Halloween Props: A Spooky Mirror

This mirror will spook your guests with a variety of static and animated images. It includes a proximity sensor so the images will not appear until someone comes close enough to see themselves in the looking glass.

The electronic parts are quite easy to put together. There is a 32×32 RGB LED matrix mounted on the back of the mirror. It is driven by an IOIO board with some custom firmware written by [Ytai], the creator of that board who happens to live next door to [Alinke]. Where this starts to get interesting is when [Alinke] was working on the mirror to make the LEDs visible from the front. He used a razor knife to put hundreds of scratches in the varnish on the back. This lets just enough light through to see the LEDs, but keeps the mirrored surface reflective. See for yourself in the clip after the break.

The images are fed to the IOIO board by an Android device. We think this could have a lot of use after Halloween as a weather display or news ticker. Perhaps you could even feed it from your diy Android thermostat.

5 thoughts on “Halloween Props: A Spooky Mirror

  1. You can remove the paint backing on the mirror to reveal the bare reflective surface. The LEDs will shine through that reasonably well, and you won’t have the scratches showing through.

    1. agreed. I have removed the backing with acetone successfully, for an unrelated project. Some form of paint stripper might be better at the job…I had acetone on hand in the form of my wife’s nail polish remover.

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