Paper Crane Mobile Tutorial

The paper crane mobile that my mother made for me as a child was one of my favourite things. The delicate balance and the way the birds fly around at the slightest breeze, makes it enchanting to lie in bed and watch. So it was definitely something that I wanted to make for my own kids.

I chose 5 squares of wrapping paper in 5 different sizes and colours. I won't include the instructions for how to make a paper crane here, it's probably best to check u-tube for that.

How to:

You will need:

- 5 paper cranes (more or less)

- wooden kitchen skewers with the sharp end cut off, 

- cotton thread

- superglue

- scrap paper

First attach a thread to each of the birds by tying a length of cotton thread to a piece of paper or match stick. Thread a needle onto the other end of your cotton. Post the paper through the hole at the bottom of the crane, and using the needle, push the cotton through the middle of the birds back. The paper should stop the cotton from coming out, leaving you with a thread to tie the bird in with.

Using slips knots tie the bottom two birds onto either end of one skewer at two different heights (so the birds can fly without their wings crashing together). Then tie a third piece of string to the middle of that skewer. Carefully move the third piece of string until the skewer is hanging evenly and in balance. 

Next get another skewer and tie the third string to this new skewer together with some more birds. Once more tie a hanging string to this skewer and find the balance point. This can take some gentle tweaks as the growing weight means smaller adjustments give a greater imbalance.

Finally take the last skewer and tie your last bird on one end and the rest of the mobile on the other end. Find the balance point again, and tie the final thread on, which will be used for hanging the mobile.

Once everything is hanging nicely, put a tiny dot of super glue into each knot to hold it all in place.