Grandpa's Menagerie

In response to dd's request, my post this week is dedicated to showcasing my dad's fairly new hobby of creating these awesome paper animals. Both mom and dad have always enjoyed crafting, and for as long as I can recall, there was always some craft project going on at home as I was growing up. So I guess it was only natural that I developed the same love and appreciation for crafts!

These incredible paper creatures come from Canon's Papercrafting website, Canon Creative Park, where you can find a plethora of fun paper crafting projects. After printing them from the website and cutting out each piece, dad made each of these animals come to life by meticulously gluing them together.

What's most amazing is that no one would ever guess by looking at these intricate creations that dad suffers from a debilitating condition which causes his hands to tremor.
It is heart wrenching beyond words to see a man who once enjoyed so many creative hobbies... photograhy, wood and paper crafting, computer graphics... to name a few... have to come to terms with the loss of control of his hands.

The tremors are to the point now that even the simple task of using a mouse to navigate on the computer has become very difficult for him. I imagine it must take a lot of concentration and hours and hours of patience and determination to finish each of these critters... which of course makes me appreciate these creations even more.

This past week I asked for permission to take dad's menagerie home with me to photograph so he would be able to share pictures of them with friends and family.

I took them outdoors and had fun taking the pictures, but had to be very careful as they would blow away with even the slightest bit of wind!

Some of these guys are quite small, no more than 2 or 3 inches high, so I had to lay down on the ground with them to take their pictures!

This Kingfisher may not look too much different than the rest of the creatures, but it took dad several weeks to put complete because he had such a difficult time assembling the bird's feet...

Each one of the bird's claws is a separate piece, rolled into a hollow tubes then glued together. Crazy! I tried on one occasion to help, but gave up after a few tries!

This maneki neko or Japanese "welcoming cat" is his largest creation to date. The finished size is nearly 12 inches tall, and dad says it took 10 sheets of 8-1/2 x 11 paper to create!

Needless to say, we are all extremely pleased that dad has found a new passtime to enjoy. Most importantly this new hobby has definitely boosted his own self image and confidence. We may be overly optimistic, but we are hopeful this might also help him gain some control of his tremors.

Currently, dad is working on a 3 dimensional mini model of the Byodo In Temple in Japan. I'm not sure how large the completed project will be, but we're told it takes over a hundred pieces, cut out and glued together. Can't wait to see it, dad!