A mobile is a versatile decorative touch that adds plenty of visual interest, but not in a heavy way. For proof, just take a look at one of Alexander Calder's striking pieces. Our mobile DIY transforms punched pieces of painted paper plates into a chic, unique piece of decorative art.
You create flowers that are mounted to twine and hung from a simple wooden embroidery hoop, so the supplies for this project are things you might already have at home. You can choose your paint colors to match your décor, or use many different colors for a rainbow effect. The airy feeling a mobile gives a space makes it feel larger, and this mobile would easily elevate an entryway, look fabulous hanging in a window, or even make an outdoor area prettier if protected from the elements. This is a project you can make in a jiffy that provides lots of design bang for your buck!
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Materials
- Pack of paper plates
- 2 bottles of acrylic paint in colors of choice — we chose pink and yellow
- Fine art paintbrush
- Blow-dryer
- Scissors
- Giant paper punch
- Hot glue gun
- Glue sticks
- Roll of thin rope twine
- Wooden embroidery hoop
- Pack of paper plates
- 2 bottles of acrylic paint in colors of choice — we chose pink and yellow
- Fine art paintbrush
- Blow-dryer
- Scissors
- Giant paper punch
- Hot glue gun
- Glue sticks
- Roll of thin rope twine
- Wooden embroidery hoop
DIY Everywhere
Instructions
1. Place your paper plate on the work surface.
1. Place your paper plate on the work surface.
2. Gather your paintbrush and one bottle of acrylic paint.
3. Coat the top of the plate’s circular center portion with the paint. It’s OK to go outside onto the ridged portion of the plate just a bit.
4. Use your blow-dryer to dry the paint.
5. Cut one rounded side of the plate off. The cut shouldn't go deeper than where the outer edge of the paint was applied. The line you cut will be straight.
6. After the paint has dried completely, take the giant hole puncher, and cut out two circles from the painted portion of the plate that are directly above the cut edge.
7. The punched circles will be the components for your mobile’s flowers.
8. Repeat steps 1-6 enough times so you end up with a sufficient number of circles to make 20 flowers and 20 centers. Paint the paper plates that will have the flower center circles punched from them with the other paint color.
9. Take one of the pink circles, and place a dot of glue along its edge.
10. Connect the underside of another circle’s edge to it.
11. Repeat steps 9-10 until you have a circular form composed of five paper circles, glued together at the edges, with a hole in the middle.
12. Apply a thin line of glue in a circle around the inner portion of the flower form near the open edge.
13. Place one of the yellow circles on top to form the middle of the flower. It should be surrounded by the pink petals.
14. Finish making all of your flowers.
15. Unroll a piece of twine about 12-15 inches long, and cut it from the roll with the scissors.
16. Apply a thin line of glue across the middle of the back of one of the flowers.
17. Glue it to one end of the rope twine, but place it a few inches from the very end of the twine.
18. Glue three more flowers onto the twin, so the flowers are about 1 inch apart.
19. Cut one end of the twine, so it’s not visible when you look at the front of the string of flowers.
20. Get your embroidery hoop, and tie the string of flowers to it with the remaining twine end.
21. Double-knot the twine when tying it to the hoop to secure it.
22. Make four more strings of glued flowers, and tie them on the hoop, so they’re evenly distributed and spaced uniformly as they hang from the hoop.
23. Cut another piece of twine long enough to span the diameter of the hoop, plus a few more inches.
24. Knot one end of the twine to the hoop, and knot the other end of it to the opposite side of the hoop. This will allow you to hang the mobile.
25. Now you can suspend your mobile from a hook in the ceiling and add a flowery touch of spring to your space.
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