Photo by Christina Dominguez Chapman


The plywood base before - due to the knots in the wood I knew that painting wasn't really an option as it wouldn't completely hide the flaws.

So here was my solution. I took two packages of printed origami paper and cut it into quarters. I applied Mod Podge to the back of each piece with a brush, then coated the top with more Mod Podge so the entire base was sealed.

After being Mod Podged with Origami Paper

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One Thousand Cranes

As some of you might know, I fold origami cranes. Thousands upon thousands of them over the past decade.

I wanted to use a set as the backdrop for our ceremony as 1000 cranes are considered "Good Luck" to the bride and groom at Japanese American Weddings.

Because we had a short engagement, 5 months, I didn't have time to fold a new set so my sister loaned back to me the 1000 I had made for her wedding.

For her wedding we had hung them from a grapevine wreath. At our hotel there was nowhere to suspend a hanging fixture from so I needed to come up with a free standing base to display them on. My solution was to find an iron garden arch and hang them from it.

After a ton of web surfing I came up with this delicate, scrolled arch. I even bloggged about it! It was a bit on the flimsy side so to get it to stand upright we needed to screw the feet down to a wooden base. A quick trip to Home depot, 6 wood screws, two packages of printed origami paper and a bottle of Mod Podge later and we were set.

After finishing the wooden rounds I began weaving grape vine along the top of the arch. From that I suspended origami wisteria and leaves. My friend Melany Moore from Shanel's Flowers and Frames volunteered to learn how to make them and folded 3 of the 5 wisteria cones that adorned the arch on our wedding day.

Cranes by: Tiny Cranes
Wisteria by: Melany Moore and Stacie Tamaki


 
Idea submitted by: Stacie Tamaki of The Flirty Bride

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