These pages present case studies from participants in the Thousand Cranes Peace Network.  They offer a range of approaches and strategies for the use of paper cranes and other materials in projects and activities to promote peace, non-violence and tolerance.

Pleaase note that no responsibility can be accepted for updating links and eamil addresses.


Links to further case studies on the Web can be followed from our Peace Links and Resources pages.
 

'Les 1000 grues de l'espoir'
Toulouse, France

 

A dedicated group of origami folders, based in Toulouse in France, contributes to the annual Telethon event which raises funds for research into genetic illness.  Our group fold a thousand cranes in 24 hours and form these into a different artwork each year, which is then displayed in a public place.  You can visit our page for the Telethon project at: http://www.mygale.org/09/osele/telethon.htm.  The page is in French but the links are easily followed to view photographs of the artworks created since 1991, including a flight of cranes, a crane in flight,  a European flag, a DNA double helix, a moebius strip, an Occitanian flag, and a running child (at left).  The Toulouse group have provided plenty of inspiration in these pages for a range of community artworks using paper cranes.

 

Jean-Pierre Brunet
70, rue Bayard
F-31000 Toulouse
France
brunet@astro.ast.obs-mip.fr

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Cranes for a wedding
San Francisco USA

I am currently planning my wedding for 7 August 1999.  I first heard about folding wedding cranes about ten years ago- my source told me it was a Hawaiian wedding tradition to fold 500 cranes for good luck.   More recently I was researching Asian wedding traditions and came across the crane idea.

The book that I read (Wild geese and tea by Shu Shu Costa) described folding 1001 cranes because of the Asian tendency towards hyperbole ( the idea being "one thousand and then some").  The cranes represent long-life, prosperity, and fidelity.  Although it's a Japanese tradition and I'm Chinese-American, the cranes have similar meaning in Chinese culture. Many Japanese brides fold the cranes out of gold paper, and then arrange them to spell out characters in a framed display for the banquet hall - the double happiness character is popular  in this regard.

Soon after deciding to fold 1001 cranes, I read the story of Sadako's cranes.  I was very moved by the story.  When I went looking on the Web I found the Thousand Cranes Peace Network, and decided our cranes should be part of the goal of a Million Cranes for Peace by the Year 2000.

My relatives and I are folding cranes out of many different colors and several different sizes of paper.  We are asking each of our guests to fold a crane for us which we will keep for a special crane tree to be displayed at our wedding reception.  I expect we will have about 1300 in total. About 500 will be used for centerpieces, and another 500 in strings to be hung from the walls.  I'm also going to use about 100 as placecards.

We will probably send about 1000 to the Sadako Peace Garden in California, and we will be inviting our guests to take some with them for luck.'

Chi-An Chien
cchien@slip.net

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Installation of '10,000 Cranes'
Iowa City, Iowa USA

 

Between early May and the end of July 1998,  Project Art of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) proudly presented '10,000 Cranes', an installation of origami paper cranes by artist  Mr Benjamin Ingell Doyle (with assistance in folding from staff and patients).  The 1,000 cranes were hung from the 8th floor to the 1st floor in the John Colloton Pavilion in Iowa City.  As the walls are mirrored, the cranes were magnified to appear as 10,000 cranes.

 

The installation represented both Sadako's story with the legend of 1,000 cranes, and the 10,000 employees, students, and volunteers at UIHC.

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
uihc-projectart@uiowa.edu

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'The Voice' - Youth magazine competition
Camden Library  NSW  Australia

At Camden Library (NSW) in February 1998 we launched our new Youth Magazine 'The Voice' to address the need for a forum for youth news/information/opinion in our local area.  The two editors compile the mag monthly, and try to include an interview with a local identity as well as local events, puzzles, short stories, library news, competitions etc.  A letters to the editor section has been started, and contributions from readers (poetry, stories etc) are encouraged.  A suggestion box is in the library foyer. 

When our local children's bookshop donated a video on origami, two of our young people proposed to include a page in our first issue on folding paper cranes.  In searching for folding instructions on the net, the idea was born that we could run a competition in the first issue to see who could fold the most paper cranes.  We read the story of Sadako at after-school storytime, and had a display in the children's area showing pages from the book and hanging the cranes that were made.

We have sent our cranes to Canberra before they fly off to a peace park or garden somewhere else in the world.

Lynn McDonald
Children's and Youth Services Librarian
Camden Library
40 John Street,
Camden  NSW  2570  Australia.
camdnlib@localnet.com.au
 

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