Happy First Friday! Typically on First Fridays, I do some sort of craft project involving the dismantling and mangling of books... and today is no exception, but it's serving double purpose. Today, I'm using the pages of books to create paper cranes for decorative purposes as well as contemplative and calming.
You see, I've got this fish pond in my yard. Okay, I had a fish pond. Now I've only got a pond, thanks to one visit from one crane, er...heron, er... whatever. Cranes are supposed to be harbingers of good things. Really, this one was a harbinger of a wide-spread fish-kill. (We're talking complete destruction.) But even telling you about this is making me lose my good juju. Ohmmmm. Back to paper crane folding and while I fold, (and regain my calm), I'll tell you a little bit about paper cranes.
Firstly, it is a contemplative task, folding paper cranes. I won't go into the whole long, drawn out tutorial here. There are far better tutorials on youtube, such as this one: Paper Crane Tutorial And for those who already know how to fold them, you'll appreciate my mnemonics: "square, kite, bird mouth, fat man, skinny man, book-fold, fox, open-wide, book-fold, bird." (You'll get it after you master the art of paper crane folding.)
In some parts of the world, the crane is regarded as a messenger from the gods. In Asian cultures, the crane represents long-life, (not, apparently, for my fish), health, wisdom and prosperity. And who couldn't use a little more health, wisdom and prosperity?
At the very least, they make great packing material for a box being sent to my daughter who is away at college. That, and they're fun dangling all around my desk.
Got my good juju back, so I'm back to working on the WIP, the first in my new mystery series, The Wicked Step-Mothers Mysteries. Happy folding!
You see, I've got this fish pond in my yard. Okay, I had a fish pond. Now I've only got a pond, thanks to one visit from one crane, er...heron, er... whatever. Cranes are supposed to be harbingers of good things. Really, this one was a harbinger of a wide-spread fish-kill. (We're talking complete destruction.) But even telling you about this is making me lose my good juju. Ohmmmm. Back to paper crane folding and while I fold, (and regain my calm), I'll tell you a little bit about paper cranes.
Firstly, it is a contemplative task, folding paper cranes. I won't go into the whole long, drawn out tutorial here. There are far better tutorials on youtube, such as this one: Paper Crane Tutorial And for those who already know how to fold them, you'll appreciate my mnemonics: "square, kite, bird mouth, fat man, skinny man, book-fold, fox, open-wide, book-fold, bird." (You'll get it after you master the art of paper crane folding.)
In some parts of the world, the crane is regarded as a messenger from the gods. In Asian cultures, the crane represents long-life, (not, apparently, for my fish), health, wisdom and prosperity. And who couldn't use a little more health, wisdom and prosperity?
At the very least, they make great packing material for a box being sent to my daughter who is away at college. That, and they're fun dangling all around my desk.
Got my good juju back, so I'm back to working on the WIP, the first in my new mystery series, The Wicked Step-Mothers Mysteries. Happy folding!
Nice post, Sofie. That last image is stunning. So glad you're getting back to your WIP. Eager to read it.
ReplyDeleteWhen my son was in third grade his class did the Peace Project and the class had to fold 1000 cranes to send to Japan for its children's display. I still get nightmares about this thing. Lol. Thanks for the memory. I had forgotten about this. He's 31 now.
ReplyDeleteHi Sofie--
ReplyDeleteSorry about your fish! Another interesting post and I would love to get a package with paper cranes as the packing material :-) BTW I love the title of your new series.
Victoria--