From the Artist: How to Make a Real Mobile
BY Marc Mahler
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Wondering what these things are you’re looking at? They are
mobiles, as in art, a type of sculpture based on balance and
characterized by the ability to move when propelled by air
currents, by touch, or by a small motor at any one time. The most
striking feature of the mobile is that, unlike traditional sculpture,
it achieves its artistic effect through movement; it is the most
familiar form of kinetic art, which requires movement of some
kind.
A typical mobile consists of a group of shapes, frequently
abstract, that are connected by wires, string (often nylon thread),
metal rods, hollow aluminum tubes, swivels or the like. The
shapes are usually made of sheet metal, wood, plastic, glass,
acrylic glass (plexi-glass), foam, paper, or aluminum honeycomb
panels. Although mobiles are usually suspended (often hanging
from a ceiling), some are designed to stand on the ground or a
platform, and are sometimes mistakenly labeled as “stabiles”.
Stabiles, a term coined by Jean Arp, are large scale stationary
abstract sculptures developed by Alexander Calder, usually made
of bolted metal plates, that have contributed significantly to the
concept of public art. All mobiles, hanging or standing, are a
genre of kinetic sculptures, the term “kinetic” meaning
“moving” or “in motion”.
Suspended kinetic sculptures have probably been
around since prehistoric times in the form of wind
chimes. Evidence of them has been found that proves
they existed in ancient China, Japan and Rome. There
are traditional mobiles made of straw called “Himmeli”
from Finland and Sweden and I’ve come across a
mobile made in 1751. The Russian artists Naum Gabo,
Aleksandr Rodchenko and Vladimir Tatlin are credited
with experimenting with hanging kinetic sculptures as
an art form first in the late 1910s. Man Ray made the
first mobile out of coat hangers in 1920 that’s based on
the whippletree mechanism. He also experimented with
hanging abstract pieces of sheet metal. Bruno Munari
started to create is own early version of mobiles in the
late 1920s which he called “Useless Machines”.
However, mobiles, the way we know them today as a
modern art form, were mostly developed by the
American sculptor Alexander Calder (influenced by
the abstract work of Piet Mondrian, Joan Miró and
Sophie Taeuber-Arp) beginning in the 1930s. In a 1962
interview he said: “The mobiles started when I went to see
Mondrian [in October 1930]. I was impressed by several
colored rectangles he had on the wall. Shortly after that I
made some mobiles; Mondrian claimed his paintings were
faster than my mobiles.” The name “mobile”, a French pun
meaning both “mobile” and “motive”, was given to them by
the artist Marcel Duchamp, a friend of Calder’s, although he
apparently already used the term in 1913 for his readymade
Bicycle Wheel, which some consider to be the first kinetic
sculpture.
It’s all in the balancing points: Marc Mahler shows how to
create a Calder-inspired installation of your own.
Ever since I came across Alexander Calder‘s mobiles at the
National Gallery of Art fourteen years ago, I’ve been
fascinated with mobiles. At first I tried my hand at
minimalistic wire mobiles. After receiving several requests
for larger custom mobiles, what started as a hobby turned
into a full-time occupation. Since then, I’ve designed and
made a wide variety of retail mobiles, large custom mobiles,
and kinetic sculptures.
I’d like to explain how to make a real mobile. By a “real”
mobile, I mean one in which the balance of the different parts depends on those parts, which results in
much more interesting dynamics than if you just tie a number of objects to a coat hanger or a horizontal
circle.
I’d like to provide you with a sort of blueprint for mobiles. Once you have that, you can apply it using
any materials, whether those are just some random objects you find around your house, objects specific
to a season or a holiday, or some midcentury modern shapes.
Here’s the first thing to consider:
There’s a balance point and a center of the mass (weight)
of the object. If the center of mass of the object is above
the balance point (meaning the majority of the weight is
above the balance point), the object will fall over. If the
center of mass of the object is below the balance point, it
will balance. The farther below the balance point the
center of mass is, the more stable is the balance. So by
making the parts of a mobile curved downwards, you
lower the center of mass, and therefore making it more
stable and easier to balance.
Part A weighs the same as part B – Balance point is
right in the middle:
Part A weighs more than part B – Balance point moves
closer to part A, the heavier part:
The following illustration might look
complex, but it’s really the exact same idea.
All those lower parts count as just one part
when it comes to the balance of the top part,
it’s only about the balance between part A
and part B:
The trick is that you build the mobile
from bottom to top. Find the balance point
between the bottom two elements. Then you
add the next element on top of that and find
the balance point between the new element
and the first two elements and so on. Don’t
weigh the parts or anything to make sure it
balances. Just find the point by balancing it
on your finger, or if you want to be exact, tie
a string around it and move it back and forth
until it balances.
Anything goes from here. Use whatever you want for weights or to connect the pieces. The possibilities
are infinite.
http://www.marcomahler.com/how-to-makemobiles/
Mobile Assignment
o A few suggestions: use odd numbers, keep things off balance.
o remember that warm colors (red, orange. yellow) advance and cool colors recede.
o consider using the rule of thirds (divide the space, or pieces into groups-2/3 one color, about 2/3 of
the rest a second color and the remaining section a third color).
o If you want to see some of these principles in action or just explore Calder’s art, look at this great
site with a huge catalog of his work.
1. Design and construct a mobile that is suspended from a base.
2. Begin by designing and building the base from poster board. The simplest type is a folded base like
shown in the mobile at the top of the page. You can use 2, 3, or 4 pieces to make the base. Multiple
pieces may be stapled, glued, or tab and slotted together Look at Calder’s examples for inspiration.
3. Decide the balancing shapes and colors. Cut these form poster board. Determine the balancing point
and then make a hole with a pushpin.
4. Cut and bend fine wire to make loops for each shape. Thread each poster board shape onto a loop.
5. Beginning with the bottom piece, make a small round loop at the ends of the wire. Attach a shape to
each end.
6. Determine the balancing point on the wire and make a loop.
7. Attach the next shape to the second wire and to the loop in the first wire.
8. Add a counter balance shape on a longer wire that will balance the movable shape onto the base.
9. Find the balancing point and attach the mobile to the base.
10. Pieces may be colored using marker before the final assembly.