Create a Calder Mobile

The sculptor Alexander Calder said "To most people who look at a mobile, it's no more than a series of flat objects that move. To a few, though, it may be poetry." If you'd like to create a little poetry for yourself, we'll be happy to show you how.

Steps

  1. Gather your materials. See the "Things You'll Need" section, below.
  2. Cut out the wood pieces using a jigsaw or chop saw. For a first mobile, it is good to start with simple square wood pieces measured 2" x 3". Cut out 9 pieces.
    • For advanced mobiles, you can use all kinds of varied shapes—use your imagination!
  3. Drill the suspension holes. Clamp one piece at a time to the workbench and drill a 1" deep hole into the edge. The drill bit should be the same size as the wire.
  4. Prep the wire. With the needle nose pliers, cut off a 15" strand of wire and straighten it.
    • Make a small U-shaped hook at the end.
    • To train yourself in making loops in the wire, and to use as a template for the following wires, make loops in the wire strand every 1", so that you end up with 12 loops. We’ll call this piece the mobile tool.
  5. Make the base of the hanging mobile. At the base there are two wood pieces balanced on a strand of wire. With the needle nose pliers, cut off another 15" strand of wire and straighten it.
    • Mark the wire at 7.5" and using the pliers, make a loop or eye.
    • Take two wood pieces and slide them onto the wire on opposite sides.
    • Hook the loop into the hook of your mobile tool and make it balance.
    • You can trim the balancing by shortening the wire if necessary.
  6. Make the first arm of the mobile. Cut off a 12" strand, straighten it, make a U-shaped hook, and bend the hook sideways.
    • Use the mobile tool to find the arm's tipping point, and that’s where you’ll make the loop in the arm.
    • Slide a wood piece on the end of the mobile tool, while leaving the base piece hanging off its hook.
    • Then take the new arm wire and hook it into one of the loops of the tool. Find the loop that allows for best balancing.
  7. Unhook the arm from the tool. Hold it next to the tool to determine where you have to make the loop in this arm.
    • Make the loop, attach a wood piece to the arm and hook the arm into the base wire, then take the tool and hook it into the arm’s loop and check the balance.
    • You can adjust it by shortening the wire, bending it down a bit or even reshaping the arm and placing the loop differently.
    • Changing the weight of the wood piece is possible, too.

  8. Repeat the process for each arm.
    • You can hook the arms all left-facing or mix the left- and right-facing arms.

  9. String the loop of the last arm to a hook in the ceiling.

Tips

  • To make the mobiles more complex, you can vary the shape and size of the wood pieces, the side to which you attach one arm to the next, the curvature of the wire, and by hanging the mobile or allowing it to stand on its own.
  • Before you start, collect as many ideas about existing mobiles as possible. Searching the internet for "Calder mobiles" is a good way to begin. Calder was an important modern artist who made this type of mobile popular. Several modern art museums exhibit his mobiles.
  • Try this using cardstock and wire. You can use this either as a model for your wood mobile, or as a final piece. I used 90 lb. double-sided cardstock and .020 wire. I cut 2" squares of cardstock and used a small hole punch to put 2-3 holes in each card - so I could slide the card on and off the end of the wire easily.

Warnings

  • Exercise proper safety precautions when using workshop and power equipment.

Things You'll Need

  • Needle-nose pliers
  • Wire (hardware stores sell 200ft rolls of galvanized wire)
  • Sheet of 1/2" plywood for the weights or shapes at the end of the wires
  • Drill and bit (same diameter as the wire)
  • Clamp to hold the wood pieces when drilling
  • jigsaw to cut out the wood pieces.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

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