The 100 Day Project is an online community-driven creative initiative that, as its name suggests, runs for 100 ( not necessarily consecutive ) days. There are no rules, it is totally self-driven. Nobody forces you to do something every day for your 100 days. There are no restrictions as to what you can do for the 100 days.
Last year was my first year participating, and I created a series of animal-themed sketches that incorporated each of the numbers 1 - 100. It was fun, though some numbers were more challenging than others ( 8s & 4s especially ). I didn't make it quite to the end of the whole 100 days. So, this year I am determined to make it all the way through, just so I can tell myself that I did it.
This year, I am attempting to create a new origami model for each day. I'm pretty much a newbie, but it was something I have been wanting to get into for some time, as well as other forms of paper crafting.
I was given some 'How to ...' origami & paper craft books for Christmas, and the current lockdown has proven to be the ideal time to actually do some learning and making.
Origami videos
Well, I did it. Slightly behind schedule, but that's OK. It was mostly really good fun, but challenging, informative, and - occasionally - frustrating. Though, I think, isn't being creative often like that ? It's about growing, hitting a ceiling, and then pushing through.
Considering where I started ( The photos above aren't necessarily in the order I made them for the project. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe it was a heart that I made for Day 1. I could go back and check, but where's the fun in that ? ), and comparing that to where I ended up, I can see progress. Moving to video tutorials rather than just using books was a huge help in that regard. There's no way a still image ( or even a series of still images ) can convey ( sometimes ) complicated folding as well as a video can; especially to a newbie like me. In the early days it was more trial & error, and persistence, rather than knowledge, that got me through.
I'd like to thank those who kindly uploaded their origami knowledge to The Web, so that a clueless fool like me could follow what they were teaching.
In August I started getting really bad pains in the left-side of the face. This went on for a few days, and meant I didn't get any sleep for nearly a week. Eventually, it got too much for me to bear, and Janet took me to the local A&E to find out what was wrong. Because of Covid restrictions, Janet wasn't allowed into the area where a doctor would take a look at me, so had to wait in the corridor. I was taking an age to be seen, and sitting alone in a hospital corridor is oh-so-boring. So she went for a walkabout, and while strolling around saw a poster for 'Healing Arts', who display the work of artists around the hospital, in order to create a more aesthetically pleasing environment, which is beneficial to both the patients & the staff.
Janet took a photo of the poster, and, after I'd been seen by the doctor and set free, told me all about 'Healing Arts'. The next day I emailed them. It was just a general enquiry, about perhaps displaying some of my work. We swapped emails about what I might want to display, and I mentioned the origami I'd been making during lockdown. The idea of doing something positive during events that are almost entirely negative was one that felt really aligned to the message that Healing Arts wanted to get across.
So, in early September my origami went on show at the University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire.
I've mentioned before that sometimes, during the 100 Day Project, it felt like I was being overwhelmed by paper creations. Seeing them all in arranged in glass cabinet really emphasised just how many I had made.
In fact, the one's one show are only about two-thirds of what I actually made. The rest had to come home
with me, and are still safely boxed-up. I did make a few new pieces, just for the hospital display. In some instances these were updated ( better ) versions of ones I had made before, and in others replacements for ones that had become a little bashed around. Some, though, were completely new.
Initially I had the idea of displaying them in chronological order, but truthfully I couldn't really remember in which order I made them, and as it became clear I wouldn't have the room to use them all, that idea was quickly dispensed with.
It was really tough deciding which ones to use, and which ones not to use. Mostly, I've gone for those that I like most, but there were other considerations too - A few weren't exactly made to the highest standards, and others just won't free-stand, so it wan't possible to show them.
Also, I wanted to create collections within the collection, so I needed enough dinosaurs to create a mini-display ( an origami Jurassic Park ). It was the same with the origami food, and also the geometric shapes.
If you are at the UHCW, and would like to take a look at them all, they can be found near the ground floor lifts, on both the East & West wings of the main hospital building.