I've been wanting a starburst mirror for quite some time now, but I haven't been able to accept the price tag on them. Not only that, but each one I see that I like, there's still a little something I would like to change about them.Here are a couple that I like.
$365 (+64.49 shipping) = $429.49- We're saving for living room furniture, and this is more than we're putting back each month. I'm obviously not dropping that much on a single mirror. Plus, there's just a little much going on for me here.
$69 (+10 shipping) = $79 - I like the way this one looks a lot better, but still, almost $80 for one piece, more than I wanted to pay.
I started searching for tutorials and found this one pretty helpful. I did a few things differently, so I'll still provide a step by step.
Materials:
- A larger, round mirror (I used a 7 in. mirror from Michael's) - $4
- Smaller mirrors, mine range from 3/8" - 1" ( I got 2 mixed packs from Michael's and still have extra) - $4
- Wooden Skewers (I didn't even use half of them) - $2
- Metallic spray paint (I had some already, but you can find it for less than $5)
- Glue gun
- Glue sticks
- A piece of cardboard
* Picture hanging strips
(I already had the last few items)
Total cost - $10
(Prices are approximate. I bought the supplies several months ago and just got around to doing this project, and I took advantage of coupons.)
Even if you had to buy everything, you could still make this mirror for around $25, which is still much better than $80, and definitely better than $430!
Directions:
1) Spray paint the skewers. I used a silver metallic spray paint. I tried to paint them flat, then roll them over once they were dry, but some of them just kept rolling back over. I had a random piece of styrofoam laying around and I just decided to stick them all in there and give them a couple coats. This way, I could spray all the way around at once. I wish I would have thought of this at first!
2) Glue on your painted skewers. I wanted my skewers to be different lengths outside the mirror, but I didn't want to take the time to cut them, so I basically made the "shortest" ones meet in the middle. I did draw some lines on the back of the mirror, but since I ended up using an odd number of skewers, I didn't use them. I just eyeballed it and made sure they were evenly spaced. Once these were in place and I was satisfied, I placed a skewer in between each skewer, I moved these closer to the outside of the mirror, so they appear to be longer than the first ones.
3) Glue over the back of the skewers. I did this because this thing would hurt if it fell on someone. Call me paranoid, but it would really suck. Honestly, going back, I think it would be plenty stable on its own and this just added to the bulk (I'll visit that issue later in the post.)
Before gluing on the mirrors.
4) Turn over and glue on your mirrors. I arranged mine in a pattern on the floor beforehand so I could get an idea of what it would look like. This is not necessary, but I'm a bit OCD about things like this and I needed a pattern. Haha.
Practicing my arrangement.
5) Glue over the backs of the little mirrors. This is just for a little extra stability.
6) Cover the back. I used cardboard for this, but I wish I had used something different. It's thick and it makes the mirror stick out from the wall to the point where it bothers me, and you can actually see the cardboard. Depending on where you're hanging your mirror, this may not be an issue. It's pretty high up on our tallest wall (close to the peak of the top floor), so you can just look up and see behind it. I want to try to use something thinner. If that doesn't help, this baby will have to find a newer home. This is where cutting the skewers short may have helped. I didn't want mine to stick out as far as the ones in the tutorial and I though this was easier than cutting several inches off each one.
Overall, I'm very happy with this mirror. Even if I can't find a way to resolve the cardboard issue (I'll post it if I do), I like it a lot and I think I can place it somewhere else in the house where it's not as noticeable. :-)
I know you can't see it as well in this picture, but you can tell how high up it is this way. I'm starting to think it's maybe a little too high up. I may move it down a few inches or so. What do you think? Any ideas on an alternate back so it doesn't stick out so far?
Here is the back of it now.
I started searching for tutorials and found this one pretty helpful. I did a few things differently, so I'll still provide a step by step.
Materials:
- A larger, round mirror (I used a 7 in. mirror from Michael's) - $4
- Smaller mirrors, mine range from 3/8" - 1" ( I got 2 mixed packs from Michael's and still have extra) - $4
- Wooden Skewers (I didn't even use half of them) - $2
- Metallic spray paint (I had some already, but you can find it for less than $5)
- Glue gun
- Glue sticks
- A piece of cardboard
* Picture hanging strips
(I already had the last few items)
Total cost - $10
(Prices are approximate. I bought the supplies several months ago and just got around to doing this project, and I took advantage of coupons.)
Even if you had to buy everything, you could still make this mirror for around $25, which is still much better than $80, and definitely better than $430!
Directions:
1) Spray paint the skewers. I used a silver metallic spray paint. I tried to paint them flat, then roll them over once they were dry, but some of them just kept rolling back over. I had a random piece of styrofoam laying around and I just decided to stick them all in there and give them a couple coats. This way, I could spray all the way around at once. I wish I would have thought of this at first!
2) Glue on your painted skewers. I wanted my skewers to be different lengths outside the mirror, but I didn't want to take the time to cut them, so I basically made the "shortest" ones meet in the middle. I did draw some lines on the back of the mirror, but since I ended up using an odd number of skewers, I didn't use them. I just eyeballed it and made sure they were evenly spaced. Once these were in place and I was satisfied, I placed a skewer in between each skewer, I moved these closer to the outside of the mirror, so they appear to be longer than the first ones.
3) Glue over the back of the skewers. I did this because this thing would hurt if it fell on someone. Call me paranoid, but it would really suck. Honestly, going back, I think it would be plenty stable on its own and this just added to the bulk (I'll visit that issue later in the post.)
4) Turn over and glue on your mirrors. I arranged mine in a pattern on the floor beforehand so I could get an idea of what it would look like. This is not necessary, but I'm a bit OCD about things like this and I needed a pattern. Haha.
5) Glue over the backs of the little mirrors. This is just for a little extra stability.
6) Cover the back. I used cardboard for this, but I wish I had used something different. It's thick and it makes the mirror stick out from the wall to the point where it bothers me, and you can actually see the cardboard. Depending on where you're hanging your mirror, this may not be an issue. It's pretty high up on our tallest wall (close to the peak of the top floor), so you can just look up and see behind it. I want to try to use something thinner. If that doesn't help, this baby will have to find a newer home. This is where cutting the skewers short may have helped. I didn't want mine to stick out as far as the ones in the tutorial and I though this was easier than cutting several inches off each one.
Finished product!
Overall, I'm very happy with this mirror. Even if I can't find a way to resolve the cardboard issue (I'll post it if I do), I like it a lot and I think I can place it somewhere else in the house where it's not as noticeable. :-)
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