Sunburst Mirror Embellished

One project crossed off the list for the Master Bedroom Makeover! 

 Autumn from Design Dump designed my bedroom and she suggested making a knock-off of an expensive sunburst mirror.

 inspiration sunburst mirror 

We were going to start from scratch, but a few weeks ago, I came across a plain jane sunburst mirror in Craft Warehouse for around 50 dollars.  I caved in and bought it because it was metal...and would not fall apart.  Very important- if that thing is going to be hanging above our heads while we sleep!  I knew that with a little embellishing this mirror could be fantastic!

Except one problem that I did not notice until it was time to start gluing. I must have looked at this mirror a hundred times and never noticed one of the spindles was missing! It looks like it was never welded on.

Oops! The mirror was on closeout, so I knew there were probably no more.  So I started hunting the house down for anything metal and spindle-ish.  I found an old antenna, and with my metal snips and several applications of E6000 glue, I stuck it on! :)

  That glue is SO great!

Hopefully nobody will notice.  :)

To embellish the mirror, I found Rhinestone stickers 40 percent off at Michaels,

 and for the ends I rummaged my craft bead bin. I attached each one permanently with E6000 glue.

I picked up about 80 small circular mirrors at the craft store.  The sunburst mirror already had metal plates perfect for placing the mirrors onto.  I did add about 30 more mirrors, using just the glue. I think mine went on straighter than the factory made plates!

In the sneak peek post, I hinted that I was using stained glass materials for the mirror.  Nicole gave me a clever idea to frame each tiny mirror using copper foil and solder, to look more like the inspiration picture.  Nicole has experience with making stained glass. (I am the proud owner of a few of her pieces.) The plan was to wrap each mirror with adhesive copper foil tape and then solder each mirror. 

After wrapping eighty and trying to solder just one mirror....I thought it would be perfectly fine to just use the copper tape as the frame.  I know Nicole would help me with about anything, but it might be asking too much to have her solder 80 + mirrors for me! 

The copper tape was fairly easy to work with and stays put.  After the gold spray paint was added, 

 I think it gives the illusion of being soldered. (At least that's what I'm telling myself!)

To minimize spray paint over spray, I tried my best to cover the large mirror and added several circle stickers over each tiny mirror. The clean up was much easier! 

(My boys thought the mirror was much cooler with the colorful circles.) 

I sprayed the mirror with Rust-Oleum Advanced Formula pure gold spray paint.  It's in the same can as the ORB paint that I love so much.  It sprayed so evenly with great coverage, in fact.. I didn't even prime it!

This was a creative fix for a bland mirror.  Autumn intends for me to hang the mirror by chain over several panels of curtains. ( I have a large window above my bed.)  How cool is that?  I hung it temporarily in my family room and I love it....I may even be tempted to find another one to embellish because I love it so much!

We've been thinking of adding new lighting to go along with the mirror and have been checking out Kichler Lighting.  They have some gorgeous options that would fit perfect with this room!

Stay tuned for many more projects! :)

 Sharing with ~

Centsational Girl's Paint Projects Link Party