Tag Archives: wood

Wood and Wire

Just put this one together a couple of days ago. It is about two feet long, but less than eight inches from top to bottom, leaving out the length of the chain. The largest wood triangles are about four inches long/wide.  So, even though it has some large pieces, this  mobile can fit into a relatively small space with low ceilings. It throws some interesting shadows too.

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Wood and Wire Mobile

In terms of size, this is my most ambitious project to date. The three large triangular pieces are about 6-8 inches in diameter and altogether, it is between four and five feet wide. It’s also fairly heavy–perhaps ten pounds give or take–so I’m a bit surprised that it doesn’t pull the hook off of the ceiling, which is only held by adhesive. It may come crashing down some day, but hopefully I will be able to find a home for it before that happens. The paint is acrylic.

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Wood Bars and Disks Mobile

This mobile is made out of wood dowels and disks painted with acrylics. The disks are 2-4 inches in diameter; width is around 18 inches; and height is perhaps 30 inches.

It has a very different look from the previous one posted and is quite different from most mobiles one sees. Does it work? That is a subjective question, of course. What I like about it are the bright, contrasty colors, all of which stand out against the black bars that form the backbone of the piece. In addition, all of the bars and their attached disks can rotate freely in a full 360 degree circle. This tends not to be the case among most mobiles, because one bar or layer is joined to the next with a metal link or direct attachment that restricts rotation to around 90 degrees–sometimes a bit more–and tends to push the different layers to line up one on top of the other.

This mobile, on the other hand, joins one layer to the next with nylon line, which allows for complete freedom of motion with respect to the bar and disk above and below. The effect, then, if there is air circulation in the room, is to see all layers (bar plus colored disk) rotating separately, creating a constantly changing pattern and an infinite set of geometric relationships.

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