Dec 17 2007
Origami Cranes (Redux)
When I was in an honors program at community college, we had a special discussion of the Japanese tea ceremony, including the presentation of the ceremony. One of the things that our zen master talked about was the fact that most people who host the ceremony master making some article used in the ceremony. Some people carve the bamboo whisks (chasen), or the ladles for water or the scoop for tea. Some people study ceramics and make the tea bowls (chawan) or even the pot. Often they will learn how to make the sweets they serve with the tea (daifuku, anyone?) and arrange flowers (ikebana). It’s a holistic way to practice the ceremony, and one gains an understanding for all the work and energy that go into creating such a luxury of peace and time. By mastering the arts associated with the ceremony, you further the peace you gain through the ceremony.
It’s something that has stuck with me, the quiet conference room, darkened and transformed by the art of the ceremony, the ritualistic cleansing, the sound of fire and hiss of water. It reminded me of how little we can grasp of the conceptual until we can experience it.
Taking this aesthetic into my own hands, today I decided that even if I can’t bring my fancy origami paper to work without crumpling it, I could absolutely craft my own in the gimp (best free photo manipulation program ever) and print it onto regular computer paper. I made a smaller design (4″ x 4″) because I could print two out on one 81/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper and also because I am intending to use some of these cranes as decoration on wrapped presents.
I found a good-looking vector image of a sakura blossom at openclipart.org. I made it into a tiny image at 300 dpi and saved it as a brush in the gimp. Did a fancy background, pulled out my sakura brush and had a field day.
The image printed out with an outline, so it should have been easy to cut, but I found myself trimming edges with the first few folds to try to get them as even and perfect as possible. The finished product actually doesn’t look bad, so I guess I did a decent job folding and cutting it.
If I was truly attempting to aim for the tea ceremony aesthetic, I’d be crafting my own paper (I intend to start), but as far as it goes, I think this was a good waste of a few hours of work time.
I hung it on the christmas decorations near my desk with a paper clip.
If I had a camera, I’d take a picture of the crane and post it. I don’t, so instead, I’ll add a compressed image of the design I created. If you’d like to steal it, just email me for the .xcf.
K.