DIY Sunburst Mirror

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!  I enjoyed a much needed break and am back and ready to wrap up 2010.  Now that we're all back from family time and pigging out on leftover snacks (or is that just at my house?) I wanted to share a step by step recap of my DIY sunburst mirror that I completed right before N and I left for Houston on Thursday.

First I gathered my supplies:

• Several packages of 1/8 in round wooden dowels (I ended up using 2.5 packages of 30 for my mirror and found them at Hobby Lobby)
• 10" round mirror
• Silver spray paint (make sure it can adhere to plastic)  
• 10" round plastic ceiling medallion (I found mine on the fan and light fixture aisle at Home Depot for $7.99)
• Protractor
• Cardboard that you can cut into a 10" circle (I used a shirt box from Gap)
• Hot glue gun
• Metal picture hanger (mine was 1 inch long)

Now, you'll need to remember some Geometry.  I traced the ceiling medallion onto the cardboard and cut out the circle.  I used the protractor to mark the center and began drawing lines every 45 degrees, and then again to split those areas into 22 degree sections.  Then, trace an 8" and a 6" circle in the center of the original one (I traced bowls, it doesn't have to be exact).   If you want your sunburst to have points like mine, you'll also want to mark each section with diagonal lines to indicate what direction the dowels will go.

That all sounds way more complicated than it was, I promise!

That's the Choctaw Nation newspaper, in case you're wondering...

Next, I began to lay out my wood pieces in the space between the two smaller circles.  I made a dot along the 8" circle at each 22 degree marker and glued the first dowels down with a dot of hot glue.  Then, I glued three dowels in the space between each of the ones I already glued down.  I staggered them in a stair step pattern following the pattern I marked and just eyeballed the spacing (probably not the best decision, but splitting an already small slice into three pieces was going to be tedious). 

Then, I took my wooden sunburst and the plastic ceiling medallion out to the backyard and spray painted it silver.  I only needed one coat, but I let it try for about 3 hours before touching it.  Then, I used TONS of hot glue to attach the ceiling medallion to the wooden dowels.  I let that dry while I watched Big Bang Theory, then used more glue to attach the mirror to the front of the ceiling medallion and put a book on top of everything so it would set overnight.

Finally, I used super glue to attach my picture hanger and then hung the finished product in an empty spot by the window.

 

Overall, I invested about $11 and I'm really happy with the end product.  Every comparable mirror I saw online was at least $150 and since these probably aren't going to be in style for decades to come I didn't want to invest much.  

What should I make next?