1000 paper cranes

This week I have been mostly......


Cutting out paper squares.  1000 of them to be exact, doesn't look all that many now they are done!

1,000 paper squares, paper clipped in batches of 25

 I have been looking a number of wedding themed blogs and websites recently  for inspiration and ideas and a friend who is also getting married this summer suggested I look at Boho Weddings as she had found some things she really liked on there.


So I had a bit of a look around and there are some lovely ideas and some very beautiful weddings showcased.  Then I saw the article on 1000 paper cranes backdrop and thought it was a really lovely idea that I would like to recreate.



By legend anyone folding 1000 paper cranes or Senbazuru is granted a wish, and strings of 1000 paper cranes are often given or displayed as good luck charms and get well messages.  I have only ever seen them in strings before though, as one long line all smushed together, never as a backdrop as Laura has done and I thought it looked amazing.  So I began my recreation.


I don't have the dexterity to fold 2cm pieces of paper as Laura did so my cranes were going to be bigger.  I had a look at some origami paper but decided that neither my budget or my patience would stretch to it, as it was quite expensive and there was nowhere locally I could buy it so would have to order it.


Instead I went to my local stationary store and bought A4 coloured paper in our three wedding colours (blue, yellow and pink).  I also wanted a creamy/off white colour but couldn't find one I liked, they were either too white or too cream!  So in the end I have used scrap paper, some of my old maths coursework on squared and graph paper, I really like the idea that my cranes will have maths all over them!


I cut each A4 sheet into six squares by cutting in three along the long side.

A4 sheet cut in three

 I then took each of these three pieces and folded the corners in as triangles (to make a perfect square).

Third of an A4 sheet with corners folded in

 Cut along the edges of the triangles to take out the strip in the middle and you have two squares.

The squares are not all exactly the same size (around 10cm square) as there are some variations in cutting but they are close enough to not notice a difference in the cranes and I have 1000 squares in perfect colours, at the cost of around £6.


Here are the first few

Yellow paper crane

Yellow, pink and blue paper cranes

No maths cranes yet as I have been folding in packs of 25 as paper clipped and haven't got to a maths paper pack yet.  I figured out I need to fold 62 cranes a week to get them all finished in good time for the wedding.  Below are the first 70, so I'm already ahead!

70 paper cranes