It Took How Long!?!

This was the first time that I have timed myself when folding and boy I was surprised at the result.

  This time a darker green paper

AND THIS IS HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE NEXT 3 PICTURES

(MEANT TO BE 90 DEGREES CLOCKWISE)

            1                                                    2

             3                                                 4

          5                                                    6

Here is the time it took me:

Each lap corresponds to that numbered picture, so it took me 23 minutes to get to stage one etc. etc.

Well... that was longer than I expected it to take. Just over 2 hours to make 20 cranes.

80 down 920 to go...

Greeeeen...

So... If I stuck to my target of 20 a day I'd have 140 by now. At this present time I only have 60. It's  taking me longer than I expected to fold them, well over an hour. I'm not sure on the exact time so next time I fold (which I'm going to do just after posting this) I'm going to time and see how long it takes me.

Here are some photos of the last 20 that I made:

Next paper up is green (my favourite) with yellow on the reverse.

I fold all 20 sheets to this stage first.

I then fold the edges into the middle

 on both sides (ready to be un-folded).

Next I un-fold and open out.

I then fold the edges into the middle again.

... and fold up the tail and head.

Lastly I fold the head to complete the cranes.

60 down 940 to go.... (This will be 80 very soon)

Just 960 to go...

The next lot of 20 cranes have been made. I made them on Thursday and even tried to film the process but my digital camera was having none of it! I recoded for 15 minutes and then my camera decided to go into power-saving mode and switch itself off. Then I started recording again and it ran out of batteries and I didn't have spare. I got new batteries today (which is why I'm just updating this now). 

This was the paper I was using:

(Yellow with a slightly lighter yellow on the reverse)

The finished cranes

I'll try and ad the footage that I got but I'm not sure how long it will take to upload so the video might be below...

40 down 960 to go...

Well you learn from your mistakes...

So I started with the project today. The paper that I started with was orange with peach on the back, I'll use the peach from the other pack.

I started by folding one crane from start to finish. Here it is:

After that I stated on a production line, folding a few steps in all the sheets, that way I was doing the same fold over and over again:

 I folded all the cranes using this production method. I then went to get the original crane (I had moved rooms) and this is when I realised that I had made a mistake. I fixed one crane at this point and left the others for later.

 The mistake I had made? I missed out one set of instructions which was folding the edges into the centre a second time. I just out the folded the head and tail without the extra four folds that were needed, making the cranes bigger than they should have been.

 Well I know one thing, I have definitely learned from my mistake and I won't be making it again. Here are my first 20 cranes. The quality varies, some are better than others but I've still got lots of practice to come. You can puff out the body and fold the wings to finish the crane (like the one below, right) but I have decided to keep keep the wings up and keep them flat for better storage.

20 down just 9980 to go.

The Beginning...

This is the start of my Senbazuru project. 'Senbazuru -  千羽鶴' is the Japanese word for 'Thousand origami cranes'. There is an ancient Japanese legend that promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane.The reason that I am undertaking this task is simply because I love to fold origami. I think that this project will be challenging but if I succeed I feel that it would be a big accomplishment and something to be proud of. You never now I might save them and one day give them to someone special.

I looked at different paper, finding sets especially for Senbazuru but I thought that the paper was too small (only being 5cm) and decided to go for this:

I got it from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0030053X6/ref=fb_lfb_prodpg_0


I have two boxes each with 500 sheets (15cmx15cm) of double sided paper. The colours are fantastic. When I fold I will turn one of the packs upside-down so that the colours on both sides are used. Each colour has 20 sheets so I plan on folding at least 20 a day (20 will be my minimum so I can fold more if i want to). That would be 140 in a week so it would take me approximately 7 - 8 weeks to complete the whole project. 
I'm currently studying at University and have a lot of project work to hand-in in May so the project might take a back seat until the end of May when I have handed in all of my work and are free for the summer.


I am using the instructions from this site http://www.origami-fun.com/origami-crane.html . There is a printable version on the site which I have printed out and are using for referance but no doubt that after I have folded a few I won't need the instructions anymore.


So The journey begins, lets see where it takes me....