Origami Sunburst Mirror Decor

I love mirrors and I love origami. I absolutely love how this home decor project turned out. I used simple items like paper, cardboard circles, bamboo skewers and craft mirrors but really love how it turned out in the end! Hope you give this a try too!

1. Paper of choice - 3 sheets (11 inch x 14 inch each). I used black, gold and silver glitter paper, but origami paper, A4 printer paper or any scrapbook paper can be used (just make sure it's not cardstock)
2. Cardboard circles - 2 (10 inch each). I used cake boards with a nice gold finish on the top, but normal recycled cardboard can also be used
3. Bamboo skewers - 16 (12 inch each)
4. Craft mirrors - 16 (1 inch diameter each)
5. Craft mirrors - 8 (2 inch diameter each)
6. Scissors
7. Ruler
8. Pencil
9. Hot glue gun & refill glue sticks
10. School glue or wood glue
11. Old mat or tarp to work on

1. Take one of the cardboard circles and find the center.
2. Draw 8 lines through the center running through the diameter of the circle. This will divide the circle into 16 sectors as shown in the first picture
3. The radius of this 10 inch circle is 5 inches. Measure each radius and mark the 3 inch point on each line. You should end up with 16 points on the 16 radii of the circle.

1. Using hot glue gun, add a blob of hot glue starting from the 3 inch point previously marked. Make sure the glue is added towards the edge of the circle and not the center.
2. Then place the end of a bamboo skewer on the glue such that it lines up with the radius of the circle as shown in the picture.
3. Continue this process until all 16 skewers are glued onto the base board.
4. Next take the remaining cardboard circle and add hot glue to the back as shown. Carefully place this board on top of the skewers and press down to secure.

1. Measure and draw lines for 5x5 inch squares on the paper. My paper was 11x14 inch, so I was able to get 4 such squares
2. Next draw one diagonal dividing each square into 2 triangles
3. Cut the paper triangles. A total of 8 triangles are required in each color for this project (total of 24 triangles).

1. Take one paper triangle and flip it so that the wrong side is facing up. If the paper is double sided, make sure the side you want to show on the project is facing down.
2. Now the goal is to do an accordian fold. Start by folding about 1/2 inch of paper as shown.
3. Then flip the paper and fold the previous fold up.
4. Keep flipping the paper and folding until the entire triangle is folded in an accordian fold.
5. Fold the accordian in half such that the long sides meet and a leaf-like shape is formed.
6. As shown in the picture, add school glue or hot glue to the long edge and press against the other side to secure the leaf.
7. Once the glue dries and the leaf is secure, trim the extra triangle marked in the picture.
8. Fan out the folds to properly shape the leaf.
9. Repeat this process on all triangles. You should now have 8 leaves of each color (total 24 leaves)!

Note:

1. The glitter paper I used was very stubborn and school glue/wood glue did not work. I ended up using hot glue and placing the folded leaf under a heavy book to set the glue before fanning it out.
2. If the process above is confusing, I would suggest to search online for origami leaf tutorials :)

1. Now would be a great time to use the old mat or tarp for the following steps :)
2. Start with one color of leaves. I started with black ones. Flip the leaf and add a blob of hot glue.
3. Place the leaf at the edge of the cardboard circle and hold it in place until the glue dries and the leaf is secured on the skewer.
4. Repeat with remaining leaves of this color, placing each one on the alternate skewer, leaving the next immediate skewer empty.
5. Take the next color and glue them to the middle of the empty skewers. Repeat until all leaves of the color are glued.
6. Take the last color of leaves and glue them to the first set of 8 skewers. End result is shown in the picture.
7. Next, flip the project over and add extra hot glue to each of the leaves for extra strength.

1. Next step is to add the 1 inch and 2 inch craft mirrors in the empty spots of each skewer.
2. I added two 1 inch mirrors to the skewer with one leaf and one 2 inch mirror to the skewer with two leaves.
3. To add the mirror, flip the project over to the back side. Place an object (like glue bottle or a block) under the skewer to help balance and add the mirror underneath the skewer.
4. Then place some hot glue to secure the mirror to the skewer as shown in the pictures.
5. Continue until all mirrors are placed
6. Final result should look something like the picture shown!
7. If you are using recycled cardboard circles, you can add a 10 inch mirror to the circle to cover it and add extra oomph to the project! My cake board came with a shiny gold finish, so I decided to keep it the way it is.
8. Add a non-damaging adhesive strip to the back to hang on the wall!