The dangling bright colors and shapes of Alexander Calder’s mobiles have always fascinated me. I’ve never tried to make one but I’ve just found simple, yet roomy instructions to make your own interpretation of a Calder mobile for your own home. The newly rennovated Indianapolis Museum of Art has a fantastic heavy duty Calder mobile hanging above their atrium walkway that makes me want to get busy.
What you’ll need:
- Needle-nose pliers Wire (hardware stores sell 200ft rolls of galvanized wire)
- Sheet of 1/2″ ply wood 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
- Jig saw to cut out the wood pieces.
Check out Wikipedia’s How to Create a Calder Mobile right here.
Other internet accessible artists making their own Calder-esque mobiles are:
