DIY Starburst Ceiling Medallion

 A few months ago, I came across a photo of a house in Sweden or Denmark or Norway (somewhere in the nether regions) and was immediately taken by the starburst ceiling medallions. I started out on a hunt to find one even remotely similar to the ones in the photo and...

...that didn't happen. I hunted high and low for one and came up nada. So I thought, how hard can it be to make my own? Well, as it turns out not too hard, if you know someone who is good at math and measuring. So, with the help of my old man, I went for it and here's how I did it:

What you will need:
1-2 Pieces of Mat Board
Tape
Polyfilla
Paint
Hockey Tape and Painter's Tape
Wallpaper Paste
Construction Adhesive
Fine Sandpaper

Step 1: Measure out the size of the ceiling plate/cap that this will sit around and determine how big you want this sucker to be. I decided to make ours 12" for the longest beams and 6" for the shortest and it's 8 beams in total. Because our upstairs is WAY old and the ceilings are low, I couldn't make mine as big as the one pictured so it's closer in size to the one in the background.

Step 2: Make a SUPER crappy drawing with your measurements so you have an idea of what's what.

Step 3: This is the hardest part and something I would not be capable of doing myself since I have no patience when it comes to making straight lines. I also suck at math. My old man, very accurately, measured and drew out the base that the beams would attach to. We decided to use mat board for the skeleton of the medallion as it is very sturdy, thin and lightweight and can really hold shape well.

Step 4: Once the base is made, now comes the super duper challenging part of cutting out the beams and forming them. My man cut out the 4 small beams first, cutting a triangular piece that included an extra section on the end that would all fold together. To do this, he cut the end bit right through so it would bend right over and close in the beam and then scored them down the middle. (I don't think I'm explaining this part too well because even I don't quite understand what the hell I'm talking about. If you look at the picture then maybe it will be clearer).

Step 5: He taped together each beam so they would hold their shape. Once they were all done, he taped them all to the base that he had initially made to form the skeleton.

Step 6: With the skeleton formed, in true Canadian form I decided to crack out some hockey tape. I needed something to layer over everything so it formed a smooth surface that would protect the mat board from water (the next step involves paper mache). If the board got wet with paint and glue it would start to lose its shape so this step is important. The great thing about hockey tape is that it is very pliable and easy to work with. Here is how it looked after the layer of tape was applied:

Step 7: Now it's time to get grade school on your own ass and whip out some wallpaper paste and newspaper. Paper mache, yay! I used plain newspaper so I wouldn't have to worry about too many coats of white paint to hide it but use whatever you have. Cut up some strips and layer them as smoothly and evenly as possible, as the ultimate goal here is to have this medallion be free of creases and lines. It needs to look like it was made from plaster when it's done. Just do one layer. Also, at some point before or during this process you need to cut out your hole so you can paper mache over the edges.

Step 8: Shit, there are a lot of steps. This may be more of a DDIY perhaps (don't do it yourself). Okay, after the paper mache has dried, I applied a thin layer of Polyfilla (aka crack filler) over the whole thing to smooth it out and get rid of any lines. 

Step 9: Once the Polyfilla has dried, sand it all smoooooooooooth. The smoother the better.

Step 10: Is that sucker smooth? Yea? Great! Let's glue the damn thing to the ceiling. Use construction adhesive and make sure it adheres FAST! You don't want to use regular glue or an adhesive that will allow this thing to move or worse, fall off while it's drying. Put lots of glue on each beam and around the center and stick it up there!

Step 11: Once it is in place, wipe off any excess glue around the edges and then use some painter's tape for extra support while it grips to your ceiling. Let it dry for about 14+ hours. (At this point you'd better like it! If not, it may rip down a huge chunk of drywall if you try and rip it off...)

Step 12 (The last step!): Once it has dried, you will need to use more Pollyfilla to seal around all of the edges so it gives a nice, seamless transition from the medallion to the ceiling. Just smear the compund into all of the gaps, etc and make sure it's smooth. You may have to do two layers if the gaps are wide enough. Once that has dried, sand that shiz SMOOOOOTH and get ready to paint! I wanted my medallion to kind of blend in with the ceiling so I painted it the same color. I did two coats and, dare I say, I was finished!

So there you have it! I think it turned out pretty well for a homemade endeavor. I have a plan to make a second medallion but it won't be a starburst and it will be for a wall rather than a light so watch for it!
I will show you how this looks in the context of the entire room very soon, once I can dig up some wood shutters and do a few last tweaks. It's been a sloooow transformation.