Springfold Paper/All plans/Dimensional scenes/2026-10
Scalloped Cloud Mobile: Five Tiers That Turn
Mobiles fail for one reason: the tiers are not balanced, so the whole thing hangs at an angle and stops turning. Five rings, each measured against the one above before gluing, hung from a 200 mm hoop on nylon line rather than thread.
Cut scallop strips, not individual scallops
Each tier is a single strip with a scalloped lower edge, not a row of separate shapes. Cut the strip as one piece and cut the scallops with a compass-held blade or a 59 mm template turned against a fixed blade. Separate scallops glued to a tape always show a gap at the top of the arc, where the paper has to stretch.
Cut the 86 mm tiers from the same 160 gsm stock, not from thinner card. Mixing weights makes the mobile turn unevenly because the lighter tiers catch the air first.
Fold the spine, then let the strip hang before you glue
Score the scallop spine and the tape centre line, fold both lightly, then hang the strip from a length of nylon on the plumb line and look at it. A strip that has been folded unevenly will hang with one end lower, and gluing it in that state locks the error in.
Correct it by re-folding the tape centre line, not by pulling. Pulling stretches 160 gsm card along the fold and the strip gets longer and thinner on one side.
Balance each tier against the one above it
Hang tier one from the hoop. Add tier two on the same three lines, then hang the whole assembly and check with a level. Adjust by moving the beads 2–3 mm at a time, not by re-tying knots. Two millimetres is enough to fix a visible tilt; knots are a nuisance to redo twelve times.
The three lines must be at 120° to each other. Mark the hoop at 0°, 120° and 240° with a pencil before tying anything — spacing them by eye is the second most common reason a mobile will not turn.
Position the nylon so the lower tiers can rotate freely
Thread each tier's tape through two punched holes 20 mm from each end and knot underneath, but leave 40 mm of free nylon between a tier's tape and the bead that stops the tier above. That free length is what allows independent rotation; with the tiers touching, the whole mobile turns as one rigid object.
Finish by trimming every loose nylon end to 4 mm and touching the knot with a drop of PVA. Untrimmed ends on a mobile are visible against a window from across the room.
Specification
| Tiers | 5 — three at 118 mm scallops, two at 86 mm |
|---|---|
| Tape lengths | 460 / 400 / 340 / 280 / 220 mm |
| Card | 160 gsm — lighter card scallops droop at the ends |
| Suspension | 0.5 mm nylon, not thread: thread stretches and the tiers drift out of level |
| Working time | 75 minutes, 25 of them balancing |
| Blank size | 1436 x 148 mm |
| Pieces | 12 |
| Assembled | 12 pennants over 1416 mm |
Fold order
| Line | Kind | Angle |
|---|---|---|
| Scallop spine, valley, stopping 8 mm short of the round | valley | 165° |
| Tape centre, valley, so each strip hangs on its own edge | valley | 180° |
| Nesting tabs at each end, valley, 9 mm | valley | 180° |
Cut list
- Twelve scallops at 118 mm, cut as three strips of four
- Second-size scallops at 86 mm for the two lower tiers
- Five tape sections at 460, 400, 340, 280 and 220 mm
- Two 9 mm nesting tabs per strip
Check the plan against the object
What goes wrong
- Cutting individual scallops and gluing them to a tape — visible gaps appear at the top of each arc.
- Balancing by re-tying knots instead of sliding beads. Knots rarely land within 2 mm of where you want them.
- Leaving the tiers touching, so the mobile hangs as one rigid piece and never rotates.
Keep it clean
- Hang it clear of a doorway. 160 gsm card scallops bend permanently the first time they are knocked.
- Nylon line relaxes in warm rooms; re-tension after a week and again after a month.
- Dust the scallops with cold air. Cloth snags the arc edges and frays them.
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