I decided to use washi tape to map out my sunburst before drawing the lines on the door that I would eventually follow when nailing on the dowels. I did this so I could easily move and adjust the design before finalizing it. This is not a necessary step, and it adds time to the process, but I found it helpful! Whether you're starting with tape or just a yardstick and pencil, you'll want to mark out your sunburst on the doors first.Begin by deciding where you want the center of your starburst to be and, with the doors closed, trace the embroidery hoop where you'll eventually attach it. Use washi tape OR a pencil and yardstick to map out each ray on the door. To make the rays evenly spaced, I measured 12" out from my embroidery hoop for each ray and used that point as my spacing guideline. From that 12" marker, I made sure the rays were spaced approximately 3" apart.
If you chose to start with washi tape, you'll want to simply trace a line on the door, along one side of your washi tape to make the final markers for your washi tape. If you just used a pencil to start, you're good to start attaching your dowels!
Cut your embroidery hoop in half. Sand the edges as necessary. Use wood glue to glue each half of the embroidery hoop in place on the doors.
Now you will cut each ray to the size needed. We cut each ray so that it would end 1-2" from the outer edge of the door. I wanted them all to be slightly different lengths, but you can make yours more uniform if you choose! Just ensure you are taking into account the door OPENING and make sure it can open with appropriately with the rays in place. Adjust length as needed/accordingly!To cut each ray, I simply held the dowel up to its corresponding line on the door and made a mark exactly where I wanted it to be cut. I am a visual person and this was easiest for me, especially if I wanted to make last minute adjustments. You can also just measure the guideline you drew and cut lengths accordingly. Sand the edges until smooth. The rays that extend over both halves of one door will need an additional cut. To do this, once we cut the overall dowel to size, I would hold it up against the door and draw a line exactly where the "fold" in the door would hit. Cut and sand. Because of the different angles of the rays, all the cuts will also be at different angles on the dowels.
Using a nail gun (or wood glue if you prefer), nail each dowel in place using your guidelines. You want to be especially precise and careful when doing this on the rays that extend over both halves of the door, as you want those to line up perfectly. Definitely a two person job!
Fill in and cover any nails/nail holes with wood filler so you have a smooth finish on each ray once you paint. Follow package instructions!
Time to prime/paint. We did one coat of tinted primer and two coats of paint, sanding lightly between each coat.
We added decorative ONLY handles in the middle of the embroidery hoop. These are NOT placed to be able to actually open the door, they are for visual purposes only. They wil function to close the door but not to open it. We simply use the dowels/rays to open the closet doors, but you could add a simple narrow wood handle (also paitned) along one of the rays, in the center of each door instead.