The Little Houses Project

The Little Houses project is the brainchild of  Jo Ebisujima who felt it would be a wonderful gesture to send the survivors of the Tohoku Disaster a little gift of a handmade house and notes of encouragement to let them know they haven't been forgotten a year after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Jo is hoping to have a 100 houses by February 21. I want to encourage you to participate. I took less than a day to make the little house in the picture and it was fun to decorate it. I wrote a little note and put it in a little origami heart box, the instructions for which I found here. 

Click here to get all the details for the Little Houses Project. Jo has created step by step illustrated instructions and here's an update with pictures of some Little Houses which people have sent in.

           

A Siege of Cranes

I didn't fall off the southern tip of India. Its been work which couldn't be put off and I'm glad its all been completed.

I've taken up origami. Why? In the folds of the newspaper every morning are tucked in flyers from various restaurants and businesses which most people throw away without a second glance. I decided it would be a great way to up cycle the paper and hone my origami skills.

I started with the crane. No particular reason but I did some reading and discovered they symbolise loyalty and honour and a person who folds and creates a 1,000 cranes will be granted his or her wish.
So each morning I fold a couple of cranes with the shiny advertisements and menu cards. The seige of cranes cannot be contained at home so when I step out I place a couple on a ledge or window sill and hope the person who finds it will smile and decide to pick it up and keep it for a while. It would be interesting to know what they do with it because they do disappear.

I wish folding a 1,000 origami cranes would lessen the loss, suffering and pain of all the people in Japan today who had to face the effects of a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.