Are you familiar with the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes? It’s a true story about a Japanese girl who was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped near her home in Hiroshima. She later developed leukaemia, and when she was hospitalized she began making origami cranes with the goal of making one thousand of them. (According to legend, if you fold a thousand origami cranes you will be granted a wish.) It’s a beautiful and sad story, which you can read more about here.
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What do you buy someone who has everything they need? What kind of gift conveys how much someone means to you? I’m not able to fold a thousand cranes, but I think paper origami stars would be a similarly welcome gift, not just for people who are ill necessarily, but for anyone.
I don’t pretend to be an origami expert, in fact, the most ordinary origami often has me stumped. But even I was able to do this successfully (as were my 10 and 12 year olds)!
A bunch of these were made using special “paper star paper” I purchased in Chinatown, but if you have a paper cutter you can slice your own ribbons from ordinary paper instead.
Here are some good instructions. It might look overwhelming but you’ll get the hang of it quickly enough. Perhaps a video is more helpful. This one’s good:
Anyway, I think a jar full of stars would make a lovely gift idea for someone you know: whether they’re expecting their first baby, recovering in a hospital, or getting married.
What do you think? Would you like to receive a jar of stars? :)
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