Hey, guys and gals—Mandi here! Whether you’re into super heroes, wizardly fiction, or just like thunder storms, this lightning bolt mobile isn’t just for kiddos. It’s a quick and dirty project, too. Well, only dirty really if you accidentally get metallic paint on your fingers, but hey—instant manicure, I guess! Check out the simple instructions to make your own lightning bolt mobile.
Supplies:
-printer paper
-fishing line and/or lightweight string
-metallic paint (spray or otherwise)
-one 4″ wide sheet of basswood
-one 10″ long dowel (diameter is your preference)
Tools:
-printer
-power drill
-smallest drill bit
-craft blade
-steel ruler
-cutting mat
-pen
-scissors
Step One: Click here and here to download each required lightning bolt template. Then print out the templates and cut out the shapes.
Step Two: Lay out the lightning bolt shapes onto the basswood and trace with a pen.
Step Three: Cut out the shapes with a fresh craft blade using a steel ruler to guide the blade.
Step Four: Paint the shapes with metallic paint in a well-ventilated area. Be sure to wear protection over your mouth and nose!
Step Five: Drill tiny holes into the top of each lightning bolt. Before I marked my holes, I held up each bolt with lightly pinched fingers to make sure the bolt would hang straight where I drilled the holes. This means they won’t be drilled at the center. Check out my hole placement below for reference.
Step Six: Drill five tiny holes across the length of the dowel. (I chose to paint my dowel white, by the way.) The holes do not need to be perfectly spaced.
Step Seven: Tie fishing line/jewelry line onto each lightning bolt and through the holes of the dowel. Make sure the bolts are lying out, as shown above, before knotting the wire and trimming away the extra line. Then thread string through the outside holes for hanging the mobile.
I hung my mobile using a small, sticky-back cup hook, but you could use screw hooks or brackets as well. If you’re not into metallic paint, you can make this mobile any color. Hey—why not try rainbow lightning bolts? –Mandi
Credits // Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson. Photos edited with Spring of the Signature Collection.
29 Comments
Cute, I love lightning bolts!
http://pastylady.blogspot.com
aha, a gold bolt of lightning! I’ll take some 😉
This is such a unique DIY! I love the color you chose, and of course the fact that they’re lightning bolts 😉 So cool!
http://everydayingrace.blogspot.ca/
Lightning bolt design is so unique, this is so fun and different. Love it. You always come up with different fun stuff.
xo
Harry Potter! 🙂
LOVE THIS! Totally making one and if my future kid doesn’t love Harry Potter, I might have to disown them!
This is amazing and super duper cute!
After hearing about a beautiful mess and it’s absolute amazingness for quite a while now I just recently checked it out and have fallen in love. NEW FAVOURTIE BLOG EVER. Yesirree.
I LOVE IT!
I am a 14 year old teen blogger (harperlarper.com) and a beautiful mess is exactly the kind of blog, and created by the kinds of people that I would aspire to learn from, and be inspired by.
I would just like to say thank you so much for creating such interesting posts that can educate, make people really happy and most of give everyone something to look forward to with pleasure each day.
Thank you, thank you, thank you so much!
Oh and I’m looking at doing your ‘BLOG LIFE’ course (it looks amazing and there seems to be so much to learn from it!
xx Harper
Bold & fun. This adds some great whimsy to any room. :] // http://www.itscarmen.com ☼
How fun! Taking Care of Business!
http://www.dancingthroughsunday.typepad.com
This would look so cute in neon colors !
Love this! So cute! I’m also trying to stare at these pictures long enough to figure out how those books are being displayed…are they clear wall shelves?? Dying of curiosity!
Metallic gold + lightning bolts = absolutely perfect! I will do this someday when I have kids on my own. I hope they’ll love Harry Potter as much as I do. 🙂
I love that! It would look good anywhere. Ahh I’ve had one too many accidental metallic manicures myself…but spray painting is too much fun.
This is a fun project! I love it!
This looks so cute! What a great idea!
Love, Lily, Two Crazies One Blog
http://www.twocraziesoneblog.tk/
Are y’all planning on updating your crafts bar with recent projects? Unless I pin it it’s difficult to search for something that was posted a couple months ago…unless I’m missing the trick! Thanks! 🙂
Hi Lisa,
Yes! We’re working hard on a MAJOR update. Coming next month. Sorry that it’s difficult to search right now. Try the search bar at the top of the page in the mean time.
xx- Elsie
So many cute crafts, I can’t wait to try them all! You guys are all so wonderful when it comes to chronicling memories and giving special homemade gifts, so I was wondering if you have any particular crafts that you’d recommend for grad gifts/going away presents? I’m a recent high school graduate, and saying goodbye to all my friends is proving to be very difficult, but I’m sure one of your fabulous craft ideas would help ease the burden!
This reminds me of Harry Potter. Great idea for a themed child’s room. 🙂
http://xfallenmoon.blogspot.ca/
Being a fan of Harry Potter, I don’t personally see anything wrong with putting a few of these up in my own room. Or everywhere. 😉
I love mobiles though, thanks for sharing!
http://theflyingarmchair.me/
I love this! We have deemed our office the nerd room – where all of our Harry Potter, LOTR, and Doctor Who things go to thrive – and these would be perfect in there!
xoxo
Taylor
I love those unique glass vases! Actually, all of these pictures are very beautiful! Thank you for sharing! http://www.razzlendazzle.net/default.asp?dept_id=45350
sooo cute!
xxoo,
nikki
http://www.dreaminneon.blogspot.com
This makes the Harry Potter nerd inside of me so happy!
so cute!!!! love it!
xoxo, kerri
this is very cute but…couldn’t it be very dangerous for a young one to have pointy pieces of wood above their bed?
Well done! Your blog is great for young carpenters that want to do things right! Very educational
Craft wood like bass and balsa are very soft and can even be cut with scissors. But still you should keep them out of a baby’s reach. I lowered the mobile for this photos, to get everything in one shot, but in actuality the mobile is now hanging above our changing table. Still, I keep it out of reach and it’s extremely lightweight, so I don’t have to worry about it falling. -Mandi
Sorry for the late reply on this, Laura! They’re floating bookshelves! They’re designed so that the books conceal the brackets. I bought mine here: http://amzn.to/TqsqU8 -Mandi