Weatherproof Sunburst Mirror

My husband and I just finished a major overhaul to our backyard (pictures to come soon). One of the finishing touches to complete this project was a piece of artwork to hang on our fence. All the images of Sunburst Mirrors I saw posted everywhere in the  "blog" world started to flood my imagination. The only problem was that I wanted my project to be somewhat sustainable to changes in the weather. Check out the tutorial on my weatherprooff sunburst mirror.

Your Supplies:

-2 Packs of 18 inch wood shims

-10 inch round mirror

-14 inch, 10 inch, and 8 inch metal craft rings

-Hot glue gun with glue that is made to adhere to wood and metal

-Gorilla Glue

-Wire for hanging

-Varathane Spar Urethane

Lay your two largest craft rings (14 and 10 inch) down and line up a few wood shims to get an idea of how they will line up before you start gluing like crazy! The skinny side of the wood shim will be towards the inside and the bottom of the shim will line up with your inner ring (10 inch ring). The 10 inch ring will be your guide for where to glue the first row of wood shims.  I used a hot glue gun with glue that was made to adhere to wood and metal.

Once you finish the first row start gluing a second row on top the row you just finished. On this row you will lay the shims between the gaps of the first row you glued. The top left hand side of the picture above shows the second row being glued down.

Now it is time to add your third craft ring (8inch). Just place the craft ring in the middle and start following the same pattern you did on the first two rows. Skinny side in and glue down the wood shims to both the craft ring and the base of your already finished first two rows. I did not line up the bottom of the wood shims along the craft ring on this row; I wanted a little more dimension between the layers of the wood shims. Complete your last and final row of wood shims. You should have four layers of shims total in the two different sections.

Once all the rows are finished, flip over your artwork, take a sneak peak and then glue on your mirror. Use Gorilla Glue to glue down the mirror. Place something heavy over the mirror and wood shims then walk away for 2-3 hours to allow the glue to adhere. At this point, I also added Gorilla Glue in the gaps between the metal craft rings and the wood shims. I figured the more glue the better!

To hang the mirror we simply slipped wire underneath the craft ring in two different places and twisted the ends closed.  If you don't need your sunburst mirror to be waterproof you are ready to hang your new artwork!

I covered the 10 inch mirror with cardboard and started coating all the wood with Varathane Spar Urethane. It dries clear, is odorless and provides protection from UV light and weather. I did not want to paint or stain every single wood shim so I asked the great employees at Home Depot if there was a good spray for weatherproofing. This was there suggestion. I did four coats on both the front and back of the sunburst mirror. Each coat I spayed in a different direction or pattern to ensure that I did not miss any spots.  



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