Mirror, Mirror/Sister, Sister

This year I wanted to DIY Christmas as much as I could. I did make a good majority of my gifts, which was perhaps more satisfying to me as the creator and giver than it was to the receiver... For most of the family it was fairly simple to think of what I wanted to make them, but my sister made it easiest of all. 

When I first moved in, I of course got right to work creating things for the walls. I had long admired a sunburst mirror made out of wood shims that I had seen online. So, I decided it would be the perfect accessory to replace the boring rectangle mirror in my bathroom. 

The untreated wood is exactly what I wanted for my campy-but-comfortable-feeling bathroom. Annie admired it and requested one for Christmas. As I had already decided on a DIY Christmas I took her seriously, and whether or not she really wanted it, she got it. 

She had said she would like a darker color for her home, and we debated painting one. Then, I thought of staining the wood which would still give it that natural feel, but fit more into her style. So, I gathered my supplies and started staining- with all the windows open of course....

I cut all the shims in half and then stained them. Once they were dry I started to glue them on to the back of the mirror, adding in layers to fill in the spaces. 

Unfortunately, this is the second try (which is why you can see dry glue on the pieces above). The first time, my circle turned out too wonky- I just couldn't handle it. So, I took it all apart (and may have said a couple of bad words). After a few days, I started to fit the pieces back together. I used a circle template to make sure the circle was coming out even. I knew it wouldn't be perfect, but honestly it should be closer to a circle than to a half-circle, half-oval. 

Once the pieces were in place, I let it dry. Then I glued an embroidery hoop to the back which is what the mirror hangs from.

So, I realize that's not the prettiest view, but you can't see it from the front, so it's no big deal. The untreated shims are there to give as many points of contact for the embroidery hoop as possible. I promise you can't see those from the front either. Once it dried, I hung it up to show Annie how it looks. (Poor Annie had to wait for after Christmas to get it because a, I wasn't going to make it here, then drive it up north for her to open- she got a picture of it instead. And b, it wasn't actually glued together before Christmas anyways- what can I say? A DIY Christmas takes time!)

Here is how it turned out. I love the look of the dark wood. 

You can see it's not a perfect circle, but that just adds character. And I highly doubt the sun, itself, is a perfect circle anyways.....

So, Merry Belated DIY Christmas, Annie!