Cranestorm Has Reached Its Goal!

The people over at the Brain Injury Association of Minnesota have reached their goal of collecting 100,000 cranes! Now they will be hosting events to string up all the cranes. From their site:

The Brain Injury Association of Minnesota will be holding crane stringing sessions at our office where you can bring your kids, spouse, friends, or anyone you may know who is interested in helping us get the art installation ready. The times are open and you are
welcome to drop in whenever it fits for you. Also, if you know of any groups who are looking for something to do this Spring, please let them know about these dates!


Thursday, April 7 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 9 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Thursday, April 14 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 16 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Thursday, April 21 from 1 to 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 30 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

I'll put them on the calendar as well.

11:7 Rectangles

When I made the Valentine's Day heart last week, I stumbled into a rectangle of paper that was 11:7. That size rectangle works perfectly for the model. It was unintentional, not a simple matter of altering an 8.5 x 11inch sheet of paper. What I actually came up with was a sheet that was 9 x 5+13/16 inch and scaled it up so that one side would be 11 inches and it could be nicely made from an 8.5x11 sheet without too much hassle. After scaling, I realized the ratio would be 11:7. I know how to make a lot of rectangles from any given sheet, but 11:7 is an odd one. So I have been searching for a shortcut so that I don't have to measure it with a ruler.

I have two shortcuts. The first is from a sheet that is 8.5 inches by 11 inches. The second is from a square.

==( 1 )==

This shortcut works only because I already know the dimensions of the starting sheet (8.5x11). If you're using A4 or some other such paper, this wont be much of a help.

To get 7 inches from 8.5 we must subtract 1.5 inches (duh). The diagonal crease from the corner and the vertical crease from the center intersect at the corner of a 5.5x5.5 inch square. Which means it's 3 inches from the bottom and half of that is 1.5 inches. 

You do not necessarily need to remove the bottom section, but just know that it is superfluous and will need to be hidden inside the model.


==( 2 )==

 This shortcut is more complicated. Also, it is not as easy to memorize as the one above. Also, it does not arrive at a perfect 11:7, but instead arrives at a 11:7.046875. I suspect, though, that is plenty close enough for most models.

The diagram below indicates the creases that need to be made, the first ones on the left and then moving to the right. The first five creases are just to find the point on the sheet that is roughly 3/11ths from the bottom. The top section will be 8/11ths, so fold that in half and you get 4/11ths. cut off the 4/11ths and you get a rectangle that is 11:7.

I don't know what other projects require an 11:7 rectangle, but if you know of any, let me know!

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

When I was folding at the library one student was piecing together a box in which he could hold valentine cards at school If it's like when I was in elementary school, then I assume he's going to get a bunch of those little cardboard things with famous cartoon characters saying nice things. And candy.

Anyway, he asked me if I knew how to make a heart shaped box. At the time I did not, but I had felt bad that I could not help him out, so I sat down and figured out how to make one! It took seven prototypes, but number eight looks great. And number nine is slightly smaller so that the two combined make a box and a lid!

I don't know how original my design is. I am sure that others have made a heart box and probably thought much like I did (we folded a different one at Origami MN, actually). I'm proud of it just the same.

Like I said, there were prototypes, one of which I took pictures of as I folded it so that I might remember what I did! I'd like to draw up some diagrams, but it would be the most complicated thing I've diagrammed yet.

It took a while to figure out the correct dimensions. This rectangle is what I finally settled on: 7x11. I'm not really sure how to get a 7x11 rectangle without a ruler, but it works perfectly for this model.

I really like the shape of this. It reminds me of the traditional heart-with-wings model I'm fond of. Or giant fighting robots.

This is the first one of the perfect shape. Of course, it's got lines all over it...

I hope you're having a wonderful Valentine's Day!

CraneStorm

I attended the November meeting of Origami Minnesota recently, and we talked about a new project called Cranestorm! 

The Brain Injury Association of Minnesota had a meeting a while back where they decided that they wanted people to "see" how many people were affected by brain injuries in Minnesota. Their estimates are that roughly 100,000 (yes, that's one-hundred-thousand) people in Minnesota (which has a population of 5,266,214) are suffering from a brain injury. 

The problem is that people cannot really understand such a large number as 100,000 unless they see 100,000 things all in a collection. To facilitate this, the BIAM is building an instillation piece in their headquarters. It will be 100,000 paper cranes hanging about the lobby. 

Now, I don't know how many of you have folded a thousand cranes (personally, I am at 0256/1000) but it is a lot of work to repeat the same model over and over. Even if you are comfortable with the process, it still takes a lot of time to fold all 1000. Now imagine doing that 99 more times!

Luckily, no single individual is going to fold all of them. They are soliciting donations of cranes from groups all over the world and have collected over 28,000 at the last count.

So, if you want to help out, go to the BIAM website and check it out!

Hamdmade Paper

If you read the previous post, you'll know that I participated in a day of paper-making goodness with Origami Minnesota. We made several sheets, all by hand, and it was awesome!

I thought I would share with you some of the paper we made:

Some of the paper was thicker and some was really really thin. The one above was thick, especially because it is double layered, each layer being thick individually.

 

This is my favorite one out of all of them, mainly because of the color mixture. I thought it might be cool to look at close up. This is as good as my camera will do.

 

The one on the bottom right is an odd one. I was experimenting with shaped molds, which is how I got the star in there. To be clear, I realize it is the Star of David, but there is no intended religious symbolism in it. That one is also odd in that I used the blue fiber, which had been mulched too much. It had the consistency of snot, which made it difficult to use, both physically and mentally. When I strained it, I put it on a shelf because it took so long for the water to seem out and when I tired to lay it neatly on the yellow sheet below it, a glob flew off and landed on the black one that is above it in the photo.

The lesson is, do not over mulch your pulp!

Paper Making!

On Saturday, Origami Minnesota hosted a paper-making workshop! We took over some space at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and made ten sheets. The workshop was led by Amanda, one of the people at Cave Paper.

We had two fibers to work with: abacá and flax. Abacá is a banana plant that grows in the Philippines, Borneo and Sumatra. It also works well for paper. It does not require the harsh chemicals that would be necessary if we were using most tree fibers. That means that we only had three ingredients, all non-toxic: fiber, water, and dye. We also had a relatively small supply of flax which is grown from the Mediterranean to India. It is notably stronger than abacá, but can be thicker.

Before we got there, the fiber had been sent through a machine that tears it into bits. These bits are dyed to a preferred color and mixed into a pulp.

The pulp mixture sits in a large tub, and a mesh mold is used to scoop up the fiber.

Then the water is drained out. The amount of time this takes is variable, dependent on the fiber and how much it was shredded before mixed into the water. One pulp we made was shredded really finely and absorbed an awful lot of water, which took a long time to drain. It was also really gooey, like snot.

The mesh mold is then flipped over and pressed against a wet piece of felt.

More felt is placed on top, several layers, until it is large enough to be pressed.

Note, the press uses a car-jack. It is pumped up to 5000 PSI and then released. Then each sheet is removed from the stack and put on a rack to air dry.

I think that it is important for a folder to make paper at least once in his life. It has given me a better appreciation if the fiber and the quality of the sheets. It also makes me more aware of the fact that each sheet can be customized for the model that is folded. First there was paper-making, and then as a natural extension, there was paper folding. Now I have a better understanding of that progression that has led to my chosen craft.

I had a blast making paper! Thanks to Cave Paper and Origami MN and the MCBA!

[All pictures taken with my camera.]

A Safe Place for Paper

To store my origami paper (specifically the 15cm x 15cm sheets) I have been using a box that once held a desk calendar. It was flimsy, falling apart, and all around bad. So I decided to construct a new box that would house my nice paper.

This new box is made from scrap wood in the basement. I carved the pieces so that the walls came together as finger joints that were held by friction alone. Then I cut grooves along the top and bottom of each wall so that they would hold two flat boards, one for the floor and one for the lid. At this point, I also lowered one wall so that the lid could slide out of the box.

Then I sanded all of it and made sure the inside could neatly hold a 15cm square sheet, which it does! When it all came together, I drilled vertical holes in the corners and drove a wooden dowel into each corner so that they wouldn't accidentally come apart.

I sanded it all again and then used a wood burner to draw the image of an orizuru on the lid, just in case people didn't know what the box was for! And finally, to protect the wood, I put two layers of varnish. 

I am very proud of my box. It's not perfect, partly because the wood was scrap, and partly because I am an amateur, but it will serve well for a long time. And, I can proudly say that there is not any glue or metal in the final construction.

Daily Crane Meditation

I decided a long time ago that I would meditate every day.

That plan failed.

Then I read a book by the Dalai Lama and one by a zen priest and listened to a meditation CD and tried to make it happen. But for some reason, I simply do not have the right frame of mind when I wake up in the morning to sit down, and just breathe for some number of minutes every day. I cannot focus. Eventually, I simply gave up.


But, as part of my 1000 cranes project, I decided that it would be a real boost if I committed to folding at least one crane a day. So then I combined that with my desire to meditate daily and formed my daily crane meditation. Now, by any objective standard, when I fold the crane in the morning I am not really meditating, but I do take the time to focus on my breathing. One benefit to the crane is that I am so familiar with the model that I do not need to think about how to fold it. I've gone beyond simple memorization of the crane to something intuitive, like how an athlete does not remember how to move, they just do. I just fold the crane without thought which frees my mind to focus on breathing.

These folding meditation sessions are probably much shorter than if I were to set aside a block of time to meditate the zen way, but they are infinitely longer than the non-sessions I had been doing. And, with a bit of luck, getting in the habit of doing the daily crane meditation every single day could pave the way for a larger commitment that is simply not an option right now.

Animal Origami For The Enthusiast

John Montroll published an origami book in 1985 titled Animal Origami For The Enthusiast. Some how it reached a woman who I worked with in high school. She passed the book to me and I immediately fell in love with the turtle. I folded it and a few of the other models fairly regularly. I allowed myself to be intimidated by some of the tougher models, and refused to try them. I knew I would need larger paper for some, and others just looked too hard. That was back when I considered myself a casual folder.

As of starting this blog, I have become a bit more serious regarding origami and decided that I should make a special effort to fold the models that intimidated me. Since Montroll's book is the first one I ever owned, I thought it appropriate that fold each model at least once, then move onto a different book and fold each model in it.

The photo of the lobster to the right is the last of the 25 models to be folded! It used a square of paper 25" on a side. Considering I typically use office paper made into a square, it was a bit cumbersome to maneuver the sheet, but it was surprisingly easy when all is said and done.

Now I need to pick a new book to fold through!

[The photo is my own, of a lobster folded by me and designed by John Montroll]

Crease Pattern Project

I have decided that in order for me to advance as an origami artist, I need a better grasp of how models are designed. My first project will be to take the intermediate level models that I am familiar with, fold them, and as I unfold them I trace the crease pattern. Then I scan them into the computer and print off a hard copy to save in a binder. I currently have fourteen cataloged, and hopefully that will grow!

I am still fairly new to this crease pattern phenomenon, and need some practice getting used to visualizing the final product.

What I have posted here is the pattern for an octopus I designed. It is fairly crude, and I would not be surprised if someone else came up with the same design independently, but it is my first original design and I am proud of it for what it is!

[The image is my own]

First 10 Cranes Complete!

I've finished my first ten cranes and distributed them around the city! I've left one of them in an origami book, but most of them are left in semi-public spaces where someone may find them, in stores and restaurants. I wrote the blog web address on each one, so its actually quite likely that you found out about this blog via such a crane.

I would have folded more cranes by now, but I have been distracted by another project. Specifically, I have been tracing crease patterns of all the folds that I know and cataloging them in a 3-ring binder so that I can compare and contrast different patterns.

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!