I started designing this back before Christmas in ArtCAM. Then I sent the programs for the 13 pieces out to the CNC Router one evening. I finished carving it out on the CNC just before Christmas Eve, and then hand shaped and sanded them to 320. But then I got hung on how to join all the pieces together. So my wife got a box full of pieces for Christmas.
Finally I got through thinking too hard about it, and mounted the eight ray pieces onto a piece of 1/4 ply with Titebond and a couple of screws each. The disk and crescent followed that and fit into recesses carved into the rays. The stars were glued and pin nailed on. The smallest star had to have a backer put on it to strengthen the joint.
During the process I had to blend the shapes together a bit better, and resand. If I were to make another one, I'd cut the angles on the blanks for the rays, and join them together first, then carve all the rays in one go. I'd do some other things diffferently too, but that take more time than it's worth...
Once it was all put together, I sprayed two good coats of laquer on it, put a hanger on the back, and called it done. Looks great next to the Cherry Armoire - even if I do say so myself....