Inspiration

• Wikipedia Article
• Origami Crane Folding Instructions
• There are many more instructions and different diagrams on the internet if you look for them.

Howto

So here’s the story about the thousand cranes. If you manage to fold a thousand of them yourself within a year, you get to make a wish. Now a thousand is a big number and so the main achievement here is finishing.

The way I did this is by reducing the number. So you are supposed to thread the cranes onto 25 strings in groups of forty. I also decided to use light and dark green and end every string with one red crane. I went for 10 and 15 cm paper. So now you have some numbers that are much smaller and manageable. Now you have to do 25 red cranes and then you go string by string. Do twenty of the dark green, 19 of the light green, thread them, hang them up. Next string. This way you can see your progress unfold (literally?). I also went from first folding each crane individually to folding one or two creases for the whole stack. This is way faster. Also I don’t do the last step in the instruction; these cranes are strung up flat.

By the way, the story does not say that you have to use fancy expensive OG Japanese Origami paper. You can use any paper and still get to make a wish. In fact if you are short on money and still want to create stuff I would recommend paper to you. Paper is cheap and there are many free Origami diagrams and also papercrafts online.