Not quite Calder

Ages and ages and ages ago, I bought a mobile photo holder at the San Francisco art gallery. I had a grand vision of making little beaded ornaments to hang on the mobile. I bought a whole bunch of beads in shades of teal, even a few sparkling Czech buttons. I put them all in a special tray with little wells for about two dozen beads of different size, shape and sheen. (Is it just me, or is organizing crafts just as enjoyable as the actual crafting? Or does just admitting that make me a super huge nerd?) Anyway, over the years I would pull out the tray and make another ornament or two, each taking a couple hours.

I'd start with a length of thick metal wire and start bending. Once I made a shape I liked, then I got the finer wire to start wrapping around the shape and adding beads. It was great fun to see how each one evolved. I didn't really keep track of how many I made, just dropping them into a container. Yesterday I figured I'd finally put it all together - which meant first unearthing the mobile from my craft closet (and, wouldn't you know it, one of the clips was missing. An excuse for a SF trip?). Then I started clipping the little beaded bits on.

It's hard to get a good photo of the whole mobile. Here are a few attempts:


It's more interesting close-up where you can see the details of the beaded ornaments. I like to think of each one as a little piece of art.



So it's not exactly the amazing mobiles of Alexander Calder, but kinda a neat idea. (And, as you can see, I am fond of the colour if you noticed the rather bold teal paint in the background.) I got to thinking I'll try making these beaded ornaments on a smaller scale as pendants.