Recently, good friends of ours had their first baby and I jumped at the opportunity to make another mobile. I decided on a coral reef theme as baby Ryker's mom studied marine biology and I thought the fish would also be really fun and colourful. I did things a little differently this time from the previous mobile (see woodland mobile) and I think it turned out pretty well!
I found these great coral reef themed figures which worked perfectly. The only change I made was painting the diver as he started out all black which wasn't very exciting.
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Next I used my Dremel to make holes in the figures and then inserted wire jewelery hooks through the holes so they could be hung using fishing line. You could also use proper eye screws, I just used what I had on hand. Make sure you secure the fishing line really well to the pieces!
The island was made using felt which was stuffed with cotton. The palm tree was also made with felt and secured by cutting a small slit in the middle of the island and sewing the bottom of tree to the underside of the island.
To make the water I cut a piece of felt into a circle that was slightly bigger than the circumference of the embroidery hoop. I then cut a hole in the middle of the circle and pushed the island through it from underneath and glued the edges of the water to the sides of the wooden hoop, gathering it in a way that made it look like there were waves. I cut another circle and glued it underneath the first circle, again attaching to the sides of the hoop, to cover the bottom of the island making it a little neater.
The waves around the hoop were stickers found at Michael's. I left the upper half of the sticker backing on since the tops were left exposed (not stuck to the hoop).
I added the starfish (also stickers) to the fishing line and island for extra colour.
Lastly, I added a felt cloud just like the ones in the woodland mobile to cover the knot at the top!
Note: Because small pieces were used I suggest hanging somewhere where the little person will be supervised at all times. I probably wouldn't hang this guy over a crib *just in case* one of the pieces were to fall off and end up in a little mouth!
