Commissioning a Mobile
This is how it works if you want me to make you a mobile.
I will request photographs and measurements or architectural drawings of the space and ask you to tell me:
- How much of the space would you like the mobile to occupy? If a mobile is too small, it can seem lost in a voluminous space. If too large, it can crowd a room.
- What is the background against which the mobile would be seen, and from what vantage points? It is very helpful to have photos taken from such vantage points. Please note that the proportions of my mobiles are usually best when the height and diameter are roughly the same.
- Which of the mobiles pictured did you like best? What did you like about them–the shapes, the colors? Would you prefer a mobile with many small shapes or fewer large ones? Note that a mobile with larger shapes works better against a busier background.
I will then discuss with you what I have in mind as a design, quote a price and, once agreed, get a mobile off to you in about six weeks. If the commission is for a large mobile, I may first make a scale model of which I would send a photo for approval.
Most mobiles are constructed in four to ten separable components, each with several articulated pieces. The components are carefully tagged with numbers corresponding to numbers on a sketch and the mobiles are accompanied by instructions which make assembly quite simple. Smaller mobiles weigh three or four pounds, the largest ones up to 25 pounds.