DIY Sunburst Wallart

Now you know what I've been up to these past few days and the answer to my preview question here. I just love sunburst mirrors / art. There are actually a lot of DIY projects online using all kinds of materials and now I've finally gotten around to doing my own version of it for Miley's room.

But first, let me give you a little background. It all started when I saw this mirror in one of the posh furniture stores in G4. The style of the rays really caught my eye but the price tag was something not to be desired.

I was then in National Bookstore where I saw these corrugated papers. Now doesn't the texture look like the rays from the expensive mirror? Hmmm... I could already feel an arts & crafts project coming along.

I was going to use a mirror but then I happened to see these round cork trivet pads at Handyman on sale. They came in a set of 3 and I decided to use the smallest one with a 5.5" diameter for this project.

I could already picture what I wanted to do in my head. I was going to create a sunburst piece of art without even using a glue gun. I mean what else would you use on a corkboard? Thumbtacks!

Anyway, here are the materials:
- corrugated paper from National Bookstore - P69.50 per pack
- round cork trivet pad from Handyman - P125 (50% off) for a set of 3
- thumbtacks - P20.75 (100 pcs)
- pencil / pentel pen
- ruler
- scissors
- bond paper
- thread
- adhesive picture hook from Handymay - P89.75 (pack of 2 hooks)

Before I cut up my corrugated paper, I wanted to do a sample first on bond paper just to check the sizing and layout. I ended up with 16 rays arranged this way - 8 inner rays, then 8 outer, longer rays in between.

This is the final measurement of each ray:

After I was happy with the size and arrangement of the rays, I was ready to cut up my corrugated paper. Just follow the sizing of the bond paper ray and then trace the template on the back of the corrugated paper (the smooth part). Each paper can fit 3 rays based on my sizing.

The corrugated paper comes in many colors but I chose to stick with the warm tones of yellow and orange, with a little bit of pink and white mixed in. These colors fit best in Miley's room and this way it would really look like a sun.

I then marked one side of the cork with lines dividing it equally into 8 sections. This will act as my guide when placing my rays.

I also marked the back of the rays as a guide, so that they'll all have the same height when I stick them in.

The hardest and longest part of this project for me was deciding how I wanted to arrange the colors of the rays. After a couple of mixing and matching, I was ready to stick them in!

Start with the 8 inner rays first. Just align each ray on the center of the line and then stick the tumbtack in. Super easy!

After finishing with the first layer, just stick the outer rays in between the inner rays.

The thumbtacks hold the rays firmly in place but if you're worried about them moving around, you can always put masking tape in between the rays to make sure they stay put. Now turn the whole thing over!

Now I didn't buy all those thumbtacks for nothing. I placed them around in a circle on the front just to add another layer of texture and so that it wouldn't look too plain.

Now to the hanging part. I bought adhesive picture hooks at Handyman. The sunburst art is super light so no need to worry about the hook falling off because of the weight.

I then looped a piece of thread between 2 thumbtacks. Like I said, the whole thing is so light so I'm pretty confident this will hold.

And here is the finished product hanging nicely on the wall. The diameter of the whole thing is roughly 20" and I just love it! Miley calls it "Mr. Sun". =)

Total cost of the whole thing? About P300! And it only took about an hour to do. Not bad for a fun and unique piece of wall art. What's great is you can be flexible with the materials. For example, you can use regular cartolina or poster board if you don't have corrugated paper. If you prefer using a mirror, you can also do so by using a glue gun to attach the rays. Anyway, I'm planning to do the mirror version of this so watch out for that soon. =)