First Project!

There is a popular belief that if you fold 1000 paper cranes, you may have one wish granted, much like finding a magic lamp. If you know of this, it is likely because of the children's book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr, which follows Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl who became ill with the "atom bomb sickness" (leukemia) after the United States nuked Hiroshima. She folded cranes while in the hospital, hoping to fold 1000. According to the book, she reached 644 before passing away. Her friends and classmates completed the other 356 so that she could be buried with all 1000.

In many ways, this is such an important aspect of origami in the world. This story is what has solidified the paper crane as the peace crane. It is one of the reasons people even are introduced to origami in the first place. And so I have decided that I will fold 1000 paper cranes to pay respects to the tradition.

I have no idea how many cranes I have folded thus far in my life, so for this project I will begin at 0001 and work my way up. I have been known to abandon origami in public places, and therefore cannot expect to possess all 1000 cranes at the end. Instead, I will write which crane it is, and then leave it so that someone may find it. Sometimes my origami comes back to me, so I guess I will see if that happens again!