PROJECT OF THE WEEK

you are my sunshine

As is so often with the domestic crafter, I was inspired by what seemed a simple project in a magazine. 5 steps to a lovely sunburst mirror - brilliant! I wanted mine to be a bit more glamorous and opted for longer twigs and gold paint. Little did I know that this Saturday project would in fact take a week to finish.

Half a day was lost just trying to find a mirror. One thing that irks me about craft is how hard it can be to source suitable materials for projects. I do most of my supply buying online now because it drives me so nuts. A mirror is too heavy to pay for postage and I wanted it NOW! So some quality time in the car was required.

For most of this project it was truly a hot mess. Sticky wood glue, twisty branches, lack of patience made for not so much fun. The stick sticking alone took two days. Much of it involved resticking what seemed to be unstickable. I left it all overnight only to lift it up and have half the sticks fall off. Change of glue required.

Once the sticking was solved it looked terrible. I repainted the whole thing white so that my gold paint would have a nice even surface - 4 coats of white paint. Sigh.

Spraying the gold was the most satisfying part of the project. It looked actually kind of amazing after this process. A process that took 6 hours and 3 cans of spray paint. I also accidentally sprayed my shoes.

So here it is in situ. It took 6 3M Velcro tabs for me to feel safe sleeping beneath it. I do love it tho. It is up high enough so I don't catch myself in it at all (hate that) but makes the room feel lighter and bigger. Now having lived with it for a week the pain of the process is a fading memory. I'd like to make a smaller black lacquer version for a friend's birthday gift next month. At least now I know what I'm in for. RAMONA