"I read in your web site about special frames/material to illuminate the glass and make the images come alive. Would you mind sharing your secret? Where I could buy the materials or the technique you've mastered?"

I agree with you about the light rope, I have found that there is just not enough light that is given off from it. Generally, the stronger the light source, and the deeper the etch into the glass/mirror, and the thicker the medium, the better the piece will be edge illuminated.

I have found that the best light source for back-lighting mirrors is fluorescent lighting. Either behind the mirror in a cavity in the wall, or in a unit as you would see an illuminated plastic sign. You have to be careful to place it far enough from the surface so that the bulbs are diffused some, and that they will not over heat the glass (also if you can include the plastic panel that comes with many fluorescent light fixtures, this will diffuse the light so that you can't see the bulbs in the image). Depending upon the image size and shape that you have to light, you can select the type of bulb for your application.

I have also used small Christmas tree bulbs to light behind a mirror - they work fairly well, but the general room lighting must be rather subdued. These can be positioned in strategic places behind the image, and you can even use different coloured bulbs on the same image (although if the colour is critical, and you don't want spill from one to another, you will have to place small cardboard dividers between the bulbs on the areas of the mirror that you have not etched (of course far enough away so that it won't overheat).

For edge lighting on clear glass, I again use fluorescent bulbs (the single bulb variety). This has a disadvantage of requiring the frame to be large enough to cover the bulb and fixture, but an ingenious design of the frame can make it look like it's not just covering something up! I create a cut where the mirror/glass is sitting, and place acrylic strips across the cut to support the glass (these can be placed where they will not interfere with the light coming from the source to the etched image. If you are going to light on more that one side, the glass will have to be supported on each side by these strips so that the glass will not shift in the frame.

There is a product made by Armour Etch that is sold to remove the silvering from mirrors. I don't know how this works, as I have never used it, but use sand etching instead.

With sand etching, you have to create a vinyl (or equivalent) stencil so that the areas that you do not want to have the mirroring removed from will be protected from the flying sand. (Remember that you are working from the rear of the mirror - when you have the image etched, and look at it from the front, it will be in reverse to how you are viewing it from the rear - in other words, any text or a mirror sensitive image must be etched "backwards".)

Once the resist is created, you can etch off the mirroring by using the sand blast technique. If you have many small areas of resist to leave mirrored, you will have to be careful not to use to high an air pressure (this will remove the resist along with the mirroring - not a happy result!)