make origami cranes

Well, sometimes when you ask the universe for an opportunity and boy do you get. My cousin needs a 1000 paper cranes for her wedding in March and I am now making paper cranes everyday. At work when I’m on the phone, while watching TV, pretty much anytime I’m sitting still. I’m a pro now. What’s great is that lots of people have seen me doing it and offered to help me with my task so now my parents are helping and some friends too.

In the past few day I have probably made 50 cranes. I am making them for my cousin’s wedding. I have all different colors, patterns and sizes. They all look so pretty sitting together on the tables and desks where they are collecting. I have gotten my technique down and will be doing it at work while I’m on the phone. Weeeeeeeeeee!

it’s a good way to use your spare time

When I was a teenager and I would get those little “my life sucks” moments I would fold paper cranes. It had a dual purpose that grounded me, it transported me to a really happy time in my life back when I lived in Japan while at the same time reminding me of the sadness of Hiroshima, something that I knew made whatever problems I thought I had pale in comparison. Plus just the act of folding them is soothing and relaxing.

When you finally get the knack of it and you find yourself with 500 paper cranes and you’re like “what am I going to do with these things…” then check out this page:
http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/shimin/heiwa/crane.html

the first time i did this, i was thinking how crap-looking it will be but when i went to this website, it actually looks pretty damn good! it reall is worth it!

http://www.monkey.org/~aidan/origami/crane/index.html

...the whole school made cranes and sent them to Japan. I still enjoy making cranes today. It’s very relaxing. nd there’s something so beautiful about the form.

A bit ago, I bought some origami paper at la Maison de la culture du Japon. Very pretty paper. It’s very nice to work with. I still have on my desk at work that I made probably 4-5 years ago. You can see him here.

i helped my friend make a bunch for her grandparent’s anniversary. once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast—especially with smaller sized paper.

i think they would make beautiful room separator/doorway things. i don’t know what they’re called, but they’re usually made of beads.

So I’ve relearned to make cranes (learned for the first time in 4th grade after reading 1000 paper cranes book) and it’s wonderful.
I used the origami cranes as a model to cast from…that probably doesn’t make sense, but I made paper cranes and attached them to a little tree and then cast this in bronze. Might make sense if you are familiar with the lost wax casting method. In any case my paper cranes have become bronze, which I think is pretty cool.
Also, I invested in some nice origami paper. However, I only used one sheet to make a crane because the paper is so beautiful I don’t want to fold it all up or risk making a mistake!

i had paper cranes hanging from my bedroom ceiling when i was younger.

When I was 9 years old, my grandparents took me to Japan. Before I went, my mom gave me some books on Origami, and I was completely taken with them.

One of my best memories of all time is when we were ready to head back to the states, we had a 6 hour wait in the airport. Here’s this little blonde kid, sitting on the floor, folding paper cranes. Pretty soon, I had a crowd of Japanese people around me (including a bride in full wedding kimono, one of the Japanese men’s olympic teams, and several Japanese 5-6 year olds), folding with me. It was so cool.