DIY: Shell Mobile by The Surftorialist

Photos by Rhea Cortado 

This is a guest post from Rhea Cortado of The Surftorialist. Read more about her here!

Materials:
-Shells
-Driftwood
-Other flotsam and jetsam you want to put in there (I used rope scraps that I found on the beaches south of Hossegor, France and a souvenir glass buoy we found in the fishing village Bermeo in Spain.)
-Thin craft string to use for hanging the shells
-Thick rope to hang the entire mobile from the wall
-Hook in the ceiling of the wall
-Electric drill with a 1/8-inch diamond tip
-Glue gun

1. Drill holes in the shells. You'll need a small drill bit, but one that is really strong to be able to get through the shells, which are like ceramic. Helpful tip: submerge the shell in water when you are drilling. Something about the water prevents the shells from breaking.

2. Lay out all the wood and shells the way you want it to look so you have a map of how long to tie the strings and how you want the spacing. Try to keep it balanced in weight distribution so that when it hangs, it will hang evenly and not lopsided.

3. I started at the top. Wrap the salvaged rope and glue it flat around the driftwood.

4. Once you've finished with all you want to do with the base piece of wood, start tying! Cut a piece of string extra long, way longer than you want the length of that mobile string to hang so that you have extra string for tying. Tie a knot at the top and then space out how far down you want the shell to hang.

5. Thread the string through the hole in the shell, tie a knot to keep it in place.

6. Continue until you've finished that string of the mobile. Continue all the way down the line, following the way you laid it all out. For the driftwood, I wrapped the string around and tied a knot. You can figure it out however is best for your pieces and arrangement.

7. Once you've finished with tying all the shells onto the mobile, it's time to tie the big rope. Tie one side of the rope onto the end of the big piece of driftwood. Figure out how long you want the shell mobile to hang from the wall, lay it out to eyeball the length. Cut the end of the rope when you've decided and tie it to the other end of the driftwood.

8. Screw in the ceiling hook so that you have something to hang the mobile from. Hang it up!