1000 cups of coffee, 1000 photos, 2000 origami cranes, an unknown number of favourite photos, 2 major crane artworks, 1 exhibition and an experiment all in 1 year that is the challenge, or as I like to call it the journey I have embarked on.
What is all this? Well firstly, a little about coffee and cranes.
Coffee – my one true love, my best friend. Coffee and I have been constant companions for approximately 20 years now. I remember when I first met coffee when I was a teenager of about 14-15 years old. My brother introduced me to coffee. I used to make milk coffee in the microwave: instant coffee, 2 sugars, all milk nuked in the microwave for 1 min 30 sec no more, no less. Since then, coffee has been with me, there for me in the morning when I wake up, there for me when I celebrate, when I am sad, excited, stressed, relaxing, lonely, tired, happy, visiting with friends, when a conversation has started, a requirement when travelling. It is something that keeps my creativity flowing, a perfect end to a pleasant meal, heaven with a Tam-Tam Slam! Today at home I drink filter coffee and when I am out I usually have a large Latte. I drink approximately 3 cups a day. Which is less than I used to, which was more like 6-8 cups.
Origami Cranes came to me when I was unwell in 2010. I was unable to do much at all and I spent a large amount of time in 2010 and 2011 on the couch watching TV and folding cranes. I cannot remember why I started, I just looked up how to fold a crane on line and started folding them. I mostly folded them from old magazines and paper that was lying around the house. I found it very relaxing and meditative. I folded them until I lost count. I also started folding them on the train on my way to and from Sunbury and Melbourne visiting medical specialists. I started giving them to the people who sat around me on the train and it was amazing how they brightened a person’s day and how they started to make me feel better.
So that is the story of coffee and cranes. The other week my Mum and I went on a road trip to Aldinga beach and I decided to try and experiment and see if I could fold a crane from the sugar packets. Guess what? I could. So from that hatched the idea what if I folded two cranes every time I had a cup of coffee in a coffee shop and left one of the cranes for the waiter/waitress (I was waitress/bar attendant for 10 years) I thought that would be a really nice thing to find, when clearing the tables.
This idea has now blossomed into 1000 Cups of Cranes. The challenge is that every time I have a cup of coffee I will fold 2 cranes, I will then take an awesome artistic photo of these 2 cranes. 1 crane will stay with me and the other will be attached to a card like this:
These cards will be individually numbers so that I can keep track all the way to 1000 in 1 year. I was going to only fold the cranes when I was in a café, restaurant etc but after some quick maths I realised 1000 might take me somewhere between 10-20 years. So since I drink approx 3 cups a day = 333.333 days to complete 1000 cups, I decided a year was an appropriate length of time.
Every cup of coffee, 2 cranes and 1 photo, 1 of the cranes I will use in an artwork and the other will become A. an experiment and B. a second major artwork.
The Experiment.
Firstly, a large number of the cranes will go to the people I share coffee with, my friends and family and the remainder that I drink at home will stay with me and I will compile into an artwork. It is the cranes I make in a café, restaurant etc, that I leave behind at the business that I am intrigued by. Someone will pick it up and they will either visit this blog or they don’t. If they don’t, the crane is gone. But if they do then hopefully you will please keep the crane for approx 1 year and please register your email here so I can send you an invite to the exhibition opening night in which we will see how many cranes will be returned and placed into a the second major artwork. I f you do not want to take part, please pass the crane onto someone else that you think might like to participate.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this and please check in weekly as I will be uploading the photos and writing about the 1000 cups of cranes journey on a weekly basis.
Thank you,
Naomi.
I needed to thank you for this excellent read!! I certainly enjoyed every little bit of it. I have got you saved as a favorite to check out new things you postÖ