348 baby!

So, as of today, thanks to one of Dad's AMAZING neighbors, we have 348 sponsored cranes. I've started folding them and I hope to drop them off this weekend when I'm in Memphis. One of my friends got some extra cranes today for her pre-school classroom. Totally awesome idea.
I've been thinking about projects. There are definitely going to be some crane mobiles and some crane earrings. I've had a request for miniature bottled cranes, so I'm thinking pendants with those. I need to go find some spray polyurethane to coat all the jewelry cranes so that they will hold up a little better. I also want to try some experiments... maybe a felt crane? or a plush crane? I'll have to try it and see what works.

I sent Dad a picture of my Halloween costume for today (Little Red Riding Hood). He thought I looked cute. He's lost some more weight, but he seemed in good spirits. My aunt was visiting this weekend. They talked about a bunch of stuff this weekend. He told me, "Sweetie, I was shocked, but apparently you and I aren't the only ones with issues from childhood. Who knew?" I'm headed up there Thursday night for his birthday, which is on Saturday.
I'll post lots of project pictures as they start rolling out.

Wow, you guys ROCK!!!

So, as of 12:55 a.m. today I am at 260 sponsored cranes.
Let me say that number again... 260!!!!
This is less than 48 hours after the project went live. I am blown away by how kind and generous everyone is being. Thank you!

So far, I've actually gotten 108 of them folded. I'm trying to stay pretty on top of things. I've got some ideas for projects to do with cranes that stay with me. Some of the first cranes to go off to their new home took flight (via the USPS) to Massachusetts today. Another tiny army of cranes will get picked up on Saturday. Remember to let me know if you want your cranes or if you want to leave them with me.


Here's a peek at some of the origami paper I'm using right now...

This paper was sent to me by a friend teaching in Japan. As far as I can tell it looks like most of it was screen printed or block printed. Some of the pieces are very textured. It's pretty cool stuff. So far I've used about a third of what's actually in the box. I've got a few random collections of "real" origami paper before I'll have to get creative. I figure around the 500 crane mark anything goes!

So kind

Ok, you guys are being amazingly kind! I've got 30 cranes so far tonight. Here is a picture of the first 25 cranes:

The background on my laptop, if anyone is interested, is a 1930's style Catwoman drawn by Ted Nafieh, who is awesome. I've got 3 pieces of his art at home.
The last 5 cranes of the night are thanks to Melissa, whose fashion designs you MUST check out. She's amazing.

Step One

Ok, the first 5 cranes are folded! Only 995 to go to reach my goal!

The Paper Crane Project

So, my dad is sick. He's got terminal cancer. Sucks, but he's been amazing. So, in an effort to start raising money to cover the upcoming expenses I've started The Paper Crane Project. Building off the idea that if you fold a thousand paper cranes you will be granted one wish I'm working toward a thousand cranes to help my dad live the rest of his life with grace and dignity.

People can sponsor cranes if they'd like to and I'm going to track my progress here. I just posted today and already I've gotten a donation from a wonderful friend from high school! So I've got 5 cranes to make this afternoon! If anyone wants their cranes I'm happy to send them, or I'll keep them and do something awesome. Possibly a paper crane chandelier that I can sell in my etsy shop later to help dad more. That would be pretty awesome.
I'll post some pictures of the first 5 cranes in a bit.