The “make a baby mobile” project sure took a while. But it’s finally finished :) And the mobile with homemade felt animals is at the same time an IKEA “hack” project, since the little marine figures are held by an octopus actually designed for hanging up little pieces of laundry…
When I saw the PRESSA drying rack for the first time in an IKEA catalog, I thought, it’s just begging to become an IKEA Hack project!! But I only got the idea for the mobile when I was pregnant with Nelly. And since then, I’ve had the idea for the baby mobile in the back of my mind; only now has it come to fruition. But as everyone knows, ideas that take their time are the really good ones :)
In case you haven’t seen the PRESSA drying rack, this is how it looks when used for its original purpose:
Of course I chose the red octopus (they also come in white and black), since together with blue, red gives it a maritime look (and octopus = sea) and because it goes perfectly with the rest of Nelly’s furnishings in our bedroom.
So now you know why the handmade felt figures became “maritime” :)
I threaded one felt figure and 3 beads on each strand. I still had some red wooden beads left over, and for the blue ones I just painted plain wooden beads with spray lacquer (just like for the numbers on my Baby picture frame).
In particular, what I hadn’t planned on from the beginning is that the blue beads would look like little air bubbles… quite cool :)
Since the figures take a relatively long time to make (at least for me as an unpracticed felt figure maker :)), I only added a whale and a few other droplets. And that will have to suffice for the baby mobile.
Originally I wanted to hang a strand on each of the 16 octopus hooks, but I only filled 8. However, it doesn’t look as empty as I was afraid it would.
And for a direct comparison between the drying rack and the mobile, here is a before and after picture :)
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