DIY Paper Crane Mini Art Installation

I lurve paper cranes. My obsession began in the fourth grade when many of my great obsessions began. Having taught in Japan the previous year my teacher made it her mission to teach us all about Japanese culture including how to make paper cranes. Like riding a bike, I've never forgotten how to make a paper crane.

A few months ago I saw two images on Pinterest that got me thinking...

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

Can I incorporate paper cranes into my home's design? The obvious answer is YES.

This corner of my bedroom was pretty empty and in need of some love so I went for it.

I really like it! When I have more time I would like to add more cranes to make it an even bigger statement but for now I'm very happy with this simple and cheap project.

Here is what I did:

Made some paper cranes
Strung them with fishing wire
Push pinned them to the ceiling

Easy!

Here is a link on how to make a paper crane. I just used white computer printer paper, but origami paper would probably work better. I think I made eleven, but like I said, I may make more to make the installation bigger and better. The best part about making paper cranes is that it is extremely soothing. If you've never made one before the first few will take some thinking, but after that your brain takes over and does it for you, sort of like typing.

The only thing I bought for this project was clear fishing line which was surprisingly expensive at $7.99. Thankfully, it was the only thing I had to buy for this project so I guess $8 isn't too much. If you have a friend who fishes you could just ask to borrow 20 yards or something since there is no way I'll ever use 300 yards of fishing line.

The way the paper crane is folded creates a natural hole at the bottom of the crane so I used that as a starting point for stringing up the crane. 

In order to string the fishing line through the crane I had to make a hole in the top of the crane. Before the hole:

After I jabbed the smaller end of the scissors into the top:

I started to make the holes bigger after I took this picture because stringing wire through such tiny holes was difficult to say they least. If you look closely you can actually see through to the other side, but it was a very tight fit!

I strung the string through the top hole first and then through the bottom hole and then I wrapped it around each wing and then knotted it on the top. Of course the string is clear so taking a picture of this process was sort of impossible, but you get the idea.

I left about two to three feet of string attached to each paper crane because I wasn't sure at what heights I'd be hanging them.

My plan for hanging the paper cranes to the ceiling was to knot the fishing wire to a push pin and then push it into the ceiling. This would have been simple if my ceiling was dry wall, but the hanging process was much more difficult than I had anticipated mostly because my ceiling is plaster. Plaster doesn't like push pins, this I learned. Instead of giving a huge amount of detail about the process I will just tell you that I used a hammer to get the push pins into the ceiling and also, I broke a lot of push pins.

Below, you can see that the push pins aren't very noticeable at all. Is it a bad thing to make so many little holes in the ceiling? I don't know. I didn't even think about it while I was doing it. I guess whenever I leave I'll just fill them with a little bit of putty or something. But it's so pretty, who cares?

It was sort of hard to photograph because they gently sway in the breeze created by my fan. I find it very soothing. It's like having a adult mobile! This would look adorable in a kids room but I personally think it looks very nice in a 27 year old woman's room too. Although, I am positive that my fourth grade self would be super proud of this project. 

What do you think? Do you have a childhood obsession that you would like to incorporate into your home's design? My advice: Do it.