As I folded the cranes, one by one, I understood the roots of the tradition and how it relates to marriage. I decided to give myself a month or two, and that way, I would only have to work a few hours at a time.įolding 1,000 cranes turned out to be not only a cool project for our wedding day, but also a calming process in the stressful months that preceded the wedding. About a solid week worth of work, working full-time.

Never having folded 1,000 cranes before, I wasn’t sure how long it would take, so I folded a few dozen, and when I was pretty darn fast, I clocked myself…2 minutes per bird! That’s 2,000 minutes total…or 33 hours…or 40 hours, since I always manage to underestimate completion time. I don’t say this to discourage you from replicating this project, but to give you a sense of the dedication required to complete it! (And proper gratitude for my DIY instructions.) In this post, I promise to share instructions on installation, because if you think folding 1,000 birds is tough, wait until you try to get the flock to “fly”. I decided to start folding and worry about installation later. I easily located instructions for folding a single crane, but found no instructions as to the assemblage and display of all 1,000 cranes. In my initial research to determine timeline and materials, I found some pictures of 1,000 cranes on the web here and there. Not that there is anything wrong with “crazy cool”, but it’s nice when outlandish feats coincide with a genuine purpose beyond outlandish. Also, this project fit my vision–Beauty: check! Strong focal point: check! Hand-crafted: check! Symbolic: check! This was a big deal, because often, my projects don’t fit a particular vision I just want to do something crazy cool. What’s not to love? The patience, stamina, and attention required to fold 1,000 cranes are the same qualities necessary to sustain a marriage. Tradition states that a woman who folds 1,000 cranes will be granted a long and prosperous marriage. How I stumbled upon the Japanese tradition of 1,000 origami paper cranes, I know not, but I did know right away that this was my focal point project. I had not done origami in years, and I loved the idea of handcrafting my way to a focal point for our big day. Several library books referenced the influence of Japanese art and origami on Art Deco. An elegant design that would be eye-catching and symbolic.Īrt deco emerged as our wedding style early on, so I sought a project that made sense with that aesthetic. Perhaps something of an art installation. When I was thinking about the atmosphere for our wedding, I knew I wanted to have a strong focal point at our reception.

Origami crane directions