Got back to the college last night, really ready for a productive week. Spent a little time organising in the morning, then laid out all the pages from the book of knowledge, cut them to the right sizes and put them into piles to start folding. I now have 40 variations of the basic form, so with 12 of each and a few spares, i should have nearly 500 by the time i finish (half what i had extimated before, but plenty i think!)
Going to try and start getting the audio element sorted tomorrow by experimenting with some small speakers. Unfortunately my electronics skills arent quite past the beginners stage yet, but i’ll give it a go…
Folding paper the other night, one of my new flat mates saw what i was doing and, being japanese, started showing me some of her oragami skills. Certainly put mine to shame, and within seconds had knocked out a ‘crane’. She told me that when someone is sick, the tradition is to fold a thousand of these cranes, to encourage their recovery. Ive also heard that the folder of the thousand cranes is granted a wish – i wonder if i will get such good luck from this project?!
Despite the tender fingers and aching neck, i am gaining a sense of satisfaction from each small milestone i reach… i’ve finished my “beauty” cross-stitch and started the “knowledge”, “life” turned into something else, so will be starting that one fresh again another day. Not sure if i’ll finish them, but its nice to change tasks occasionally. Embroidery will be my night job and folding my day.
I was talking to someone at the weekend, who, as a teaching assistant, had to cover a few weeks of art lessons a while back. Despite the initial dread,she said she found it really enjoyable, was able to switch off and get into a simple task (it was a primary class). I suppose that is what is happening for me. Its highly meditative, and i find myself thinking, “right, i’ll stop i a minute” but then find myself continuing for another hour….
