Wooden Starburst/Sunburst

MATERIALS

14” square wooden panel

12” bamboo skewers

Ruler

Cutters

Krazy glue

OPTIONAL: Krylon colormaster paint and primer (brushed metallic nickel satin finish) & Krylon high gloss acrylic crystal clear finish

STEPS

1) Figure out how many skewers you want to use for your sunburst. I originally opted for nine skewers total.

2) Once you have the number of skewers you would like to use. Using your ruler take 2 skewers and remove an inch from the flat bottom portion with your cutters. We want to keep the pointy end of the skewers. 

3) Take 2 more skewers and using your ruler to measure, remove 2 inches from the bottom with your cutters. 

4) Continue this process for the number of skewers you have remaining, remembering to remove an extra inch from each pairing. For example, you will remove 3 inches from the next pairing, 4 inches from the pairing after that, 5 inches from the pairing after that and so forth. 

5) Once all skewers have been cut to size, the next step is to glue them into place. The skewers I had measured one 12”, two 11”, two 10”, two 9” and two 8” pieces. 

6) Take your longest skewer and glue it down diagonally on your wooden panel making sure that the pointy end is flushed as much as possible to the corner. 

7) I used my ruler to give myself an inch of space before I glued down the two 11" skewers. One on each side of the 12" skewer. 

8) I gave myself another inch and glued down the two 10” skewers. One on each side of the 11” skewers. Continue this process for the number of skewers you have remaining.

9) Once all skewers were glued to wooden panel, I then sprayed the entire piece with brushed metallic nickel spray paint. Of course, if you don’t have any spray paint you can always just paint with acrylic paint. 

10) Once the spray paint was dry, I then sprayed the entire piece with high gloss acrylic crystal clear finish. Of course, if you do not have a clear finish or if you used acrylic paint you could use varnish to seal your work. 

ASIDE: After the clear finish dried and I placed the piece on my bookcase, it just looked a bit too bare and too monochromatic for my liking. To fix this, I decided to go back in with some more bamboo skewers to fill in the gaps. I used the same steps 1 through 8 from above. I really love how the final piece turned out and I am enjoying seeing it daily on my bookcase.  

Until next time, let inspiration find you!

A. Cornelia