Wood Shims Wall Art

I've been oohing and aahing over this image for a couple of months now.  When my sister first decided that she wanted my help to completely redo her apartment, I sent her this image.  That wall sculpture is amazing.  My little DIY brain started working and scheming as to how I could make something similar.  There is no way that I could find gold metal pieces and weld them together.  I'm a glue gun kind of girl.


Decorpad

I thought of using the same concept as my sunburst mirror, wood shims, paint, some wreaths from Michael's,and my glue gun. 

I painted them using Folk Art Pure Gold acrylic paint from Michael's.

I bought two wreaths, also from Michael's.  An 18 inch and a 12 inch one.  I off centered them.

I glued the shims spaced apart.   As I went around the wreath, I started placing them further in.

As I got to the "short" side, I actually cut them. 

I just filled in the spaces with shims.

After I glued them all on, it sat in my family room for about a week.  I wasn't loving the center of it. 

I asked my mom (the art teacher), if she had something I could use.  I was thinking maybe large macrame beads or something.  She happened to have a box full of wooden pieces.  All different shapes and sizes.  I picked varying sizes of what you see below.

I randomly glued them on. I glued them off the the side, where the shims meet in the (off) middle.

Here it is with the wooden things painted the same gold.  At this point, I still needed to add some shims to the right to continue the uneven look.

Here it is! I hung up in my house to take the picture.

It's a loose interpretation of my inspiration, but I'm kind of liking it.  It feels like a modern flower.  If my sister likes it, it will be hung in her 'new' dining room.
Cost of project:
Wood shims $10
All other supplies $10 at Michael's using 40% coupons
Total cost about $20
What do you think?