Flight of Fancy Art Kit

The artist Alexander Calder “taught art how to dance” with his beautiful mobile sculptures, and this month we’re following in his giant footsteps with our East-Meets-West folded paper crane mobile. Rather than using traditional origami paper for our paper cranes, we’ll be recycling and repurposing discarded book pages to create this simple, elegant, and fun swirl of tiny cranes.

In Japanese culture, the orizuru is considered the most classic origami form, and is a representation of the “Honorable Lord Crane”, whose wings carry souls up to paradise. You may have heard that folding 1000 paper cranes grants a person a single wish; you won’t make it to 1000 with this project, but you’ll be well on your way!

As you work your way through my easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions, you’ll learn how transform old book pages into dynamic works of art that come alive at the slightest touch. (Kids love this!)

You can create your kinetic sculpture in just a few hours! To complete this project you will need hot glue, a stapler, and scissors, but this kit includes everything else:

• Clearly written instructions
• Bamboo hoop
  
• Upcycled book pages
• Hanging ring
  
• Cotton cord
  

“When everything goes right, a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joys of life and surprise” — Alexander Calder, 1898–1976