On November 14th, 2018, I started folding 1200 birds for Paper Mountain. Well I actually started earlier, but all the birds I folded before then didn’t make the cut. I was testing out papers, and didn’t find the right combination of size and weight until the middle of November. So from mid November until February 12th, I folded birds every single day without fail (except for 3 days spent painting at a workshop). In this video, I am folding the last of the 1200 birds. As soon as I folded that last bird, I felt a tinge of nostalgia. I really enjoyed my daily folding (typically 1-2 hours per day).
From March 9-14, I’ll be installing Paper Mountain and Sky Project at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art in Charlotte, NC. The exhibit opens on March 15th. I’m still raising money to make this project happen, and I’d love it if you would contribute and be a part of this big undertaking. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed to the project!
Please forward and share this with all your friends!
Note: The video is sped up 2x and it’s set to Ella Fitzgerald’s “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.”
This week’s 10 cranes… The current crane tally is 37.
Folding 1000 cranes is said to insure a long and peaceful life. So one day a week, as part of my daily project, I will make 10 cranes. At this rate, it will take me 2 years to complete the 1000 cranes. If I stick to it, it’s totally doable! I figure it’s a good exercise in discipline, it’s meditative, and it will give me the chance to profoundly know the act of folding the crane, so that I no longer think about it, but rather my hands simply take over. By the sixth crane I made today, I had memorized the pattern. In addition to origami paper, I’m re-using paper from our recycling bin, which is a nice way to put the paper to use, and also adds a nice texture to the crane’s surface.