This week’s assignment was to “make multiples of something, 5 or more.” I created a Calder-style mobile, assembling the 5 levels into a whole.

I started at the plumbing section at Home Depot to find materials. I picked up some washers to put on the end of each level, some 16 gauge wire, and some fishing line to connect the levels.

I knew I wanted the project to look something like this:

I began by using the wire bender to create loops on the ends of the 5 pieces of wire so I could hang washers on them. The wire came in a spool, which, when unspooled, gave a slight curve to the wire like you see in other mobile examples (freebie!).

I used the hot glue gun to put the washers together. Next, I wanted to connect the washers to the wire using the fishing line. However, I quickly realized that the 50lb fishing line was too thick -- the knots were too big and ugly, and hot glue was a (hot) mess.

I found some smaller wire in the shop, which worked much better and looked oh so pretty.

After much trial-and-error, I found my process for creating one level.

The hard part was over, now I just needed to replicate that process four more times and then use the small wire to connect the levels.