Folding Dreams Using Coloured Paper

A while back I subscribed to Mind. It is a fundraiser for mental health services. I like to think that I am not fragile mentally, but we all have bruised moments. A box is delivered every month. There are stories to read, inspiring quotes on cards and a craft task to do. It’s my third box and I am not sure I have done any of them successfully. It is supposed to be taking a pause from life and doing something creative. Creating a space for me.

There was a pompom to make the first month. Cardboard circles, wool and instructions. Let’s be clear – I have a box of craft things and boxes of wool and somewhere there is a pompom kit courtesy of a gift with a knitting magazine.

I followed the instructions wrapping the wool around the circles. Things kind of fell apart with cutting through the strands of wool. I needed a sharp pair of scissors and a least a third hand to hold things together. The scissors weren’t sharp, and I just had the usual two hands. The pompom was just a pom with lots of strands of wool falling on the table in front of me.

The second box. I don’t think there was something to do in that one. There was a jute bag with a quote on it. It was a black bag, not really my colour. I have lots of similar sized bags, one of which I sewed myself at the Wee Fabric Shop one afternoon. It was a craft class. Everything was cut out and it was step by step teaching. I felt at the time very out of my comfort zone. There was a time when I made my clothes. I could follow patterns but that was a long time ago. The jute bag class required a lot of nursing my way through. The fabric is not colourful, but as a bag, it works. The Pause bag holds a number of knitting projects – my attempt to tidy my corner.

Box three – origami. Last year I made lots of very simple origami tulips. I’d been to Amsterdam, bought tulips from the flower market, for gardening friends. There were not enough bulbs in the bag, so I made the origami tulips to make up for the loss. I know you can’t plant origami tulips, but it was better than nothing. I tried to talk my way through the instructions with my creative writing class. They hadn’t made them before and most of the class gave up frustrated. The following task was to write out instructions of how to do something. One lady wrote about how to make a cup of coffee by dissolving the instant coffee in a little bit of cold water first. Try it and see what you think.

This time I have a choice between a lotus flower, a crane or a butterfly. I have done cranes before – yes, that whole talking through the instructions thing for a Chinese New Year celebration. Some kind of success – not. I didn’t feel up to a lotus flower, so I opted for the butterfly. The font on the card was a bit small but nothing a magnifying glass couldn’t cope with. I folded and creased and unfolded and turned the paper over. It was the last picture that floored me. What I ended up with was no species of butterfly I had ever encountered.

I resorted to google to find a better butterfly. It was also the last bit that floored me, something to do with a finger up the butterfly’s hind end and folding. It looks vaguely like a butterfly, enough for me to want to make a few more. I have a thick pad of origami paper in a rainbow of shades and patterns. I have a notion of tying them to the tree in the backyard. My garden isn’t butterfly attractive yet. I can convince myself, looking at an origami butterfly-infested tree that I really do have butterflies. Of course, the fact that it is blowing a gale and pelting down with rain has put the project on hold.

Sometimes when the real thing doesn’t happen for me, the pretend thing, helps. The origami butterflies will still bring colour to my garden.

I know – weeding the borders and planting flowers will attract the real butterflies.

I don’t begrudge the subscription I pay to Mind to get my box. I know too many people who need support and services and don’t always get them.

I also know that weeding the borders and planting flowers, yes it will attract the real butterflies, but soil on the hands is good for the mind too.