Twinkle Twinkle Little Starburst

I've been in total house editing mode lately. With a year of home ownership under my belt, it feels good to finally be doing some smaller projects. I'm coming full circle and returning to where I started. 1 year later I have finally figured out what I wanted over the TV in my bedroom. I've been thinking about it for awhile, and then one day it hit me. I was in Target and saw one of those Starburst mirrors. It was elegant and sophisticated yet still interesting. The price tag though was $60. I thought about it for a second. It was actually pretty decent compared to others that I had seen, but as usual it also looked like something I could probably make myself. So, I did a little Google-tubing and found that they are actually pretty easy and inexpensive to create. This is the idea that I was going for.

Well sort of. I wasn't going for this one exactly, but you get the picture. I was so excited about this project I started working on it immediately. First I tested out the size. I was going to make a mock template out of craft paper when I noticed my front door mat. It was 32" in diameter, and though smaller than I had originally pictured actually worked out quite nicely. 

I drew out my design first. I sketched out a few different ideas, but finally settled on the one you see below. I carefully made a list of all the materials I needed. The goal was to finish this project in one night.

I made a quick sweep through Walmart and Michaels and collected everything I needed. Honestly, I still wasn't sure about a few of the pieces so I definitely bought lots of extra things just in case. 

I started with the center piece. I decided on a 6" mirror. For the frame however I had NO clue what to use. I debated several ideas from flower pot dishes, a styrofoam ring, cardboard, and even a plate at one point. I ended up using a wooden circle I found at Michaels and an embroidery ring. The ring was not large enough to reach all the way around the base so I glued down what I could and then used wood glue and filler to fill in the gap. It wasn't very big so it wasn't too bad. 

While I let the center piece dry and set, I moved on to the "burst". Now based on what I had seen I wasn't going for a really full or crowded look. First I cut out a circle using mat board as a base, and marked where all of my pieces would go to cut out the guess work. I mixed a combination of 13", 11", and 9" pieces. I decided to go with wood because for me it was the cheapest and most practical material. I found a pack of 12" sticks at Walmart for $1. The longer pieces I got from Michaels.

I started with the longest sticks first. One by one I added a dab of hot glue and secured them to the circle.

Once the long ones were set I added the shorter ones. I alternated the 11" and 9" pieces between each open space. 

And just like that...the burst was created. See, I told you this was going to be an easy project. It only took me about an hour to get all of the sticks glued down. Then I moved it into the garage to paint it. I was going for a more metal like look, so I laid down some cardboard and used Krylon Spraypaint in Metallic. 

With that out of the way, I went back to the center piece. In addition to the wooden sticks I wanted a smaller layer to fill in the gaps even more and make it a little fuller towards the center. However I didn't want to use wood. I had no idea what I was going to use in the beginning, but ended picking up floral wire. I folded the wire in half, added the hot glue, and then held it in place until it dried. I repeated the process until I covered the entire circle. 

I wanted the center piece to be a darker silver that the burst piece to create contrast. So I spray painted the wire silver and then painted the whole thing with craft paint in the color Gunmetal. 

All I had to do now was add the mirror and I was done. I added glue to the inside and set the mirror on top, then flipped the whole thing over and glued the burst piece to the back. This is the moment when I got a little happy and tried to turn it over to marvel in my handy work, but it wasn't fully dry and shifted. So I left it and let it dry overnight.

So now comes the crazy part...I'm actually making a cover for the mirror. See the thing is I already have a mirror in my room, and I thought adding this one might be a little overkill. However, I wanted the option to have it in the future if I wanted to. I found some decorative paper at Michaels and used a glue stick to attach the top ring to the paper. Glue sticks aren't the strongest adhesive so I can easily rip the paper off if and when I change my mind.

Once it dried I cut the excess around the edge and slid it on top of the mirror. 

All I had left to do now was hang it. It actually was pretty light weight based on the materials I used so I didn't need anything too heavy duty. Being that the center piece was wood, I drilled a couple of screws into the back, and made loop out of wire. I exercised the utmost caution to not go too far and let the screw hit the mirror. That would have caused full on disaster.

The final product....

*Cue the cheers* Isn't it FANCY! I love it. Not bad for 2 nights work. Easiest and cheapest project I've done in months. I would say the whole thing cost around $15. Here's what it looks like on the wall.

It goes perfectly in the space. I have a confession though. I was really into it, and then I started to write this blog post. In my efforts to find an example, I started thinking that mines is a little sparse. I feel like it needs to be fuller and more dramatic. So, in the future don't be surprised if you see it and it looks different. Honestly don't ever be surprised if anything just suddenly changes. That's pretty much how I roll around here. Until then.....It's on to the next project.