An apology from the blogger

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Hey all. I’m sorry I’ve been MIA the last few weeks. If you didn’t know already, I’m in the process of getting married and changing jobs all at the same time! This is my way of saying I was busy enough to neglect my blog for a little while.

I also noticed something with this challenge: if it’s something I can avoid, I usually will. Not that sitting and folding paper is hard, but it is certainly a challenge to find quality instructions and then get enough practice out of them.

Anyway, I’m going to have to mark this challenge as incomplete, and then figure out some type of penalty that I’ll have to fulfill during the next month.

Later days,
Matt

A thousand cranes: what it is, and why I’m not doing it

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A few of my dedicated, and favorite, followers have mentioned the 1,000 origami crane challenge (also known as Senbazuru) in addition to my current challenge. So I did a little research into the subject and discovered what this myth is all about.

First of all, the crane is a mythical creature in Japanese culture that usually symbolizes long life and health. They are also said to live 1,000 years, which is why you make 1,000 of them. By hand. By the same person. That means no outside help or any automation to help achieve your goal. If I wanted to do that many origami cranes in a month, I’s have to spend more than two hours a day making about 34 cranes each session. I’ve decided that since I have a limited amount of time, I wouldn’t be able to complete such a challenge in just a month. I’d need several.

For the life of me, I couldn’t find any real history on this. Granted, I simply browsed the web a bit before coming to this conclusion, but I still didn’t find anything beyond the wikipedia entry on the subject.

One of the more touching stories I’ve found surrounding this subject is that of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who was diagnosed with leukemia after the Hiroshima bombings that ended WWII. Her mission was to complete the thousand cranes to make one wish: to live. That’s all. She didn’t want money or power. Just to live past her childhood.

Sadly, she never made it to her thousandth crane, dying at age 12 in 1955. She successfully folded 655 origami cranes before her death. Here friends and family picked up where she left off and completed her goal and buried her with the cranes. She has served as a reminder of innocent victims of war ever since.

Later days,

Matt

Day 15: Chasing the dragon

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Photo Apr 15, 10 54 56 PMThree down, three to go! I just finished memorizing how to make an origami dragon – one of my moderately harder forms. This means I can do a crane, frog and now a dragon all without the aid of a book or video to guide me.

The more amazing thing is how much more I learn each time I attempt to master each form. The more I practice, the deeper my understanding gets for why each fold or crease is placed where it is. Almost like I’m folding in the DNA of each creature I make and breathing it to life when I’m done.

It’s like practicing a piece of music or a speech so well that it becomes second nature. It transcends the notes or writing on the page and becomes it’s own entity. A living, breathing thing that just flows out of you.

Sorry, was that too deep? I guess this is my fancy way of saying I’m getting more comfortable with paper in molding it into various shapes and figures.

The dragon

Photo Apr 15, 10 54 12 PMThis guy was particularly difficult because it involves some reshaping and folding that was, at first, difficult to wrap my head around.

There’s no doubt that if I’d tried to make this form with the help of a book I would have been lost from the start. The idea of looking at some vague text and drawings that make it difficult to see how the folds happen stresses me out just thinking about it.

Thus, I rely on the video where I can see an artists hands in action. I can watch each fold and crease take place in real time. If I’m following along, I can pause the video to catch up if I need a few more seconds to get my creases down properly before going on the the next part.

There are many videos out there, but this video helped me out the most:

I’m thinking I better try a money figure next to make Joe happy … thoughts?

Later days,
Matt

Day 12: Getting tricked into kirigami

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This owl is considered kirigami because the ears in the back were cut out.

This owl is considered kirigami because the ears in the back were cut out.

Every time I see a cool looking thumbnail of a origami figure I want to try and make I get ricked into making kirigami – a form of folding that incorporates cuts into the design. I know what you’re thinking, and yes this is a big deal. Origami is the art of folding a sheet, or two, into a figure without the aid of scissors, glue or anything else. To me, everything else is just sculpting with paper, which is fine but it’s not origami.

What bothers me more is the false advertising in the books, videos and other instructional materials I trust to show me how to make “origami” with the aide of some glue or scissors. Even some of the books I picked up from the library that proudly display paper cranes and other figures are simply bait to get you to open the book and see the materials they suggest to use with some of the designs that include paper, scissors, glue, string, and so on.

Being the purest I am, I usually skip these instructions and go for the more traditional approach, but it still feels like it’s a bait and switch. Like I’m being drawn into this mystical and ancient art form that uses only a square piece of paper and your hands … and a bottle of Elmer’s if you’re feeling “crafty.” The idea of “arts and crafts time” kills the experience for me.

The art of obsessiveness

Origami is the art of being obsessive. I’ve heard this comment a few times from people interested in my challenge this month.

“Origami is about not just doing a figure from memory, but doing it well from memory. Getting the lines just right, and making sure the end result is as close to perfection as possible.” These are some sage words from a coworker of mine that I think ring very true. It’s an aspect of the challenge that I haven’t considered, until now.

I’m going practice the figures that I’ve memorized a few times a day searching for perfection until I have it.

Later days,

Matt

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Day 8: Struggling with the turtle

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Wow, that’s a weird title for a post … anyway, as the title reads, I’m having trouble folding a particular animal: the turtle. I can now do cranes from memory, frogs with the instructions, boxes, seals and so on; but not the turtle. It’s hard. really hard.

My "mole/turtle." Cool.

My “mole/turtle.” Cool.

Folding the paper is the easier part. In fact it’s like folding a crane for the first several steps, but there’s a point where I have to fold the shape inside out to get the final form. It never goes well. I always mash up the what is supposed to be the “shell” beyond recognition, and the head ends up looking more like a mole. The good news is I can make a mole. By accident. Damn.

Oh well. If at first you don’t succeed, right?

Challenge update

I’ve decided on the traditional crane and the frog for my two easy forms to master from memory. So far, I can mold the crane with almost no assistance from the internet, which is good because I can’t wait to use that skill at a party. The frog, however, might take me a few more walkthroughs before it matches my crane technique. By they way, If someone had just read that last sentence and nothing else, they would have thought I was learning some kung fu moves. But, I’m way not. I learning how to fold paper, which feels like the complete opposite.

As far as my other two challenges are concerned, I haven’t picked a moderate or difficult form to master. Any suggestions?

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Later days,

Matt