Monday, September 1, 2014

Curiosity killed the crane...


Some of you may think that I gave up on this.  I didn't. I just got a kitten that's all. And she has made this for quite an interesting experience...


This is Monkey.  I adopted her from a local animal shelter just after getting make from my trip to Tampa.  She liked to climb up my back and sit on my shoulders when I first got her.  Plus, I had just watched the movie, Looper (which I definitely recommend) and in it the main female character calls her son "Monkey" as a pet name. And it just stuck.


When I first got Monkey she was only a few weeks old, maybe one month.  She was a fluff ball and not much bigger than my cranes.


And I quickly learned to not leave my papers on the couch...


She quickly became interested in my project.


Monkey made arranging my daily productions challenging...



...and humorous.


If you ask her she will lie to your face and tell you she was only trying to help.


That she was giving the birds exercise...


and protecting them.



However, the death toll as a result of Monkey's "love" for the cranes is still being determined.  I actually finished this project in the first week of August and only last week found a pink crane under the fridge that Monkey had "loved" with her teeth. Below are the last four cranes I made...I still can't believe she was able to reach this shelf about the couch...she is definitely full of surprises!



Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Cranes in the Marriott

 To say I've neglected my blog would be an understatement. Though I did chuckle to myself reading the end of my last post and the comment "tomorrow." Clearly that did not happen! To post about each day I missed would be a bit ridiculous at the point (I'm considering it none-the-less). 
Ok, snap out of it Sister! Let's be realistic, you have a life. Plus that would be a little obsessive. Just a smidge. So, to manageable catch you up let's do this in stages/highlights...


6.14.14: 34
This was the day after my test I had been studying for all week. I was suppose to find out whether or not I passed as soon as I was finished. However, because the test was being "revamped" I had to wait.  I was incredibly frustrated, but at that point there was nothing left for me to do.  So I spent the next day folding paper and start the two weeks of waiting...




6.15.14
On Sunday I arrived in Tampa for a conference on geometery. YAY!




6.16.14




6.17.14




6.18.14
Today when I got back to my hotel room my birdies were slightly askew. My guess is housekeeping knocked the chair and they toppled over. I guess they did their best to fix it? 
OCD much? 
Yes.




6.19.14 and 6.20.14
My goal was to finish the chair before I checked out on Thursday..and 58 birds later I did!


Total: 554
This project is over halfway to completion!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

What would you like on your pancakes???

 6.2.14: 27
Today my hands were on fire. I couldn't stop folding.  I worked a full day, stayed an extra hour for a few students and somehow folded 27 cranes at my brother's apartment. And talked him into making dinner for me. It's still to be decided which skill shows my true talent...



The sunlight altered the color in this photo, but still interesting. Close up like this I imagine the cranes as people. They are all trying to move around each other, like walking through a mall or at a school dance. Everyone's running into each other. Colliding. A rare few stand out.  The yellow and orange bird aren't colliding, they're dancing. And it doesn't matter what's happening around them because they have each other. 




6.3.14: 20
It's a beautiful thing when you don't have to go to your ESOL class for 3.5 hours a night, your grades are up to date, and you can spend the night watching a movie and folding art. Yes please, SIGN ME UP!




While arranging these I thought of these as being my crane mandala. (If you've never heard that word before look it up! If you've never made one, go do it now! It just may change your life. Any art therapist will agree.) Connected in just the right way they make a circle. And the shape inside is a multi-sided star. Depending on how I look at it, the wings are coming together to close the absence in the middle or being push apart by some kind of energy bursting from the center. The alternating of solid color paper and detailed black and white paper creates a pleasing balance for my eye. hmmm...balance, what a tricky word.  


6.4.14: 1
My last day with my students. Yesterday and today were block days.  So I only had my 2nd and 6th period students on the last day of school (4th period was my planning period). Yet one of the girls from my first period stopped by three times to see me, just to say hi. Best little seconds of my day. 

This year has been huge for me. And the fact that I made it through the school year, is still sinking in. I remember waiting to take my first certification test. I was siting next to a girl, about to graduate from college about to take a certification test for elementary education. She was doing things in the "right" order, she actually went to school for this. We started talking and I told her that I was switching careers. She called me "brave." That was a year and a half ago. I have no idea what her name is, but I will never forget her. Plus she was wearing yoga pants and I was jealous at how comfortable she looked. 

I aim to be brave. 


Don't worry, I went back and fixed the "p" with the missing outline. And then it became a bird with wings.




6.6.14: 8
Today was the last day in my room.  Very bittersweet. And very white with nothing on the walls or boards.





6.7.14: 1 
 Today is the beginning of a week long cram session for a test I'm taking on Friday. It's on Friday the 13th. Now is not the time to be superstitious. And maybe my color choice was not the most optimistic either. 




6.8.14: 0
No cranes today.
But I did make pancakes.
With bananas.
And strawberries.
And whipped cream on top.
Did I mention I had to flip the pancakes with a spatula that I normally using for mixing ingredients in a bowl?
Skill.

 

And then I studied forever.



6.9.14:
I still have over 100 sheets of origami paper to use. However, I was feeling restless today and wanted something new to choose from. So many colors. One of the packets came with 35 different colors (Though between you and me, I'm pretty sure two of the pinks are the exact same. That or I'm colorblind between hot pink and really hot pink.)


And of course I made a bunch with the new paper as soon as I took this picture, but i'll save them for tomorrow's posting.

TOTAL: 462












Sunday, June 1, 2014

Stained glass has wings...

I really don't know where the time has gone, but somehow it's been two weeks since I've posted?!?!???!!?!??!!?

At this point I've forgotten what I made when, but I can tell you about the last day of my stained glass class. Or rather show you...

5.21.14


From pieces to one piece! Even my instructor was pretty impressed. I am generally not a prideful person, but that day I somehow managed to impress myself. I have never made something 3-D in stained glass. In addition, it is able to hang and sustain it's own weight (happy).



     


However, what's worse, when I counted the cranes I had folded in that time I realized I had only added 33 birds. Unacceptable. So I go to work yesterday...

5.31.14: 19




And today...

6.1.14: 37

       




I feel MUCH better...  

TOTAL: 405 paper & 1 glass

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

316

5.10.14: 27


I went to a workshop on the new textbooks my school will be using next year.  During my lunch break I sat outside at a bright blue picnic table and made a few cranes. The weather was perfect, just enough of a breeze to cool me off, but not too much to blow the cranes away. Afterwards I made a few more in the bowl below. Today brings me to a new record for one day. I may have to go for 30 this weekend... 




5.11.14: 15


I picked the papers above thinking of the flowers I sent my mom for Mother's Day. Her favorite are yellow roses. The bouquet also had purple accents, complimentary colors baby! I miss being young and getting up to help my dad make breakfast for my mom.  Then my brothers and I would bring her breakfast in bed with cards and likely gifts made at school. And now in my first year of teaching, I have a new appreciation for everything my mom did and still does for me. If I am half the mother she is, my kids would be very lucky.


Loving this paper...




5.12.13: 1




5.13.14: 1




Total: 316






Friday, May 9, 2014

272

5.9.14: 22
Total: 272


Two little birdies decided to join me for breakfast...


...and then I made twenty after work. Not quite sure how that happened. I had planned to work on my presentation for the ESOL class I am taking, but I guess instead some part of me knew I needed to make something a bit more tangible. And get sucked into Labor Day with Kate Winslet. (SO GOOD!)