Flight of Fancy

I've been 'doing' origami for several years now. I can't say it's all that creative (not the way I do it -- straight-from-the-book) but I enjoy selecting paper and making the precise folds. It's challenging, relaxing, and colorful.

The more abstract, geometric shapes are my favorites. I like folding large polyhedra, too, although I'm not good at those. Recognizable shapes like cranes or frogs or airplanes only get folded to entertain my nieces and nephews.

When my sister C's family, my parents, and I lived together C. and I would use origami on the Christmas tree, something that my Mom tolerated but didn't exactly love. With the little kids in the house, though, it was perfect. Who cares if they took the ornaments off the tree? We could always make more. My Mom's antique glass ornaments weren't all that child-friendly.

In my new house I started using an old silver-foil tree, and the origami didn't look right on it so I abandoned the tradition. But I missed it.

Yesterday at Hobby Lobby I bought a large scrapbook "stack" -- a pad of 72 sheets of paper with a similar theme. I bought it because the papers were cool and retro, and because I have trouble resisting paper when it's 50% off. I didn't have any plans for the paper, but when I looked at it in my living room it hit me that this could be the paper for a Tomoko Fuse-inspired origami quilt. The colors are prefect for the living room, and the paper's huge size (8x8") will make the entire project easier. So I started practicing, making simple star ornaments just to get my knack back.

After an hour ten small stars in various colors were scattered across my coffee table. I really liked them, and wanted to actually do something with them, instead of throwing them into the trash. I kept thinking of the simple origami garland at PaperRoutes, my favorite artisan paper store, and decided to build on the theme.

This is a very-very-very bad photo. It was taken at 12:30 in bad lighting without a flash as the metallic papers reflected the flash too much, and leveled within an inch of its life to compensate for the low lighting. The distracting background has been hastily and badly blurred. It's a horrible photo, but I think it still captures the essence of my new project. Oh for a decent camera!!!!!!! A real SLR with depth-of-field and shutter speeds.

I'm going to make garlands of origami. The garlands will lead from the top of the bookcases to the ceiling fan in the center of the room, forming a canopy (of sorts) over the sofa. At first I was concerned it would be too droopy, and my taller visitors would walk into it. Then it hit me that I never have visitors, and it's made of paper so it's not like it could hurt anyone.



I have a lot of folding to do -- how fun!!

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All this creativity has made me long for my studio. Right now it's just an odd dumping ground for everything in the house that doesn't have a permanent home. A cold, poorly-lit, badly-configured dumping ground.

The cat door I inherited from R (a hole cut in the side of the house) has been boarded up so freezing-cold air doesn't rush into the room any longer, thanks to my B-I-L. It's still cold, but a little insulation and drywall should fix it. If he has time he'll let me hire him again at the end of the month, after I get a paycheck.

We'll also hang a new ceiling fan with a nice, bright halogen fixture so I can actually SEE in that room. R. installed a one-bulb 100-watt-max fixture, which just isn't sufficient. I'm also going to get a few of those daylight lamps to set on the counters. Plus IKEA has some under-cabinet lighting I want to use on the shelf I put in that room.

Lastly, my B-I-L will help me install GFCI sockets. We'll also mount surge protectors a few inches above the counter so I can have power wherever I need it, without having to crawl around on the floor.

At that time I can move my egging off the kitchen counter, move the altered book/calendar stuff off the coffee table, and move the origami off the side table. I can put my scissors and paint and adhesives back in the studio where I can find them. Where I can spill colorful stuff without worrying about the upholstery.

I can't wait.