I think a sunburst mirror has been popular for a few years now and I have been totally crushing on it. Our living room needed something new over the fireplace and I thought why not try to make my own. While it has not gone out of style, there are beginning to be a lot more tutorials online to making your own. I have been scouring the web to find some that were easy enough and not overwhelming for me to follow. I found this one and this one which I followed to make my own DIY Paint Stick Starburst Mirror and it did not take me that long (always a bonus!).
Lay your rings with the smaller one in the inside. Start gluing your shims to the inner and outer ring with the edge lining up with the inside ring.
TIP: shims are angled at one end. Glue the smaller end to the inside ring.
. . . and go round your circle matching the ends up and give yourself a little room in between them for your next layer.
TIP: for this first layer I laid out my shims in a ring to make sure I liked the spacing first before gluing.
Next, glue your next layer of shims closer together and closer to the inside of your circle to create a fuller look but with them shorter than your first layer. And go round and round doing this method until you are happy with the fullness of your layers.
TIP: try to keep the inside of your circles as flat as possible for gluing your mirror too. This is a little tricky and you will want to go a little out of order when you are gluing your inside layers so the shims lay as flat as you can.
Next, I took my mirror outside and gave it a good spray of polyurethane to seal it. I also like the more golden color it made the shims. This is a completely optional step, I just like the look of the more glossy finish.
Lastly, glue on your mirror circle. I used hot glue and it seemed just fine but I know that some people have used gorilla glue and feel it is more secure. Pile on a top of your favorite books and leave overnight to set. And voila! You are done and have a fabulous mirror! Missed our post debuting my fireplace mantel after the holiday mess? Pop over HERE and get the details.
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How big in diameter did this end up being? Thanks
This was close to 60″ total. Big!