Hi. I'm Hana, I'm fifteen, I'm a sophomore, and on New Year's Day this year I decided I was going to fold one origami model every single day for a whole year. I didn't actually start until January 8th because it took me a week to decide I was serious. I've been serious for 261 days now.

The rule is: one model, start to finish, every day, no matter what. It can be a crane I could do in my sleep or something out of a book that takes two hours and three tries. It can be at the kitchen table or on the bus or (once) in the hallway outside the dentist. I write down what it was in a notebook, with the date and what paper I used. Some days it is the only thing I do that is only for me.

My grandmother (Obaachan, that's what I call her) taught me the crane when I was six, and she is the reason for the big project at the bottom of this page. My mom is the reason I have a place to put all of these (she gave up the shelf in the hall closet). My dad is the reason this page exists, because he set up the computer and said "you should put that on the Internet" every day until I did.

The instructions below are in words, no diagrams, because I don't have a scanner and I can't draw. I tested every one of them on my little brother Kenji (he's 11) and if he can follow them, you can. Read the whole model through before you start, and crease everything sharp with your fingernail.

• Kami is what the regular colored origami paper is called: thin, colored on one side, white on the other, usually 15 cm (about 6 inch) squares. It comes in packs of 100 or 500 at the Japanese grocery, the craft store, or the museum gift shop. This is the best paper to learn on. Everything below assumes a square of kami, colored side down, unless I say otherwise.
• Washi and chiyogami are the beautiful patterned Japanese papers, softer and thicker. They're for models you're going to keep. Chiyogami is what I use for cranes I give as gifts.
• Foil paper holds a crease amazingly well and makes shiny models, but you can't undo a mistake because the crease stays forever. Good for the balloon.
• Anything else. Gum wrappers. Magazine pages cut square. Sticky notes (peel-off origami is a whole thing). The paper placemat at a restaurant. My best boat was a page from the TV listings. If it folds, it counts.
• Making a square from a rectangle: fold one corner down so the short edge lies along the long edge, crease, and cut off the strip that sticks out. Save the strip; strips make good boats.

Easiest first. A "valley fold" means fold it toward you so the crease is a valley; a "mountain fold" means fold it away from you. "Unfold" means make the crease and then open it back up, because you'll use that crease later.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold it in half diagonally into a triangle, long edge (the fold) at the bottom.
2. Take the right corner of the triangle and fold it over to the left so its point touches the left edge, and the top edge of the flap you just folded is parallel to the bottom. Crease.
3. Do the same with the left corner: fold it over to the right so the point touches the right edge. Now you have a shape like a little house with a pointed roof, and the roof is two triangular flaps (one in front, one in back).
4. Fold the front top flap down over the front of the cup. Turn it over and fold the other top flap down over the back.
5. Open the top. Cup.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold in half diagonally into a triangle with the long folded edge at the top.
2. Fold the left and right corners down and a little outward to make two floppy ears. They don't need to be even; real dogs' ears aren't.
3. Fold the bottom point up a little way to make the chin (or fold it under, behind).
4. Draw eyes and a nose. That's it. Then make a cat by folding the ears up instead of down.

1. Rectangle, fold it in half top to bottom, so the fold is at the top.
2. Fold the two top corners (the folded corners) down to meet in the middle, like starting a paper airplane. You'll have a point at the top and a strip of paper left over at the bottom, two layers.
3. Fold the front strip up over the bottom of the triangles. Turn it over and fold the other strip up on that side. Now it's a hat. (It really is a hat. Put it on. Then keep going.)
4. Hold the hat with the open side down and pull the two sides apart, flattening it in the other direction so it becomes a square (diamond) with the open corners at the bottom. Tuck the little overlapping corners of the strips inside each other so it stays flat.
5. Fold the bottom front corner of the diamond up to the top corner. Turn it over and fold the other bottom corner up too. Now it's a triangle again.
6. Open the triangle from the bottom and flatten it the other way into a square again, just like step 4.
7. Now hold the two top corners of the square (the little triangle points at the top) and gently pull them apart, away from each other. The middle rises up and it becomes a boat. Pull the sides out a little and pinch the bottom flat.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold in half diagonally into a triangle, folded edge at the top, point at the bottom.
2. Fold the left and right corners down to the bottom point. Now it's a smaller diamond (square standing on its corner).
3. Take the two flaps you just folded down (the ones whose points are at the bottom) and fold them back up so their points meet the top point. Now it's a triangle again, but with two loose flaps on the front.
4. Fold each of these two front flaps outward and down at an angle: fold the left flap out to the left so it points up and out, and the right flap out to the right the same way. These are the horns.
5. Now there are two layers of paper at the bottom point. Take just the front layer and fold it up, but not all the way: fold it so its point stops a little below the horns, leaving a band of paper at the bottom. Then fold that band up again along the bottom edge to make the brim.
6. Fold the remaining back layer at the bottom up and tuck it inside the helmet (or fold it up behind). Open the bottom a little to make it round. Helmet.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold in half top to bottom, unfold. Fold in half side to side, unfold. Turn the paper over (colored side up now) and fold both diagonals, unfolding each time. You should have a square with an X and a + creased into it.
2. Now collapse it: with the colored side up, push the middle of the left and right edges in toward the center while you bring the top edge down to the bottom edge. The paper wants to do this, let it. It folds itself into a triangle with two flaps on each side. This is called the water bomb base and you'll use it again for the frog.
3. Lay the triangle with the long edge at the bottom and the point at the top. Take the two bottom corners of the front layer and fold them up to the top point. Turn it over and do the same to the back two. Now it's a diamond.
4. Take the left and right corners of the front layer and fold them in to the center line. Turn it over and repeat behind. Now it's a narrower shape, like a kite with a pocket on each side.
5. At the top of the front there are two little loose points sticking up (from the flaps you folded up in step 3). Fold each little point down, then tuck it into the pocket right below it, made by the side flaps from step 4. Push it all the way in. Turn over and do the same with the two on the back.
6. There's a small hole at the bottom (where all the corners meet). Hold it loosely, and blow into the hole sharply. It puffs into a cube. Pinch the corners square if it needs it.

1. Rectangle, short edge at the top. Fold the top right corner down to the left edge so the top edge lies along the left edge; unfold. Do the same with the top left corner to the right edge; unfold. You've made an X at the top. Now fold the top edge down across the middle of the X (a mountain fold behind is easier); unfold. This is the same X-and-line as the water bomb base, but only at the top of the rectangle.
2. Collapse the top into a triangle the same way as the balloon: push in the sides where the crease crosses and bring the top down. Now you have a triangle sitting on top of a rectangle, with two flaps in the triangle.
3. Fold the two bottom corners of the triangle's front flaps up to the top point. Those are the front legs.
4. Fold the left and right sides of the rectangle part in to the center, so the body gets narrow, tucking under the triangle's edges.
5. Fold the bottom edge up so it meets the bottom of the triangle. Then fold the top of what you just folded back down to the bottom, in half, making a zigzag (a Z). This is the spring.
6. Turn it over. Draw eyes if you want. Press your finger down on the frog's back end (on the zigzag) and slide your finger off. It jumps. Kenji got one over the sugar bowl.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold both diagonals, unfold, so the center is marked.
2. Fold all four corners into the center point. Now it's a smaller square with four triangles meeting in the middle.
3. Turn it over. Fold all four corners into the center again. Smaller square.
4. Fold it in half both ways (side to side and top to bottom) and unfold, so it will open easily.
5. Push your thumbs and first fingers up under the four flaps on the back and push them together. It opens and closes like a mouth. Write colors on the outside, numbers on the inside flaps, fortunes under the flaps.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold in half both ways and unfold, so there's a + in the middle.
2. Fold the top edge down to the center line.
3. Turn it over. Fold the bottom corner (the bottom point of the paper, if you hold it like a diamond... no: the bottom edge's center) — actually hold it square. Fold the bottom edge up so the bottom center point touches the top edge. Wait, easier: turn it back so the colored side is down and the folded band is at the top. Fold the bottom edge of the paper up to touch the top folded edge. Now it's a rectangle, a little wider than tall.
4. Fold the bottom left and bottom right corners of the front layer up to the center line, so they meet in the middle at the bottom point. Now the bottom is a point (the bottom of the heart) and the top is flat.
5. Turn it over. Fold the two top corners down a little, and fold the top edge's center down a little, to round the two humps of the heart. Turn it back. Heart. Fold it and flatten it again if the humps look lumpy; mine always do the first time.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold both diagonals, unfold.
2. Fold all four corners into the center. (A "blintz," which is a funny word for it.)
3. Fold the top edge and the bottom edge to the center line. Unfold both.
4. Fold the left edge and the right edge to the center line. Unfold both. Now you have a grid of creases.
5. Unfold the top and bottom corner flaps (the two triangles) so they stick out again, top and bottom. Leave the left and right corners folded in.
6. Fold the left and right sides up along their creases so they stand up like walls. The walls have the corner triangles inside them.
7. Now the top flap: bring it up, and as you do, the ends of the side walls fold in at the corners (the creases from step 3 and 4 tell you where). Fold the top flap up and over the corners and down into the box, so its point lies flat on the bottom of the box. Do the same with the bottom flap. The points lock everything in place.
8. Pinch the corners sharp. Box. Put things in it.

1. Square, colored side down. Fold both diagonals and unfold. Turn it over (colored side up). Fold in half side to side and top to bottom, unfolding each time.
2. Square base: with the colored side up, push the middle of the left and right edges inward while you bring the top corner down to the bottom corner. It collapses into a small square (a diamond) with an open end at the bottom and a closed point at the top, two flaps on each side. (It's like the balloon's collapse but along the other creases.) Put it down with the open end pointing at you.
3. Kite creases: fold the lower left edge of the front layer to the center line, and the lower right edge of the front layer to the center line, so the front looks like a kite. Fold the top point down over the two flaps. Now unfold all three.
4. Petal fold: lift the bottom corner of the front layer straight up, like opening a mouth. As it comes up, the sides fold inward along the creases from step 3, and the top crease folds too. Keep lifting until the front layer lies flat as a long, thin diamond, with the sides meeting at the center. Press flat.
5. Turn the whole thing over and repeat steps 3 and 4 on the other side. You now have a long diamond with two thin "legs" at the bottom, split down the middle. This is the bird base, and everything after this is easy.
6. Put the split end pointing at you. Fold the lower left edge of the front layer to the center line, and the lower right edge to the center line, making the legs thinner. Turn over and repeat behind.
7. The neck and tail: take the left leg, open the layers a little, and fold the leg up inside itself, between the layers of the body, so it points up and out at an angle (an "inside reverse fold"). Do the same on the right side with the other leg. Now you have a body with two thin points sticking up, and two big flaps (the wings) on either side.
8. The head: pick one of the two thin points and inside-reverse-fold just the tip, the same way, so it bends down. That's the head. The other point is the tail.
9. Pull the wings gently down and apart. If you want a puffed body, blow softly into the little hole at the bottom. Sit it on your desk. Make another one.

If your crane looks wrong, it's almost always the petal fold (step 4). Do it slowly and make sure the creases from step 3 are sharp before you start lifting. My first fifty were wrong. Obaachan's are perfect from three-inch squares and she doesn't even look at her hands.

In Japan there's a tradition that if you fold a thousand paper cranes (senbazuru), you get a wish. You string them together in long strands and give them to someone who is sick, or hang them for peace. Most people know about it from Sadako Sasaki, the girl from Hiroshima who got leukemia from the bomb and started folding cranes in the hospital when she was twelve; she died in 1955, and there's a statue of her at the Peace Park in Hiroshima with strands of cranes that kids send from all over the world. Obaachan took me there when I was nine.

This March my grandmother got sick. She's better now, mostly, and she's home, but it was scary for a while, and I am folding her a thousand cranes. Not because I think paper cures anything. Because she taught me the crane, and because every one of them is fifteen minutes I spent thinking about her, and a thousand of those is something you can hold.

The count as of tonight: 714. All out of 7.5 cm (3 inch) chiyogami and kami, in forty different colors, strung in strands of 40 on thread with a bead at the bottom. Kenji has folded 61 of them and they're a little lumpy and I'm using every one. My goal is to finish by Obaachan's birthday, which is in November. I fold at least two a day on top of the day's model, and more on weekends.

If you want to do this for someone: buy the small paper (three-inch squares, they come in packs of 1,000 for exactly this reason), get a long needle and heavy thread, keep them in a shoebox as you go, and don't count every day or you'll go crazy. Count on Sundays.

1. Every crease matters. A sloppy fold on step 2 becomes a crooked crane on step 9, and there's no fixing it at step 9. You fix it at step 2. I think about this during math.
2. You can't rush a square base. The paper does what it does at the speed it does it. If you force it, it tears. (Me too.)
3. The day doesn't have to be good for the model to be good. Some of my best models were made on my worst days. I'm not sure why. I think it's because for ten minutes I only had to think about one thing.
4. Doing something every day is different from doing it a lot. I folded more in the first three months than in my whole life before, and the models got better not because I tried harder but because I never let it go long enough to forget.
5. It's okay if nobody sees it. Most of the 261 models are in a shoebox. A couple are on the shelf. One is in the trash because Kenji stepped on it. They all counted.
6. Instructions are a kind of kindness. Whoever figured out the crane hundreds of years ago figured it out for me. Writing these out for you is the closest I can get to paying that back.

The whole log from Day 1 is in my notebook and I'm typing it in a little at a time. Days 1 through 60 are done and I'll put them on their own page when I get to 100. Also coming: what happens on Day 365. (I already know. I'm going to fold a crane and start Day 1 again.)

• Japanese for the Business Traveler — Mr. Okamoto's page. My mom says his phrases are exactly right and I should read it before we visit our cousins.
• Bonsai for the Patient — another thing you do a little bit every day for a long time.
• Emily's Horse Page — Emily is 11 and loves horses the way I love paper. I get it.
• Aunt Peggy's Craft Corner — she has never thrown away a scrap of anything either.
• The GeoCities.us clip art library — where the pencil at the top came from.