[@happygilder]

Thanks!

[@jaybsglassmirroretching6831]

Do you remove the vinyl once the paint dries or do you leave it on since it wont be seen?

[@happygilder]

I leave the vinyl on :)

[@michaelbalch2519]

Amazing videos, me and the other half really enjoying seeing your work. We have attempted to create something similar for at home (I use a sandblasting cabinet for stonework) however cut far too deep and quickly into the glass - most likely the wrong blasting substrate (we use 40/70 sinterball) - what do you use or recommend?

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much I’m glad you enjoy the vids! I use 120 grit aluminium oxide, pressure at 30-35psi Hope that helps :)

[@michaelbalch2519]

@@happygilder thank you :-) love your work.... next depressurise and empty we’ll give that a shot for the day

[@mikesfarmmikesfarm3977]

Do you norm put a backing paint layer over all of back to make your patterns more opaque ? What psi do you run to not disturb masking while sand blasting ? What grit size do you use ? Regards

[@happygilder]

Hi, the paint is sign writing enamel and it makes the etched areas completely opaque. I use 120 grit aluminium oxide and around 30-40 psi

[@vica3788]

use masking tape to hold the vinyl down before applying app tape

[@happygilder]

Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely be doing that in future!

[@creast56]

Really excellent set of videos. I have just binge watched the set! I have no experience with vinyl but browsing the net seems to give a huge range of vinyls for different applications. What type do you use? Many thanks and keep up the brilliant work!

[@happygilder]

Thanks very much, I’m glad you’re enjoying them! I have always bought my vinyl from eBay and just search for ‘self adhesive vinyl roll’. The size I buy is: 5m x 610mm

[@1MissEllyLove]

@@happygilder will 631 Oracal work or do we need a heavier or lighter tack? Thank you so much for all the fantastic info and tips!!!

[@happygilder]

@@1MissEllyLove I’ve never used the vinyl you mentioned so I don’t know if it would work. The stuff I use is just cheap self adhesive vinyl that I buy off eBay.

[@Kevin-tc3ob]

where you get that white application tape all i can find on amazon is clear tape

[@happygilder]

I can't find any on Amazon, but if you search 'Vinyl application tape' on eBay, you should be able to get some from there

[@omare777]

Hi Paul, i just bought a sandblast cabinet, and the recomend to buy an aircompresor with 13cfm at 90psi, but reading one of your replies, you said you use 40psi, so, what do you recomend? (just setting things to tech up my hobbie)

[@happygilder]

Hi, that's great news I'm glad you're taking it up as a hobby! I have my blaster set to 30-40psi. Any higher and you're likely to blast through the vinyl. I would definitely do a few tests before committing to a setting :)

[@omare777]

Unfortunately here in my country, i can’t just test before buying. So, i was wondering the specs your air compressor have. It looks small comparing with the one my cabinet sugests lol.

[@happygilder]

@@omare777 My air compressor is too small for what I need it for so I have to keep stopping for it to catch up. Sounds like you got the right one for the job :) I meant doing tests on bits of glass before taking time to pick a design. Just safer in case the blaster is set too powerful.

[@omare777]

@@happygilder well, i'll let you know once i set things up, and you'll be the first one to know when i make a custom mirror on it. :)

[@happygilder]

@@omare777 awesome! :D

[@K9hardcase]

Subbed 🙏🇳🇿

[@happygilder]

Thank you!