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Origami is such a fun hobby, I just gotta tell 'ya all about it! I first started folding when I was in the fifth-grade.. sometime early in 1989. It didn't take long before I was hooked on it, and I was making balloons, cranes, and all sorts of little animals all day! Of course, it was still pretty on and off until I got some more advanced books like Animal Origami for the Enthusiast by Montroll.. That opened up several more windows, but most recently, I've been making modular origami from books by Tomoko Fuse.. She seems to specialize in making very colorful designs on objects by playing with the layers of paper. I don't know who designed the original pattern for these delightful little toys in the picture at the right, but I was intrigued by it's simplicity and it's ability to change shape from an octagonal ring to a star quite easily. I have since adapted the design to use six sides. I might be tempted to post a picture of one of them eventually.

And of course, no origami site should dare ignore the famous origami crane.. This bird has been attributed to good luck as well as a long life. The male crane selects a single mate and always stays by her side. Even if some injury makes her unable to migrate during the winter, the male would stay by her side, even risking the chance of starvation until she recovers. I'm sure many of you have heard another story about the origami crane.. the one of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who, because of the atomic blast on Hiroshima, became fatally ill from leukemia. She set out to fold 1000 cranes, desparately wishing that she would get well. Sadly, she died before she could finish, and the final 356 cranes were folded by her classmates and buried with her. And now every year, cranes folded from all over the world are dropped in her memory and in the spirit of peace. The full story, along with information about the struggle for world peace can be read at the World Peace Project for Children website at http://www.sadako.org/

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