Reflections on 100 days of paper folding

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I had so many intentions going into this project, and pretty much all of them fell by the wayside as I focused on scratching out enough time in each day to take a deep breath, find a piece of paper, and fold something. I had grand visions of regular blog updates to reflect on the process and all of the amazing, life-changing things I was learning…reality won out, though, which is probably for the best. My life wasn’t profoundly and dramatically changed. I learned some really good lessons, yes, but I am still pretty much the same person doing the same things I was doing 100 days ago. For posterity, and for myself when I forget that I do actually have the power to commit to something and follow through, here are my major takeaways, in no particular order:

1. It is possible to form new habits! The challenge ended on Tuesday, and each night since then I’ve felt like something is missing from the pattern of my day. Granted, it means my bedtime routine has gotten approximately an hour shorter, which is awesome, but I am feeling compelled to come up with a new daily Instagram-for-accountability creative practice, because I have a hole/space in my life formed by doing the work to make the paper folding thing a habit.

2. Taking 20-30 minutes each day to go through the process of “What should I make? How should I make it? How do I photograph it? What should I write about it?” was an oddly magical thing. I think it checked off a few boxes for me that I don’t always prioritize, but because it was compulsory (and often 11pm and the thing I had to do before I could go to sleep), I was forced to just do things without overthinking or being too fussy. I really value the space it made for self-reflection, and especially enjoyed the process of writing my little blurbs about why I was folding an origami crane at 3am (yes, I had a little break with reality that night, not my finest hour). One of my goals this year was to write more, and I haven’t been able to figure out how to make longer form writing (like I’m doing right now! yay!) a regular part of my life, but writing a sentence or two for 100 days was awesome.

3. Posting on social media regularly does actually bring you more followers and friends! I made my first Instagram friends during this challenge (see one of my absolute favorite 100 day projects, by Mariska (@marishi3000), below, and check out her page to see the rest of her 100 days, because every one of them is amazing) and it has added a much more personal dimension to my Instagram browsing. I also now follow more artists and fewer people who must live at fabric stores because they only post pictures of fabric that makes me want to go shopping. I’ve gained about 60 followers over the last 100 days, without doing more than just posting regularly, using a few new hashtags, and occasionally checking out the #the100dayproject page to see what sort of interesting things were going on. That’s not a huge gain, but it nearly doubled my followers, and that’s cool.

'Be curious' – 96/100 #The100DayProject #100dayproject #coffeeart #paperplay #articulatedpaperdoll

A video posted by mariska (@marishi3000) on

4. Anything can happen. I made a little video, using one of my paper house boxes, to answer one of the weekly 100 Day Project prompts, and someone contacted me out of the blue to ask if I could make something similar for them! It was incredibly affirming and exciting to get that sort of reaction to my work! I probably won’t make any more videos for clients, because it turns out I hate working with video, but the point is, I learned that when you make stuff and put it out there, someone might want to pay you to keep doing that same stuff. Yay!

5. I feel better about my life when I take time to be creative for myself. Even though I was sharing pictures with the Internet, I mostly decided what to make each day based on what I felt like making (or what I had energy to make). I tried to take interesting pictures, so as not to just clutter the Internet, but I wasn’t trying to wrap my head around a client’s wishes and goals, or trying to imagine what my “perfect customer” would want to buy. It was really freeing to just make something and not have to worry about it. As I’m thinking about whether I’ll continue some sort of daily Instagram practice, that’s what I’m trying to hold on to. I’ve realized I find the same freedom in sewing and knitting for myself, so I’m trying to figure out if there’s something in those realms that I can set constraints around (and take interesting-enough photos of). At least with sewing and knitting I’ll end up with things I can use! The aftermath of 100 Days of Paper Folding is piles of origami creatures in various nooks and crannies of my studio, at least until I can bear to throw them in the recycling bin.