Crane #1000 - The End

This is it. The last crane. The plan was to go back to the same place where I made the first crane (a cafe called Chickpea in Cotham). However, the plan was thwarted by the cafe being closed, so I went to another nearby cafe.

And it was done.

I also had a lovely chat with two women at the next table about the project. After making it, I couldn't leave the idea of taking the last crane back to the place where I made the first crane, so I popped it through their letterbox on the way past. So sorry to the cafe who are likely to be very confused as to why they've got a crane through the post...

And that's it. 1000 cranes, new friendships, origami bombing, lots of cups of tea, many many tube rides, multiple crane making lessons, and lots and lots of folding...

I'm not going to stop making cranes now I've hit the end of the project. I've got an origami bombing mission in London coming up, as well as a big origami making on the tube session planned. Plus a whole new project!. But I'm going to stop counting now...

Crane #859 - #999

Have you ever wondered what 141 cranes in a box looks like. I'd say something like this...

These are set aside for my next origami bombing mission, hopefully taking place in London with Chris from Up-cycle. Schedules have dictated that this hasn't been able to happen in 2011, but hopefully it'll go ahead in early 2012, combined with a bit of sociable crane making on the tube.

Crane #829 - #858

I bought some lovely traditional japanese origami paper to make some cranes for my bedroom. The plan is to make some kind of mobile or hanging thing at some point. I haven't had a chance to make the actual mobile yet, but the cranes are done. Here are some of the cranes made from the beautiful paper...

Crane #814 - #828

I made some lovely little tiny cranes, and my friend Sian offered to re-home them, and make them into a mobile for her niece in Hong Kong.

Crane #809 - #813

A few mismatched here and there.

The last weekend before Christmas I headed to London, and that always means cranes will be made. One on the way there, one on the tube and one on the way back.

And then I had my friendiversary with my friend Jo, which consisted of eating a biblos and drinking mulled things. And so biblos got left a crane, carefully placed in their pot plant...

Finally there was one more over Christmas. My cousin Kathleen asked me how to make them, so I showed her. I believe this crane is now residing in the back pocket in one of my parents cars...

Crane #767 - #808

My mum commented on how much she liked the photos and video from the origami bombing I did in Bristol, so when I headed home for winter, I took some with me.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't particularly conducive to hanging strings of cranes outside, but I persevered, and hung 42 cranes on the porch outside my parents front door. They didn't last long sadly, but it looked lovely for a short amount of time...

p.s. Sorry for the crap photos. Turns out the windyness doesn't make photography easy either...

Crane #760 - #766

My friend Sam offered to rehome some cranes and put them on her Christmas tree. I had a bunch of small cranes I made ages ago and wasn't sure what to do with. Bingo.

A few photos...

...from the love of it xmas do. Thanks to Jenny Hardy for her lovely lovely photos - http://www.jennyhardy.co.uk/

Crane #722 - #759

We had a little bash for the love of it xmas do last night, and had a little bit of a Dickensian adventure to start off the evening. My part was the role of the "ghost of Christmas present(s)", and teaching people that Christmas is all about giving. So we did a spot of origami bombing, brightening up a rather dull corner of the centre with some Christmassy cranes (red and green!).

Once again, I failed to take photos, but there were other people with cameras around, so I'll try to update with a photo or two if any appear...

Crane #709 - #721

13 cranes made, no photos taken. Whoops.

The first 5 were made during a weekend in London, and left on trains, tubes and benches.

Two were made when I got back to.bristol. I had no food in the house and so I stopped at biblos for a falafel wrap. Cranes were made whilst I waited...

The next 3 were made for a colleague at work, as he said the one I'd already made him looked lonely.

Two were made this morning when I had breakfast at the runcible spoon cafe, and the last when I grabbed another wrap from biblos this evening...

Crane #704 - #708

Sometimes I just can't resist making a crane. Last night was one of those times. I stole a receipt from my friend Barry and made squares out of it. After making 3 normal sized cranes, I decided to have a go at making a teeny tiny one.

It pretty much worked...

The other crane was one I made at work. I was making some for my London project, and a colleague remarked that I could probably make them with my eyes closed. I closed my eyes and demonstrated that I indeed could...

Crane #684 - #703

Origami bombing made a return to Bristol this weekend. I'd got some large sheets of silver card from the scrapstore and decided to make some giant origami cranes. 20 cranes later, I was suddenly wondering what to do with them and eventually I decided to hang them up in a bunch of different places round Stokes Croft. This time, my willing accomplice was Chris from UpCycle, who willingly jumped over fences and climbed ladders for the sake of origami.

However, it turns out that giant origami cranes are a popular thing to steal. Before we'd even finished hanging up the first crane the first one had been nicked. And 2 days later, only 3 remain. I like to think that the other 17 are brightening up homes across Bristol though.

Here's a few photos before they got nicked...

Crane #601 - #683

I've got a bit behind with all this blogging recently, so I thought I'd do a summary of my recent crane folding adventures.

First up was End of the Road festival. 50 cranes took up residence in a tree just next to the tent from where we were running our events. Here are a couple of photos. First a close up, and then my friend James modelling his finest festival attire (the only photo I have that gives the full effect).

Next up was my friend John's wedding. When given a piece of paper to play with, my fingers entertained themselves by making a crane or 4 (not pictures was the one my friend Jo took home).

Next up was a quick lesson teaching my friend Leanna how to make cranes. 4 cranes and some tea later, she was highly skilled in the art of crane folding.

And still it goes on. Since my friend Lizzie could not make it to see the origami crane tree, I made her a miniature version with 20 cranes on it.

I took this to her in London, and managed to add a few more to the tally while I was down there. First, I made one for a small child on the train who saw the miniature tree and was completely fascinated. And then I met up with Chris from Upcycle, with whom I'm planning another origami bombing mission. Talk of origami crane making naturally lead to a lesson in how to make one, and then a bit of a challenge to make some really tiny ones. Photo to follow when I get my film camera developed....

Phew. And that's that for now.

Crane #501 - #600

My friend Jo got married last weekend. As she's a big origami fan, she asked me to make some cranes for her wedding, and so I got folding.

There were 56 used to make an archway in the cinema where they got married...

...and the other 44 were strung up from the wish tree, which typically again I have no photos of, but it looks much like 44 cranes strung up from a tree :)

Crane #493 - #500

Yes, the halfway point is here. And for once, I don't have any photos...

I started a new job about 2 months ago, and ended up chatting to people about the crane project. As a result, a few cranes have popped up here and there along the way. There's one on my desk, then I taught my colleague Jo to make them before she went off to Canada on holiday, so made four as part of that (which she took away to string up). And then on Thursday I had a tough day and so took a 10 minute break to have a cup of tea and make three cranes, which are now brightening up the staff room.

It's gone quicker than I expected, and the 1000 target is looking pretty doable. We shall see...

Crane #489 - #492

I went up to Lincolnshire for the housewarming party of a couple of good friends over the weekend. Five and a half hours = lots of time to make cranes. I made a bunch of them for an upcoming project (more about that coming soon), but also made a few for other things.

Firstly one for the train. Always make one for the train...

Secondly and thirdly, I made a pair of them for a housewarming gift for my friends whose house I was going to.

And fourthly, on the way back I ended up on the train for a bit with some of the people I made at the weekend, and gave them a bit of a crane making lesson...

Crane #485 - #488

I went to visit the ever lovely Lizzie in hospital a few weeks ago and made her some cranes, whom I shall call "little and large".

However, the little crane made a bid for freedom and was lost somewhere in the hospital, to be seen so more. So when I went to see her again today, I made little #2 and little #3 to replace the lost one...

Hopefully they'll hang around a bit longer...

Crane #480 - #484

I went to London today for a wedding, and took some origami paper with me. It is pretty awesome paper that I made from an old dictionary.

I made a crane on the train on the way there.

Next up was three cranes on the underground, one of which I gave to a young girl who was watching me with fascination...

And then finally a crane in the cafe where I had lunch. They had a lovely vase of origami flowers so I thought I'd add to it...

More photos...

... can be found on my flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanoffle/sets/72157627442179496/

Enjoy!

Crane #280 - #479

200 cranes, hanging in a tree... Yes, origami bombing returns!

The return of origami bombing...

... look what I did!

More photos and details when I get better photos in daylight...

Crane #268 - #279

I almost forgot about these... Whilst at Larmer Tree I made some cranes and used them to decorate our tent.

I'm not sure what happened to them. A few people asked if they could have one, a few ended up trampled in the mud, and the rest... well who knows!

Crane #267

I am stuck in a premier inn in Birmingham for a training course. I've just eaten noodles so it is seeming less bad, but I made a crane for the person who has to clean my room tomorrow to say thanks...

Crane #195 - #266

Team love of it are going to some festivals this summer, to run treasure hunts and board games (see here for more info). The prizes for the treasure hunt are a goodie bag, full of fun and exciting stuff. I decided to make some origami cranes to go in the goodie bags, and so I've made 72 cranes, enough for each winning team member for all of the days at each of the festivals.

Here are a few of the cranes that I made for the goodie bags...

Crane #193 and #194

I think this is the smallest crane I've made so far. It was very very fiddly...

I also made some jewellery, making a necklace using a small piece of pretty paper and waterproofing it using clear acrylic spray paint. I don't think it'll hold up to a heavy rain storm, but we shall see - cute huh...!

Crane #191 and #192

On Monday it was my last day working with my friend Lizzie, and so we went on a trip to Westonbirt Arboretum. It was a beautiful day, and we ended up indulging in a spot of tree climbing.

Whilst sitting and hanging out in a tree, I decided it might be fun to make a crane or two. I mean, how often do you get to do origami 12 foot up a tree?

And so we left the cranes as a little gift for the next unsuspecting tree climbers (with our fingers crossed that it doesn't rain before then!)