Mobile for Sale

        Last Sunday was the deadline for putting art in the You Me Gallery in Hamilton so, of course, I waited until almost too late to create my last mobiles. I made two for the show but the one that I literally dreamed up last week took a lot more time than I expected to make. I made five wire figures to hang in acrobatic styles on my mobile frame. I also used a "ladder" that I had made for another work  last year. The hardest part of the project was bending a wire figure to climb the ladder. Oh yes, each figure is made from a single piece of bent wire which I do from a coil of wire on my workbench. It is only when the figure is almost finished that I cut it off the coil and I always leave a bit extra wire on the figure, just in case. In the case of the ladder climber, it just would not quite fit on the ladder and at the point where I  thought I had it correct, I cut off the extra wire only to find that I made the cut in the wrong place. I ended up with the "foot" on the ladder and the body on the floor. Had to start over on the hardest piece to bend.

        Having finished the piece, I put it in a bag to transport to Hamilton. When I got there I found that the threads and wires and gotten all mixed up and it took quite a while to get it unsorted and rehung. Hard to believe that I make so much work for myself at times. Then there was the process of trying to make a photo of the work. It seems to be very difficult to make photos of mobiles. I took several photos and then did a lot of Photoshop work to try to make it stand out from the background. I had to take the photo outside as the mobile was too long to hang easily inside. As I said, I do make things difficult for myself.

Below is the photo I worked on of the entire piece as well as some closeups of some of the figures.

The mobile is about 1.5 m (4'11") long from top to bottom.

These figures are loose on the bar and from each other held together by friction and position.

This figure hangs from the bar by one "toe." That is by the end of the wire which is sharp.

I did have to use thread to secure one "hand" of this figure onto the ladder. It kept falling off and swinging by it's feet.

        This mobile, and one other much less complicated one, are in the You Me Gallery in Hamilton, Ontario and both are for sale. I am asking $76.54 for this one and I called it Dreamtime #5.