July 31, 2020

DIY Mid-Century Sunburst Mirror

DIY Mid-Century Modern Mirror

By Kris Hurst

As part of our browsing collection, Ignite Studio offers access to Make: magazine. Make: has a great website that includes links to the projects, kid’s “camp” activities, and images showcasing maker creations around the world. Make: focuses on DIY projects that involve anything from ordinary items to mini computers, 3D printing, and many traditional art forms like paper mâché, metalsmithing, and woodworking. Some items are made for fun, like embroidery animation; others address global issues, like COVID-19 mask making; and some combine both, like the soap dispenser that plays 20 seconds of music to aid in timed handwashing. All of the projects are rated by time required, difficulty level, and cost.

Since I love mid-century modern design, I was drawn to the “easy” rated mid-century sunburst mirror featured in Make: issue 72. Also, like many people, I’ve been feeling cooped up and wanted to bring a little more light into my space. If you aren’t able to visit our space, you can find Make:’s online instructions here. My modifications to their instructions and pictures follow.

Materials

  • Zip ties: I purchased a variety pack of zip ties at Menards that contained sizes from 4” to 12” for $4.
  • Glue gun: I own a glue gun and made sure I had a few glue sticks.
  • Mirror: I located a mirror at Michaels, also $4.
  • Spray paint
  • Cardboard

Instructions

My mirror was a bit larger than the one recommended. To fill in the extra space along the edge, I hot glued eight 6” black zip ties equidistant around the circumference, flat side down, and then added the 4” red zip ties in between. Directly above and over those, I glued the 8” white zip ties, flat side up, about every three ties. Next, I drew a concentric circle in the middle of the mirror back, about 1 ½” away from the edge. I then lined up the 8” white zip ties around the inner circle, flat side down, and glued them one by one. As suggested, I cleaned up the glue hairs as I went along. Next, the spray painting!

I chose a silver spray paint. After covering my mirror, I placed it on a large piece of cardboard outside. I used several coats, as suggested, front and back. The negative space from the spray paint was so pleasing that I went on to turn it into another fun sun piece using yellow tempera paint. Below is my completed silver sun. Not bad for less than $10!

DIY Mid-Century Modern Mirror

As the Beatles sang, “For tomorrow may rain, so, I’ll follow the sun.”