Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
David Kawai, of Ottwa, Ontario, Canada, uses just his fingers to make teeny tiny origami cranes. After a friend taught him how to make full-sized paper cranes, he started making hundreds. As time went on, however, he challenged himself to make them as small as possible.
Making paper cranes about a tenth the size of a fingernail requires expert precision. Each fold in the paper has to be precise down o a quarter of a millimeter. “Sometimes I use a table when creasing the paper with my fingernails,” says the diligent artist, “I have to use scissors to cut out a tiny square.”
Kawai uses his preferred paper and doesn’t stray into folding other animals. To get the tiny cranes he wants, the initial unfolded square of paper measures between five and six millimeters. Anything too thick makes folding difficult at such a tiny size, but anything too thin could tear.
Kawai keeps most of his cranes for himself but has given a few away. For now, he’s content to keep folding his tiny paper cranes.
“One day it would be nice to make 1,000 tiny ones. It would feel like a big accomplishment!”—David Kawai
From conga-dancing dogs and bicycling ballerinas, to hair-raising feats of strength and death-defying motorcycle stunts, Ripley’s Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange! is sure to delight readers of all ages. With over 1,200 weird-but-true stories from around the world and 256 pages of wild and wonderful photography, this year’s collection of all things odd is not-to-be-missed.
You can get this year’s collection of books from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! by entering the 12 Weirds of Christmas contest. Enter every day for a chance to win more prizes. If you win one day, you also win all of the prizes from previous days.
Enter Day 7 to win A Century of Strange!, Odd Is Art, and Time Warp. Better yet, you’re always entered for the grand prize, a trip for two to the VIP New Year’s Party at Times Square in New York City!
Good luck, and may your holidays be EERIE and bright!
