Starburst

This one is mine:
Inspired by:


And the directions

TOOLS:

• 1 convex mirror (sold at automotive stores as a blind-spot mirror) the only convex mirror i could find had a black plastic shell that was hard to remove. I broke 2 convex mirrors before I gave up and found a 4" flat mirror
  
• 1 cardboard disc the same size as the convex mirror (about 1/2" thick). A wooden disc could work as well. i used a wooden disk
  
• 12" dowel rods
  
• 12" skewers
  
• Permanent marker
  
• Mounting hardware
  
• Ruler
  
• Silver-leaf water-based gold-leaf i used silver spray paint
  
• Sizing brushes
  
• Hot glue
  
• Round mosaic mirrors in 3 sizes (100 mirrors in total)

STEPS:

1. First, the plastic around the convex mirror had to be removed. It was held in place with glue but was able to be removed with steam.
   
2. Next, I found the center of the cardboard disc and used a permanent marker to divide the disc into 16 equal segments with a ruler (like a pizza).
   
3. Then I hot-glued the dowel rods directly on the lines so the dowels would be evenly spaced and radiate out from the disc. I then added a wooden skewer in between the dowels for variety.
   
4. After everything was glued in place, I brushed on a water-based gold-leaf sizing and let it sit until tacky (about 30 minutes).
   
5. After it was tacky, I took 1 sheet of silver leaf at a time and began to cover the dowels, skewers and center with it. I used a brush to adhere the silver leaf to the sizing and brushed away any excess.
   
6. After everything was silver leafed, I used hot glue to adhere the convex mirror on top of the smooth side of the center disc. (The dowels were glued to the back).
   
7. I then randomly hot glued the small round mirrors to the skewers and dowels (approx. 3 mirrors per "arm").
   
8. Mounting hardware was then hot glued to the finished mirror.

RESOURCES: An automotive parts store was my best source for this project. I found a convex mirror for $2.99!