CD-ROM Mobile
If you have some CD-ROMS lying around that you don’t know how to use; here is a possible solution. Let’s recycle them to make a mobile.
This project is rated: MODERATE
Materials needed:
- Computer paper
- CD-ROM’s
- Scissors or craft knife
- Crayons, colored pencils, or paint
- Glue
- Thread
- Wire
For this project, you will use 6 CD-ROM’s to make a mobile that has 3 objects attached to it. However, you can use more or less of them.
Mobile Instructions
- First, you must make the supporting wires. I recommend 20 gauge wire that you can purchase at a hardware store. You may find that 20 gauge wire is a little hard to bend; it is possible to use a lighter gauge wire if you so desire. Make two support wires that look similar to the illustration below.
2. Make one piece that measures about 9 inches between the loops; make the second piece so that the distance between the loops is 6 inches. You can vary these dimensions, but be sure to make them long enough so that, when completed, the CD-ROM’s do not touch.
Six pictures are provided for you to glue to the shiny side of each CD-ROM. Each picture is provided in color and also in black and white. Use the color pictures if you choose to print on a color printer. If you do not have a color printer (or choose not to use one,) print out the black and white images and then color them to your own tastes.
Project Instructions
- Print six of the images at right on regular computer paper.
- If you chose to print the black and white images, color them now.
- Cut around the outside of the circle and also cut away the uncolored parts that are not a part of the image.
- Glue each image to the shiny side of a CD-ROM. (You want the shiny side to show through the cut away portions of the image. When a bright light reflects from the CD-ROM, you will see rainbow colors.)
- Glue the CD-ROM’s together, back to back, in pairs. You will now have three completed objects to use in making your mobile.
Mobile Instructions
- Cut 5 pieces of thread (preferably black) that are each about 12 inches long.
- Double each piece of thread and tie the ends together.
- Make a small hole at the top of the center hole of the CD-ROM’s.
- Pass a loop of thread through each of the CD-ROM pairs. Then pass the knotted end of the loop through the end of the loop on the opposite side of each CD-ROM pair.
Suspend the Mobile
- Hang two of the completed objects on the opposite ends of the shorter wire.
- Then put one of the remaining loops of thread in the center of the shorter wire, at the balance point, and hang it from one end of the longer wire.
- Hang the remaining object from the other end of the longer wire.
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Finally, place the remaining loop of thread on the longer wire and find a balance point so that the longer wire is about level. When completed, you should have a mobile similar to the one shown in the project image at the top of this post.
Hang your mobile from a light fixture or a hook in the ceiling. You can add another longer wire and CD-ROM’s repeatedly. Or, make your own circular images. The options are only limited by your imagination.
