Mobile Art
Make your home a magical
place with these 35 beautiful hanging decorations
By Clare Youngs
Cico Books 2015
Paperback £12.99
ISBN 978 1 78249 209 2
Star rating: ****
Making mobiles is a fun craft idea for the spring and
summer, when a breeze through an open window can make your project dance.
Talented and prolific craft author Clare Youngs is back with
a winning new title bursting with creative energy. The subject this time is mobiles. Mobiles are purely
decorative – so they present a great opportunity to let the imagination run
wild, and that is precisely what the author has done with her playful and
inventive collection of action projects.
Photographing mobiles can be tricky for a couple of obvious
reasons. First up, the object you are photographing just won’t stay still.
Secondly, a still photo can’t convey the kinetic motion of the mobile. So – it is
an amazing feat on the behalf of the author and the production team that nearly
every project in the book seems to be dancing on the page, and is begging to be
made. Many would be suitable for kiddie decor.
The mobiles, most of which are easy-make, are made of a
variety of materials – with an emphasis on papercrafting. Papercraft projects
include Party-Time Sparkle, which is
a papery interpretation of those wooden wind spirals you see in garden centres.
The idea works a treat in mirror card. The Sausage
Dogs mobile is big fun - the tube-like dachshunds are cleverly fashioned
from paper, with paper “bones” to weight them like a kite’s tail. Floral Filigree is a jumbo
quilling-inspired mobile. Very effective. There is also a traditionally-quilled
snowflake mobile. Birds are an obvious choice for mobiles and Clare Young’s features two takes on the idea. Birds in Flight consists of jazzy
papercrafted streamlined birds with bright graphic designs. Birds of a Feather features 3-D papercut
feathers - like lacé, without the links. Paper-Clip Graphics works a treat. This quick-make mobile channels
the typographic trend, with magazine cut-outs paper-clipped onto the hanging
wires. Balancing Act is a genius construction
of papercrafted acrobats performing a trapeze act. They cleverly hook onto each other in a feat
of derring-do (reminds me of that fondly-remembered monkeys in a barrel toy).
There are a very few projects that work less well than the
others – Tassels and Beads, is a bit
clunky. The beads are way too heavy for the delicate paper fans. This mobile is much more
static than the other projects in the book.
There are a lot of pom pom enthusiasts out there – it is a
craft trend you just can’t ignore – so I
will mention that the Pops of Colour
mobile features pom pom cascades. Other techniques that get a look-in include
macramé, fabric craft (hand-stitched elephants, Folksy Felt Horses), and
Himmeli (Finnish strawcraft).
There is lots of variety not just in the projects, but in
how the mobile mechanisms are constructed. Some mobiles feature objects
suspended from a bar, others have a top ring; sticks crossed at top,
marionette-fashion, and also cascades of carefully-balanced bars à la AlexanderCalder.
If you are fascinated by mobiles and happen to live in the
vicinity of London, you will want to check out the Alexander Calder exhibition
scheduled for November onwards at Tate Modern. Calder was the great grand-daddy
of kinetic sculpture, and the exhibition will be an event.
While you are waiting, you can try your hand at Clare Youngs’
delightful Mobile Art.
