I’ve tried origami a few times over the years – I’ve managed to make a crane and even a dinosaur, but there’s been a common theme each time. Whereas others find it a mindful and meditative activity, I get incredibly stressed out and abusive towards the instructor. For some reason, I thought making an origami flower might be different, and I decided to rope my mum in (via FaceTime) to try with me. This couldn’t possibly go wrong…
We started off making a simple rose, and it became clear early on that one of us was having a harder time than the other: the most surprising part is that it wasn’t me. My mum’s multiple, exasperated cries to pause the video, or repeat an instruction showed me (and my laughing husband) exactly where I get it from. Our rose was a mild success, so we decided to go big and make a tulip, complete with stem.
I have to say at this point, my mum was not working with origami paper but I was. There came a point about half an hour into 5-minute video that we had to blow through a tiny hole to inflate the flower – mum managed to blow right through hers and made a hole on the other side! I think it was that her paper was quite thin and not that she was mad, but it was great fun for me to watch!
Amazingly, I came out with a lovely looking tulip. I even managed to make a little butterfly whilst retaining my sanity. So my plan for next time if I feel like doing origami again is to get my mum involved and I’ll be too entertained watching her that I’ll forget to get stressed out!
New Day, New Thing 