More Sunburst Mirrors - "A Grouping of Sunburst Mirrors"

More SUNBURST MIRRORS to blog about.  I was inspired by this drawing I saw in the newspaper recently.  I liked the way the sunbursts looked on the wall.  I quickly visualized doing something like that on my foyer wall.  So I . . . . 

 gathered my supplies and began working on the first of many. For the backing I found a wooden plate at Hobby Lobby. Next, I decided to use wooden dowels (pkg. of 20) I found at Michaels, instead of skewers. 

I needed at least five packs. Whenever I go to Michaels or any craft or fabric stores, I always print out coupons to cut down on costs. I had to make several trips to get the items I needed at discounted prices. I figured the total cost (including mirrors) for this project, just under $20.00.  Wooden dowels are much thicker and easier to work with than skewers. Sorry to say, I've tried making a sunburst mirror out of skewers before and got very frustrated because I could not glue them on straight, no matter out hard I tried. I would start out placing them on, like clock hands, at 3, 6, 9 and 12, but once I tried filling the skewers in between, somehow they would become slanted. Thanks to a tutorial I found on sunburst mirrors, www.bystephanielynn.com, I was able to find and print out a circle template with "16 slices".  I really needed this!   Thank you Stephanie Lynn!!! 

After gluing the template to the wooden plate, I drew extended lines to the end of the plate.




I then used the lines  as a guide to adhering the dowels in the pattern shown. I didn't have to cut any sticks which made the gluing process move along quickly. I worked my way around the entire circle using the selected pattern.  

I quickly decided to add two more dowels to the pattern.
This made for a more interesting design.

 Using a hot glue gun allowed me to paint right after I finished gluing on the last dowel.  I picked out a Metallic Satin Nickel Finish spray paint by Krylon for my sunburst.  After spraying, I let it dry for 24 hours.  Sometime ago, I had gotten a 12 inch bevel mirror at  AC Moore. I was going to use it on this project, but since the wooden plate was 14 inches, I wanted a larger mirror and  found a 14" bevel mirror at Michaels. To make things interesting, I decided to glue the smaller mirror on top of the larger one.

After attaching a hanging claw to the back using two small nails, I hung my Beautiful Sunburst Mirror in my foyer where it is proudly on display in anticipation of the rest of the "Grouping of Sunburst Mirrors".

UPDATE:
I recently finished more sunbursts to hang in my foyer.     I am having so much fun in making these!!  

I tried different patterns in arranging the skewers or rods.

 I hung them on the wall and I'm very thrill with the way they look!  Not exactly what I started out to do.  I think because the area is wider, the look is different.  You can't get the full effect just by looking at the pictures. I don't know if it's my camera or my novice picture taking abilities.

Anyway, I love it!!  Now I'm thinking about making smaller sunburst mirrors and adding them to the wall.


ENJOY!