apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

my mom tried this magazine mobile thing and its not as simple as it looks. she did oblong pieces and she can't get them to lay flat. they topple over. in other words, they won't stay parallel to each other. any ideas?

After looking at a closeup, looks like 2 pieces are cut and glued with a thin wire running down the center.

I would try doing it this way: (I could be way of base with this, though) buy 2 sided thin fusible facing, or spray glue and thin wire. Cut out 2 shapes, wrong sides together.
Now make your "sandwich" 1. 1 shape right side out
2. fusible 3. wire 4. second shape 5. iron if using glue,
don't iron. Leave part of the wire out so you can wrap it around the filament. OR you could try using filament instead of wire.