Escape Tunnel In Your Living Room: A Different Take On The Infinity Mirror

Most infinity mirrors are just minor variations on the same old recipe. Take a frame, add a normal mirror in the back, a one-way mirror on the front, and put some LEDs between them. [Stevens Workshop] took a slightly different approach and built an escape tunnel coffee table that really caught our attention.

To create the tunnel and ladder illusion, [Steven] kept the mirrors, but made a deeper wood frame, installed a light bulb in an industrial-looking socket instead of the usual LEDs, and added a single ladder rung. The end result makes for a very interesting conversation piece, and some of us prefer it to the multicolored LED look. Though he added his own touches, the idea was actually borrowed from from [asthhvdrt36] and [BreezleSprouts] on Reddit who used slightly different light and ladder designs.

While there’s nothing groundbreaking here, it’s certainly a case of “why didn’t I think of that”. Sometimes the old and familiar just needs a different perspective to create something fascinating. One of the advantages of the classic infinity mirror is the thin profile, which we’ve seen integrated into everything from guitars to coasters.

26 thoughts on “Escape Tunnel In Your Living Room: A Different Take On The Infinity Mirror

  1. If the light cowling were cut in half and then placed right against the mirror, it would halve the frequency of lights relative to rungs, which I think would be a lot nicer. Another use of that technique would be to halve the depth of box by also cutting the rung.

      1. If, as UnderSampled suggests, you put the light against the mirror (that is, against the inside bottom of the box, and not against the top, partially-silvered pane), the first visable light will be on the bottom, and will look “whole”.

    1. Isn’t the repetition always going to be the same for everything inside?

      I’d think your idea would make the first light about twice as far away, but the distance between repetitions isn’t going to change so you’d still have the same frequency.

    1. Unfortunately due to the way the mirrors create the effect, every other torch would be upside down. That’s why this type of build typically uses vertically symmetrical elements.

    1. True although a bit more expensive.

      I don’t think it would be nearly as noticeable if the stain were consistent on the vertical rails and applied with the grain. As it is now there is a dark band of stain around the end of it where additional stain was applied against the grain and around the rail. You can see it on the pictures on the instructables page as well.

      Nonetheless, it’s a great looking project! I like this better than the traditional infinity morrors.

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