At Cut Plastic Sheeting we love to see our materials being used in clever and creative ways.One of our favourite uses for two-way mirror is to create a magic mirror powered by the tiny and affordable Raspberry Pi computer.Most people only know about two-way mirrors from the interrogation rooms in crime dramas. They are of course great for surveillance, but artists and tech craftsman have also come up with incredibly clever ways to use these unique, reflective acrylic sheets. Whether you need to use it to observe or impress, here’s some of the inspired ways others have used our two-way acrylic mirror to create magic mirrors.
First, what is a magic mirror?
A magic mirror is a very general term given to a mirror which is fitted with a computer ( usually a Raspberry Pi) and a screen of some sort, so that it can display information such as weather forecasts, upcoming calendar appointments, news updates and even just the time and date.You can’t see the edge of the screen, which is hidden behind the mirror, so only the bright white text shows through. Giving a super cool sci-fi-esque appearance.The secret to the magic behind magic mirrors is that the mirror part is not normal mirror, but instead two-way mirror. More about that below…What is two way mirror?
Two way mirror is also known as double-sided mirror (and confusingly – one way mirror) is named as such because it is only fully reflective on one side. The other side lets in half the light that hits it, and reflects the other half – thus allowing one side to be seen through, but not the other.The reason those police surveillance rooms are always so dark is the dim setting allows very little light to be reflected back, allowing you to see everything on the other side whilst remaining completely covered. Banks, supermarkets and education/health assessment rooms all use them, and recording equipment can be set up to capture everything that comes through.How to make a magic mirror
As you would expect, there are lots of guides on the internet for making a Raspberry Pi magic mirror, here’s a few which we found most useful: Remember, once you have measured up your mirror, we can supply high quality two way acrylic mirror cut to your exact size requirements.We hope you found this page useful, if you have used any of our cut to size materials in your magic mirror project then we’d love to hear from you.Please feel free to contact us on Facebook or Twitter.For more information on Acrylic, Perspex, MDF, Dibond and Polycarbonate please visit our Guide and Blog sections of the website.
Cut Plastic Sheeting are based on the south Coast in Ivybridge, Devon UK. We have a full manufacturing facility which enables us to offer Cut To Size Acrylic as well as Cut To Size MDF. Shop our full range of products, including our Clear Acrylic, coloured acrylic and more recent MDF Wood Sheet ranges.
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