Butterfly Eater

I’ve seen them, they’re beautiful!

katiepdx:

My closetful of cranes.

As part of an art project/personal challenge last year, I folded 1,000 paper cranes. In Japan, it is believed that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you get a wish. It’s a symbol of peace, health, and good luck. 

I started folding last April and folded my 1,000th crane in August. I have had strands of them hanging up all around my house since then. They take up a lot of space. I have been stumped as to what to do with them, but decided I would figure it out this month, a year after I first started the project. 

This was before the tsunami and earthquake that have devastated the northern shores of Japan. I thought about having a big picnic/party down by the waterfront where there are rows and rows of cherry blossoms. I was going to leave them there for friends to take home, or for people to just enjoy, but after the tsunami felt that they could be used for a greater purpose. 

My next thought was to set up a lemonade/crane stand in my neighborhood and donate the proceeds to a relief fund for Japan. The problem with this is I am never quite sure of how the weather will hold out, so it is difficult for me to plan it out far enough in advance, and I am somewhat afraid of being shut down since I am very close to a commercial district, and I don’t think it’s legal for me to just set up shop on a sidewalk. 

After mulling it over pretty consistently for the past month, I think I’m going to donate my cranes to Student Rebuild, in Seattle. They are collecting cranes and partnering with the Bezos Family Foundation, which has agreed to donate $2 for every crane they collect. That means my cranes will generate $2,000 for Japan! The cranes will then be woven into an art installation that will be donated to a school in Japan as a symbol of support from the U.S.