Paintbrush Mobile

Amanda C, Hometalk Team
by Amanda C, Hometalk Team
10 Materials
$8-15
3 Hours
Medium
This project is perfect for a classroom or an in-home craft space or studio! It adds a fun little touch of color and whimsy. Mobiles don't have to just be for babies so I made this one as a simple piece of decor. All you need is some craft paint, plywood, embroidery floss and paintbrushes!
SUPPLIES:


-Paintbrushes *Get these at Michael's and it will save you! This pack of 20 was $7 and change... They are $0.99 / piece at a hardware store...


-Craft Paint (in colors of your choice)


-Beads (not pictured)


-Plywood


-Embroidery floss


-Newspaper/ Cardboard


-Scissors


-Awl / Piercing Tool


-Eye Hook


-Metal Rings (jewelry size)


-Necklace Clamps (2)
STEP 1: Cut a triangle out of your plywood.


Sand down the edges so it's nice and smooth.


Mark even spots all over the triangle in the same amount of paintbrushes you are using. Pierce through the spots to make a hole through the plywood. You can use an awl for this or a nail. I have an eyelet puncher so I just used that.
STEP 2: Drill holes in brushes


The paintbrushes I bought didn't have holes on the tip so I drilled holes into each of them.


Place your paintbrushes on a newspaper or piece of cardboard and splatter various colors of paint all over them on each side to make them appear "used".
STEP 3: Paint your brushes


Paint the ends of your brush bristles in the colors of your choice giving them the illusion of never being washed out. I decided to stick with shades of blue for the ends of my paintbrushes to give it some uniformity.


Allow the paint to dry completely.
STEP 4: Cut your floss


Once your paint has dried you can cut embroidery floss in varying lengths. Cut enough pieces so that there is one for every brush.


Feed your floss through the paintbrush holes and tie them in a knot to secure them. I also added a dab of school glue just to help keep the knot from getting loose.
STEP 5: Tie your floss


Tie a knot toward the top of your thread, but still leaving a good 4-5" or so above it. Make sure the knot is large enough that your bead doesn't slip through.


Slide your bead on and let it rest on top of the knot.
STEP 6: String floss through plywood


Feed the end of your floss through a hole in your plywood triangle. Be sure to hold your mobile up after adding each brush to ensure that you are evenly dispersing the colors and lengths.
STEP 7: Tie floss strings together


Once you have fed all the paintbrush embroideries through their according holes gather them all to the middle and twist them together. Place the twisted cluster in a necklace clamp and close it tightly so that no strings fall through. (I ended up using 2 facing opposite directions because my thread was so thick.
STEP 8: Trim all the excess floss from the clamp.
STEP 9: Intertwine your metal rings so that they are looped together.
STEP 10: Add your hanger


Feed the smaller metal ring through the necklace clamp hole and close it tight.


Hang your eye hook where you want your mobile to be and place the larger metal ring over the hook so that it hangs from it.
Sort of makes me think of an Anthropologie installation.
You could use colors that match any room. You could also just paint the whole thing in gold to make it more stately looking.
You could use a different hanging device as well. You don't have to feed it through plywood. You could also use rope instead of embroidery floss.
Resources for this project:
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Frequently asked questions
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  1 question
  • S S on Sep 01, 2016
    What was the chopped up shopping bag (in the picture) used for? Instead of a triangle, an artist pallet shape would have been a cute design.
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