We spent the sweetest night with karla learning how to create our own little spiral mobiles. We chatted with her about how she got started and the things that have inspired her work! 
How did you get started making mobiles?
I started making mobiles by having an empty hook in the corner of my bedroom in 2023. I kind of became obsessed with finding something cute to hang from it, but couldn't find anything that felt right. That obsession kind of haunted me for a bit, and then I had a dream where I first saw the spiral mobile in detail so I woke up and immediately started typing a bunch of keywords into etsy and ebay to see if I could find it online...I was kind of in disbelief because I consider myself to be really good at researching, specifically when it comes to shopping for something highly specific, but I couldn't find a thing! I decided to figure out how to make my own spiral mobile. I already had a bowl of tiny trinkets, and the fishing line and ribbon, I just needed help figuring out the metal base. My dad is a metal worker so I asked him if he could help me figure something out the next time I visited him across the state. He literally took me out to his backyard and picked up a random piece of wire from the ground and bent it into the most perfect wonky spiral. That's how it all started.
I started making mobiles by having an empty hook in the corner of my bedroom in 2023. I kind of became obsessed with finding something cute to hang from it, but couldn't find anything that felt right. That obsession kind of haunted me for a bit, and then I had a dream where I first saw the spiral mobile in detail so I woke up and immediately started typing a bunch of keywords into etsy and ebay to see if I could find it online...I was kind of in disbelief because I consider myself to be really good at researching, specifically when it comes to shopping for something highly specific, but I couldn't find a thing! I decided to figure out how to make my own spiral mobile. I already had a bowl of tiny trinkets, and the fishing line and ribbon, I just needed help figuring out the metal base. My dad is a metal worker so I asked him if he could help me figure something out the next time I visited him across the state. He literally took me out to his backyard and picked up a random piece of wire from the ground and bent it into the most perfect wonky spiral. That's how it all started.
What is your inspiration when creating these special pieces?
Each mobile has its own inspiration. With customs, I made a question form for people to fill out with keywords to give me a better idea of who they are and what they like. I like when people send me a mood board, or share their ig page with me. I feel like I can absorb someone's energy and channel it into a mobile pretty easily that way.
Each mobile has its own inspiration. With customs, I made a question form for people to fill out with keywords to give me a better idea of who they are and what they like. I like when people send me a mood board, or share their ig page with me. I feel like I can absorb someone's energy and channel it into a mobile pretty easily that way.
For the mobiles that I make that aren't based on a custom, I like to draw inspiration from whatever books and colors I'm into at the time, curated trinket piles that gather on my desk, patterns I feel drawn to, sometimes dreams or emotional residue I'm working through.
Do you draw inspiration from the PNW when creating your mobiles?
I feel like I subconsciously do. At the end of the day I'm a PNW girlie and I think that shows up in my work through the muted colors I like to use, or when I collect trinkets from a local nature spot. If I can capture the serene feeling of sunlight peeking through the trees and making everything glitter through a mobile, I'm happy.
I feel like I subconsciously do. At the end of the day I'm a PNW girlie and I think that shows up in my work through the muted colors I like to use, or when I collect trinkets from a local nature spot. If I can capture the serene feeling of sunlight peeking through the trees and making everything glitter through a mobile, I'm happy.
xx,
Wild Cactus Team
Wild Cactus Team