Christmas Starburst Continued

A couple of weeks ago I did a small post about the Starburst I wanted to make. I thought it went up. but this week I realized it probably hadn't.  

So Here is the missing post.  

I had already started my starburst and had pieces glued in before I even considered putting it on a blog. So there is a pretty important photo missing. I was in Michael's and found a round wood "block". They had one that was  5" diameter, 1" thick for $.99. I brought it home and set it on my Quilting Mat marking the vertical, horizontal and cross lines

                                                                  Badly improvised shot 

I drilled a hole at each of those marks then added 2 in between. Giving a total of 24. I then carried it to the store with me to find dowels that fit. You could buy a package of precut dowels but I wanted mine longer.  I bought 12 dowels, making sure to watch for straight ones, then with Painters tape, I taped them together and cut them a bit off center so every other one was longer.  

One tip is to lay all the dowels parallel to spray paint. I had already glued mine in. It took 2 cans to cover each individually. Spraying them together will save you paint.  

Next up are the mirrors. I wanted different sizes. JoAnn's had the best price. I was able to get a package of 4-2" mirrors for $.99. Everywhere else was about double that. The price for 24-1", was about the same everywhere, usually just over $2.00.

5" flat mirrors are available at any of the stores. But I took the advice of the wonderful Epbot.com and bought a 5" blind spot mirror from O'rileys for $8.00. I considered driving around to find a better price, then decided I would waste as much in gas as I might save. It came on a plastic base with a large mounting bracket on the back so out comes the Dremel tool. (and a smile on my face)

It is slightly rounded giving a little extra dimension to the starburst. 

Now here is where the "Mel" brain kicks in. I wanted to make sure I had a secure mount on the mirrors,  and sitting them on top of a rounded dowel hoping the glue would hold wasn't working in my mind. I grabbed some fabric from the stash. I did the blue to see it better but I actually used muslin which was cut much more flat and a little wider than the mirror. 

Pinching it together, I added hot glue at the ends.

Making a nifty little sleeve that wraps around the dowel. 

I then slide them on figuring out how I wanted mine to look. Once each mirror was placed I went back and glued them down. 

The last step is setting the rounded mirror. I used E6000 Glue. 

 I placed a soft cloth on top of the mirror and set a book over that till it set. Then clean off the mirrors and try to stay away from a teen age, blond daughter just itching to touch each one as you cleaned it. 

And that's it.  

Pretty Huh?  

I did add some wood rounds that will hopefully tie it into my new accent I'm making for the Christmas tree. (Christmas Swirl post) They are neutral enough that I think this sun burst will be staying put for a while.  

See you next week.