Thursday, January 28, 2016

Full circle

This is a satisfying full circle moment of the Oprah Winfrey type. I'll try to explain why it is so satisfying to see all those red dots.

We were free of school when we moved to Japan and that's the same thing as not having to go to prison. We couldn't believe our good luck in skipping the whole Easter season. The entire time we were at the huge complex Green Park there was no school for us. So the origami package was picked up the next stop. This odd package was opened in a tiny house off base with the oddest bath tub we've ever seen.  I used the book that came with the strangely attractive and precisely tissue-thin square paper, colored on one side only and white on the other. I went through all the exercises in the book and noted their similarities, say, the construction for a frog being similar for a crane. I used the whole package of paper.

The strange paper folding art form cannot be avoided. It's everywhere. I don't think it is possible to end a tour without somehow learning to fold a crane.

The basic form has strict rules. Perfectly square paper, and no glue. Later forms developed from dollar bills and the like, but the basic form is simple and solid rules. No tearing, drawing, cutting, glueing, just folding a square.

You can buy a kit on Amazon for your kids or your grandkids cheaply. I'm pretty sure they will enjoy indulging the book and learning how to manage the paper.

My pop-ups are very different from origami and they don't adhere to any of origami's simple rules. But that was the start of interest in what paper can do and what books and cards can do so it's satisfying to see all those dots all at once meaning Japan. Although not origami Japanese are still mad over paper and mad for pop-ups. They display Western pop-up books and wear white gloves to  handle modern Sabuda and Reinhart productions.


Well, that makes me feel great. Somebody is learning from me whence I was taught. *glows* I cannot be the only one this sort of thing happens to. Even Oprah Winfrey has a word for it. Please, tell us what happened with you.

8 comments:

Meade said...

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_sb_27?tag=commhome-20&link_code=wsw&_encoding=UTF-8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=the+unknown+craftsman&Submit.x=10&Submit.y=4&Submit=Go

Meade said...

The Craftsmen may be unlettered, uneducated and lacking any particular force of personality, but it is not from these causes that beauty is produced. He rests in the protecting hand of nature. The beauty of folk-craft is the kind that comes from dependence on the Other Power (Tariki). Natural material, natural process, and an accepting heart - these are the ingredients necessary at the birth of folk-crafts.
Yanagi

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I'm in freak out mode, if that's the word for it. My brother set me up to translate for a boat buying client of fried of a friend. The client is from the Dominican Republic, and since I'm from there somebody thought it would be a fit.

I'm going in tomorrow. I don't know a thing about boats. I've watched this video over and over... Link En Ingles.

How do you spell unease.

Chip Ahoy said...

Just do the best you can and accept whatever accolades are showered upon you, free lunches, praise, admiration of your peers, notes slipped under your door and left on your desk, the warmth of having helped a friend and assisted your brother. It's gifts all around.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The technology still in infancy.

Link

Nowhere near Treck's universal translators.

MamaM said...

How do you spell unease.

I know how to unspell it.

Breath in and out, rest in your integrity and let what takes place be what it is.

As the post attests, we've no idea of the many ways we touch another's life. As the boating video attests, "The possibilities are endless!!" Good Luck!

deborah said...

That's very nice for you, Chip. You get things done and make the world a cooler happier place. And it is a neat circle.

I'm considering making little origami boxes from the front of old greeting cards, but the paper may be too thick...I'll try it though.

deborah said...

You'll do fine Lem, enjoy the process.