https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/girl-and-bear-mobile • Posted by Hardie Grant
I have made quite a few mobiles in my time – for exhibitions, to sell on my website, or to have at home. I think they are great story-telling vessels. This one tells the forlorn tale of a bear who is in love with a girl. He pursues her relentlessly (as only a bear knows how). Unfortunately for him, the girl does not return his love. Here, she is telling him off and about to threaten him with an arrow (a pursuing bear can be a little aggressive!), while the poor old bear reaches out his arms in hope. You can recreate this tale of unrequited love or make up your own version of the story in this mobile.
I have made quite a few mobiles in my time – for exhibitions, to sell on my website, or to have at home. I think they are great story-telling vessels. This one tells the forlorn tale of a bear who is in love with a girl. He pursues her relentlessly (as only a bear knows how). Unfortunately for him, the girl does not return his love. Here, she is telling him off and about to threaten him with an arrow (a pursuing bear can be a little aggressive!), while the poor old bear reaches out his arms in hope. You can recreate this tale of unrequited love or make up your own version of the story in this mobile.
Make some sheets of ink-washed paper in pink and aqua. When they are dry, gather all the paper together. Use the pink for the girl’s hair and one of the bear’s arms, and the aqua for the girl’s arms and the bear’s face.
Using the copied templates, cut out all your pieces from the paper and coloured card. Many of the pieces need doubles – for these pieces, cut on the fold as shown.
Organise all the pieces to make sure you are not missing any parts.
Paint details onto the bodies, such as small dots on the girl’s jumpsuit and fur on the bear.
For each side of the bear’s body, first glue down the face and then affix the constructed arms with a split pin.
Attach embroidery thread to the reverse side of the bear’s body and then stick the two body parts together, sandwiching the thread in between. Make sure you don’t add glue around the pin area, as the pins need to be able to move around.
Construct the girl’s arms – use glue to attach her hands to each arm so they are sandwiched between the two arm pieces.
Construct the girl’s body – sandwich her feet and head pieces in between the jumpsuit, then stick the jumpsuit pieces together to hold everything in place.
Place embroidery thread on one of the inside-facing pieces of the hair, then attach the hair pieces to either side of the face with the embroidery thread sandwiched in between.
Add the shapes to the thread – again, so they sandwich the thread in between them.
Tie the thread with the attached pieces to the dowel. It can take a bit of tweaking to balance the mobile. Tying it initially allows you to move the parts around; when you have the mobile balanced, glue it all in place.