Crystal Eclipse Mobile

C H E C K. T H I S. O U T.
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I've made a dreamy, crystal-encrusted and high-shine mobile from old abalone coasters - yes - that I grabbed from the Kane County Flea Market. When I first saw the stack of these I had no idea what they were; but the shiny, milky white shells with flecks of blues, pinks and greens grabbed my attention and I knew I could use them for something.

This is not necessarily a "diy" post, as I was too lazy to take pictures of individual steps. But, I will take you through the basic steps I made to make this. Starting with these round coasters (which had cork on the back that I had carefully removed), I cut them into half and crescent moons. I layered these and connected them with chain, mirroring the moon pattern to replicate a moon's cycle. I had to be careful not to break these thin shells, using a sharp Xacto knife to cut the shapes here. These were rimmed with a gold metal rim, which I removed to cut then crimped back on the shapes, having to cut and bend to fit.

There was one large shell in the pack that wasn't cork-backed, so I used this large piece as a focal point, making it the "queen moon" in my mobile!

What I did to this one was encrust it with crystals. I used Cousin Corporation Crystazzi Aurora Borealis flatback crystals… and wow! I used E6000 glue to glue these on, and did a random pattern to mimic the shadows and highlights of a moon, so it looked realistic. The multihued shine of these super high-quality rhinestones really just brought out all the opalescent tones within the shells themselves!

Using Cousin Corporation gold cable chain and gold jump rings to connect the shells, and then finishing with a feather and crystal dangle, just tied the mobile together.

This is surprisingly lightweight, even with the metal and beads used. Those rainbow acrylic bead (that I love!) I got from Fire Mountain Gems, and the crystals from Cousin Corporation Jewelry Basics.

Doesn't it look like the moon?!

And of course, the feathers are cruelty free, just like the ones in my Free Bird Necklace tutorial. I used a single white feather here for just a little bohemian touch!

I glued three of the crystal flat backs to the feather for added sparkle.

There is that acrylic rainbow bead again - and a large crystal Crystazzi pendant from Cousin Corporation.

This just has such a cool, mystical vibe about it, which I dig. Of course you knew that.

Looks great hanging in the room, next to my cool Moon light fixture (from Ikea!)

My inspiration for this was a mobile I saw at Urban Outfitters - which included moon shapes.

It was also a great excuse to use up those flat backs I had laying around, which, even though they were Hotfix stones for fabric, worked great with the E6000 glue here.

That ending crystal dangle though … love! I love the prismatic coating on the beads and crystals. You could switch out my shells here for heavy card stock (maybe glue two or three sheets together, spray paint it gold or metallic, and cut out the shapes)- just an idea. Or, create large charms from shrink plastic and use those. So many options!

I hope to have inspired you to create something cool! Sometimes, just looking through "junk" will spark ideas.
Dream on, D R E A M E R S
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ALL photos and text copyright Allison Beth Cooling. Do NOT post pictures without linking to me and crediting me!