Papercranes (5/14)

Beginnings of the Paper Crane Collection

The decision to make origami paper cranes came early on. I frequented creative wedding blogs just to look at the visuals, and found myself attracted to paper cranes.  I had never made one before, but loved the beauty and delicacy they created, the color they added, and their symbolism.


Traditionally, in Japan, one thousand origami paper cranes were given as a wedding gift to wish the couple a thousand years of happiness and prosperity. Now, I didn't make a thousand, (a few hundred) but believe it still brought a magical beauty and happiness to our marriage. (and wedding!)

I worked at an art store for years, and they graciously gave me lots of origami paper..in all colors, and my favorite, glow in the dark!  Then my lovely friend Mary Jo taught me to make the paper crane during a sleepover party!  It took a few times, and I never felt they were perfect, but I began to get the hang of it.

Ruby loves the cranes!

For a few months I made paper cranes.  I made them during the day... and I made them at night.  It was actually really fun! Listening to music, watching television, hanging with friends...I would make paper cranes. I would make them and toss them in a box.


When the second box began to fill up I started to play around with how I would hang them.  That's when I realized making them was the easy part...hanging them proved a bit more challenging.  In the end I used a needle and fishing line and tied a little knot where I wanted the crane to rest. As each strand was complete I would tape them on the arch to our living room entrance way.










Now if I thought hanging them was challenging, getting them safely transported 3 hours away and hung in time for the wedding...now that was the real challenge!  I wound up tying beads to the bottom, hanging a few at a time from canvas bars and attaching those to hangers.  We covered them in huge plastic bags (carefully!) and hung the hangers in the back of the car.

The morning of the wedding I helped remove them and hang them all over the landscape.  Many of them were in the trees in the entrance.  Some were in the dinner tent, some were in the woods where we had the ceremony, and others were in trees throughout the fields.  We also placed some on tables throughout the resort, like the check-in desk and the dessert table.

After the wedding many strands came home with me and some went home with friends and family.  A number of them are in our wedding memory box, and a number of them are hung throughout our house!  The glow in the dark strand still wins me over, but I love them all!  The legend says, "hanging them in one's home is thought to be a powerfully lucky and benevolent charm."  I sure feel lucky.