DIY paper sunburst mirror! ~ Make Do and DIY

Who doesn't love a good starburst mirror?

Seems like everyone and their sister is getting in on the trend at the moment,

(which incidentally always makes me wonder if I'm just so cool that people follow in my footsteps, taste-wise...or if I'm just so oblivious that I've been seeing these things subliminally for ages and then think I came upon the inspiration honestly......the latter I suspect!)

but with their retro style and gorgeous gold glam-ness (totally a word) I think they are the perfect addition to any room. Any of MY rooms anyway ;)

So, I decided I wanted one for the big lonely space over my bed, which once our new diy headboard was in place just cried out for something dramatic (and round) to balance out the room. I had two options, pay over €100 for one from a home decor shop, or stalk my local secondhand shops in the hopes of getting incredibly lucky......

Now, I am both very cheap and very impatient, so clearly neither of these options was going to work.

Enter option three....try and make one myself!!!

So I typed "diy sunbirst mirror" into pinterest and quickly realised that you could make one out of paper, woohoo!! So that's what I did.

First, I decided on the style of mirror that I wanted, and from my research on pinterest it was clear that I favored the ones with angled edges. So my first step was to draw out templates for a longer and a shorter piece. The longer was 8 inches long, and the shorter 6.

I cut these out, and then used them to cut approximately 20 of each from white card. Once they were all cut out I folded them down the center so that they would have a 3D effect on my mirror.

pardon my pyjama-clad knee

I then laid the out in a circle and added a styrofoam ring (bought in a craft shop for a couple of euro) on top to get an idea of the spacing and what looked best.

Then it was out with the trusty hot glue gun to attach them all to the back of the ring. A dab on the folded point of each piece did the job.

I worked my way around the ring, alternating the long and short pieces, and keeping them very close together to make sure they "popped up" and didn't end up looking flat. When I finished and flipped it over this is what I had.....

I then spray painted this with Rustoleum gold (the regular kind, not the "bright metallic" I usually use as they were out of it when I went o buy it...but I think the duller, less brassy gold actually works better in this room, lucky!).

This is where I must admit I made a big mistake....apparently styrofoam really doesn't like spraypaint....as in, it melts on contact with it! So I was left with a kind of weird looking, melty surround for my mirror, but I decided it had character!...and also, I was not willing to go back and re-do the whole thing at that point. So I stuck my mirror (bought on ebay, but you can get them in B&Q) to the back of that sucker, glued sone string to the back so it could be hung off a command strip hook over the bed, and called it a day.

And here she is again in all her wonky glory.......