This blog is dedicated to my grandmother, and to all those who have been touched in some way by the art of my origami cranes. I am paying it forward, one small piece of paper at a time.



Senbazuru is the Japanese art of folding one thousand origami cranes. There is a legend stating that whoever folds 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish by the ancient bird spirit, but traditionally the feat is performed to wish eternal good luck, benevolence, and one thousand years of prosperity. For these reasons, I felt in my heart that it would be the perfect expression of appreciation, gratitude and ultimately, respectful farewell.


From the moment the idea came to me, I knew I could mould and shape this project into my own expression of something we could share together - a labor of love that she would appreciate, even if no one else in my family could fully understand what it all meant.


Each set of one hundred cranes featured here represents a moment, a memory, a spark in my life that we shared together that helped influence the person who I have become today. I hope you enjoy reading my personal reflections, so that you may fully understand the empowerment this project has had on me, and the inspiring statement of sharing beauty and joy that I learned as a result of folding my 1,000th crane.

Friday, November 22, 2013

700/1000

One of my favorite memories together was our trip to "The Butterfly Place". It had just opened, and I remember when we arrived the parking lot and land around it was still just dirt, no pavement or grass, and seemed like it was out in the middle of nowhere. Inside however, was lush and full of plants that stretched towards the high ceiling.

We very carefully walked down the path, observing all the different types of butterflies. Some of them I recognized, but a large number of species I had never seen before, or only knew existed from photos. I remember the luna moth was probably the most extravagant of all we saw that day. I have seen it only once in the wild my entire life, and was completely awed by its presence.

There were lots of butterflies in the museum that day, and their bright colors and patterns inspired this next series of cranes. I added the design of butterflies we know and saw that day on some of the cranes. Eastern tiger swallowtail, red admiral, mourning cloak, monarch and luna moth among the chosen few. I hope they remind you of this happy time we shared.







Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)