Sunburst mirrors have been everywhere this season! Skip the steep price tag and make one yourself at home! I came across this quick tutorial from fellow blogger Kirsten who blogs over at KsaraDesigns. With a few simple supplies and some crafting skills, this is a DIY anyone can do. Keep reading for full instructions.
Materials:
- Wood shims (4 packs of 42 count, 12″ long shims, and 8 packs of 14 count, 8″ long shims from Lowes)
- Wood glue
- Gorilla glue
- Round mirror
- Gold spray paint
- Thin plywood sheet for backing
- Hanging hardware
Directions:
1) Layout your shims in groups of 9 for the longer shims and groups of 7 for the shorter shims and start gluing them together
2) Lay out your groups of glued together shims in a sunburst pattern and let them dry for at least 2 hours
3) When the rays are dry, start gluing them to each other and to the plywood backing and spray paint them gold when everything is dry
6) Coat the back of the mirror with Gorilla glue and place your mirror in the center. Weigh down the mirror with books to make sure it dries in place
7) Once dry, attach two screws in the plywood and hanging wire. And…voila!
Great idea!! What size mirror did you use?
Hey Megan! This mirror is a 14″ diameter beveled mirror from Michaels. Hope this helps!
XOXO,
Suzy Q
I would use a smaller mirror so that the cool shim layout shows.
Looks great. How heavy is it?
Hey Kristie!
The wood shims are actually fairly light so you shouldn’t have a problem hanging up the mirror. Give it a try this weekend, the project is so easy!
XOXO,
Suzy Q
Great job. Shims have same thickness on both end if I am correct. yours look like one side(inner) is thinner than the other (outer) side. Did yoy sand it?
Hi,
If you really want you can sand the shims to get them extra smooth! They don’t already come that smooth from the hardware store, so it would be good idea to do so.
Suzy Q
I made this yesterday and I needed way more shims for mine. Its ended up HUGE. I needed eight packs of small shims and the same of large ones. So about 50 bucks of shims. I got the original amount but it went less than 3/4s of the way around for me.
That said, it is totally beautiful! I used a smaller mirror and I’m leaving the shims as is. I like the shabby chic thing. I’m going to try it out again but maybe I can make it smaller this time. Right now its about 30 inches across. No idea how that happened. If I can make them in different sizes I’ll cover the wall behind my bed with different sized sunbursts!
Sounds like you have your hands full Marie! Glad the DIY worked out well for you, thanks for sharing!
XOXO,
Suzy Q
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just to follow up from an earlier question posted, but the shims are the same thickness end to end. how did you taper them. did you sand each of them on one end? I’m excited to work on this!
Hi Anushree! Glad you are enjoying this DIY project! The wood shims were already bought like this, 2 different sizes were used: 4 packs of 42 count, 12″ long shims, and 8 packs of 14 count, 8″ long shims from Lowes.
Hope this helps and happy DIY-ing!
- Suzy Q
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Ok, so this is a silly question I suppose since nobody else had a problem with this. The 12 in go together and the 8 in. go together but how are they glued together. It looks like the larger ones on yours are pretty uniform in their pattern for each burst. Was there a specific way you did it or was it random? Looks like maybe the outer of each burst are the lowest at the skinny end? I’m over thinking it I’m sure.
Hi! Looks like it was done pretty much at random, just make sure to glue them to the plywood at the back to secure them and your good to go! Hope this helps!
Suzy
Yes, it is coming together nicely, thank you!!