A Past Hobby That Grew into Something New

by Casey
(Bellingham WA, USA)

When I was younger, about 10 years old, someone showed me how to make a origami balloon. I never knew that it was origami, I just told people I was folding paper to make a box, and I would make one almost everyday just for fun, never got much farther than that with folding.

My favorite part of making them was I would make them as cards and give them to people because they were special to me, when I was 20 almost turning 21 I had a bad accident while I was snowboarding and ended up rupturing my large intestines, which led to me having to get surgery and being laid up with nothing to really do for about 2 months, then one day i was on youtube and it recommended i watch an origami video of a water bomb. I never realized that the little box I folded was origami!

I watched the video and it brought back old happy memories of just folding my little boxes. After that video I was constantly watching tutorials on how to make models eventually filling up about a 2 foot section of my wall with models i had taped up taking pictures of them and sending them to friends and just making models for people because it was just something I had so much fun with.

It really helped me return back to normal after my surgery because it kept my mind in another place. my favorite models to fold are flowers when done right they look beautiful and the girls love them (haha)

Possibly the best part of my experience with origami came from when I was trying to make a type of dahlia. Not being able to follow the directions very well I closed the page and began exploring what I could do with it testing out folds and seeing what I could come up with. At the end of it i came up with a version of a lotus flower (I believe) that i hadn't seen before.

I was so proud that I potentially came up with my very own model and since then i have made it many times and began exploring with it more, with size and color. I am very proud of all the models I have made, no matter what they are they are special to me and it reminds me how a simple things such as a piece of paper can become a fun and beautiful piece of art.