New Website!

Ok! This will officially be my last post to this blog.

To submit your wishes, please go to

www.wishingstarcollective.com

It's still in the beginning stages, but I hope to expand soon.

Tell all your friends!

(I'm so excited!)

New Things!

Hello World!

I have some fun news! I have been interviewed for a Salt students radio show, about a month ago - which was fantastic. And tomorrow I am going to be interviewed for a Who I Met blog. Exciting! I am not good at interviews, but I trust these people to make me not sound weird. I will get links to you all for both as soon as possible.

I am also thinking about expanding in some way. I came up with some interesting ideas for a kit for teachers to reward their students with (younger grades, obviously.) I have also attempted to start up a twitter account...I'm not sure if it works...but. You should follow me! If you search for @wishingstarcol, it should come up. Whats with not being able to put in the full name, by the way? I was not pleased with that. But then, I should know better, it is kind of an epically long name.

On another note, wishingstarcollective.blogspot.com will be moving soon! We will be living at wishingstarcollective.com, hopefully with a fancy new way to post wishes, that doesn't involve digging into posts. All anonymous, of course.

And that is that!

I hope the website looks fantastic.
I wish I could spend more time just working on this project.
I wish I had realized my email wasn't forwarding...sorry to anyone I didn't get too sooner!

Little bits of Progress

I am continually surprised at how fast the stars are disappearing. The little jar of cards I left out is completely empty as well on an almost daily basis. Seems hard to keep up.

The other day, when I stopped by the coffee shop, I walked past a table in the corner and saw a little girl, maybe 8 years old? With two older women. They each had a pile of about 5 capsules each in front of them and the little girl was explaining why they each had which capsules. I caught something about being happy and sad and great. It made me happy.

I am also amused at the number of stars I find left behind that have clearly been taken apart. I can only assume people are looking for wishes. In truth, I did accidentally lose a whole afternoons worth of wishes about a year ago. I wrote all the wishes out and then had to hurry to an appointment, and mixed all the wish written paper in with the unwished paper. I had folded all the paper in my little carry case before I realized what I'd done - so you might find one. Maybe. But the stars in the machine aren't the wishing stars - those are going to go up for auction as soon as I have a thousand wishes. I think I'm getting closer. I haven't counted in a while.

I wish it wasn't so cold.
I hope I survive the winter this time.
I wish some things had remained whole.

What are your wishes today?

Beginner's Success!

Beginner's Success!

You will notice that in this shot the machine appears to be about half full - because it is! To date I have had to top it off 4 times. I am very excited. I also got the story laminated and a little cup of stars to hold the business cards I had made. I also had to have a sign made about them not being edible...I'm sure the paper wouldn't really hurt anyone, but people seem to assume they are edible since it is a bubblegum machine. Better safe than sorry.

I have been asked a few times where one can leave wishes - in the comments section! You can leave them anonymously, or with your name, whichever makes you most comfortable.

I walked into Hilltop the other day, just looking to buy some chai, and saw a little girl at a table with two older women, and they each had a pile of these little capsules in front of them - she was somehow divvying them up when I walked past. It made me laugh.

I wish I had more places to put these, since they are obviously successful!
I hope that they inspire people to visit the site and leave their wishes!
I wish it was warm again, but that will happen in due time I suppose.

What are your wishes today?

Hilltop Coffee, Portland, Maine

Hilltop Coffee, Portland, Maine

That pretty face is Kendyll, and she is a barrista at Hilltop Coffee in Portland, Maine - which is where my origami star machine is! Yay!

There will eventually be a sign - there were technical difficulties. That big white square is an artist statement though. 

For those of you who don't know - the machine has little capsules with 10 to 12 mini origami stars in it, as well as a strip of paper with wishingstarcollective.blogspot.com on it. To get a capsule, you pay a quarter. The artist statement explains the whole story, why I started the project and how it all took off, and encourages people to visit this website! And that little jar next to the machine has the little business cards I've been carrying around with me in it. 

Oh, and while I was sitting there, chatting with Kendyll, 3 people used the machine! And it was nighttime, which is a super slow time for a coffee shop. We'll see what happens tomorrow morning! 

For local Portlander's, please stop by and say hi to the lovely ladies at Hilltop Coffee. For those of you elsewhere, wouldn't you like to see one of those in your local coffee shop?

Leave your wishes! 

Make any wishes today?

Did you find a stray eye lash today?
Did you happen to notice when the clock said 11:11?
Did you see a shooting star last night?
Did you get the big side of a wishbone?

What did you wish for?

Times

There are times when you realize you have too much of a good thing.

When I hit 2,000 I stopped counting. Unfortunately, those are unwished stars - the ones I make just sitting next to the couch keeping my hands busy.

I realized I haven't paid enough attention to this blog nearly enough, my writing thoughts have been bent on my book. But I didn't realize I wasn't paying attention because I was always making the stars, every day, every week, more and more and more of them.

Wishes! I wish my little star machines were welcome in more places. I wish I could get the word out about this collective a little better.

And you?

Children

I've recently realized that while I spent a good deal of my childhood responding to being told I should grow up to be a teacher with, oh hell no, I'm actually incredibly interested in education and the way children are raised.

That being said, I'm not about to tell you how to raise your children. One of my older sisters just had a baby, and I would never dream of telling her what to do with her child - so I'm not about to correct strangers.

At a convention recently I went to a panel called Educating Through Play, and it was taking a look at how we can educate children through many different mediums. This particular arguments focus was in the favor of games - while I know we have a lot of work to do to integrate it into the system and a lot of problems to address, I think it's a fantastic idea. I've always been a little put off by how rigid the school system is, and have wondered if there wasn't a different way to go about things.

At the convention I was making my tiny origami stars - since I carry the kit with me everywhere, and I can't ever seem to sit still - and ended up being asked about it by the couple I'd just been discussing alternative education styles with. I could have told them my usual story but ended up coming at it from a completely different angle.

"What are you making?" She asked. Mini origami stars, I responded. I have trouble sitting still. "So does my son," she said, "the one with ADHD." We were quiet for a minute and then she said, "What do you do with them all?" Usually I wait for some version of this question and then launch into my whole project spiel. It takes a while, maybe as long as five minutes, and I usually get a glazed over look from whoever asked me the question. Or if I give my short spiel - I'm raising money for research into a cure for ALS - I usually get a confused look, or an uninterested one. Sometimes a confused look followed by an uninterested look. My point being, the conversation doesn't have a lot of places to go after that. So, instead, I said:

"Do you know what Lou Gehrig's disease is?" She shook her head and her husband said, "Isn't that what that baseball player had?" And I said, "Yes. His name was Lou Gehrig. The disease is also called ALS. I forget what the letters stand for. Sometimes I just call it Als." They both laughed. The lady asked if I had ALS and I said no. "My biological mother had it, she died a few years ago." They both gave me really sympathetic looks and then looked back at the stars - which I was still making. "You know," I said, "It was really hard for my baby sister and I. She was only 15 at the time. I was in my early 20's. There weren't many places we could turn for comfort then. I mean, you're not supposed to lose your parents that young. Neither of us were really prepared. What do you do?" More sympathetic looks. "I was in college at the time - I ended up dropping out. I just couldn't concentrate on anything. My adopted mother taught me how to knit around then, and I started making these stars, and they both really helped me get through the day. Repetitive movements. Something pretty in the end. It helped me focus." More nods. And maybe they were just really nice people, but they were still interested in the story. "After a while - like, maybe a year? I realized I had way too many of these stars. I needed to do something with them. Can you imagine a trash collector picking up a giant trash bag full of mini origami stars?" They laughed. "It's kind of a long boring story, but in the end I decided I should raise money to help." It came out sort of odd, because the line we were standing in had started to move. "You mean, to help the kids who have parents with ALS?" The mom said. And it hit me. Yeah, I should raise money for research into a cure. But what about the kids, the families, the parents, the loved ones who are left behind? Who are struggling along? Who helps them? I happened to have an excellent support system in place, but my baby sister still struggles with this. And it's been 3 years.

So I made up my mind, right then. I'm going to research some outlets for victims of ALS, and try and focus on helping the children. It makes sense - they're the ones most attracted to these stars anyway, in their gumball machines.

It's something to think about. I'm also looking to put together a team, to help with outreach for this. Any volunteers?

I hope people are getting the help they need.
I hope I can help people somehow, even a little bit.
I wish I could magically make everything better for someone.

Holidays

I am not a giant fan of the holidays.

They're so commerical. It's so easy to lose sight of what it means to people. Stereotypically birthdays are when people are supposed to make wishes. But the holidays are when I find myself wishing for things the most. (And I don't mean presents.) I wish for my family to make it safely though. I wish for the new year to be shiny and new. I wish for it to never snow (and then immediately take it back, I know global warming is a thing.) I hope that everyone finds a little joy. I hope people get where they're going and that no one gets hurt.

I think about past holidays and wish a whole bunch of other things.

What do you wish for? What do you hope happens?

New idea!

I have a couple of them. I'm writing a book, and designing my apartment (you can't put two theater designers in a blank apartment and not get a design rather than a moving in.) and I'm working my way into a new job. It's fun and constantly giving me new ideas.

Like this! I found these shallow-ish glass bowl like things - people usually put flowers in them, I guess - and I am filling them with stars and sticking a bunch of business cards in them. I came up with this as another option for business owners instead of the bubblegum machines. Their low maintenance and actually kind of pretty. Ok, they're really pretty. And easy to mail! Let me know if you want one.

Also! Let me know wishes! Plodding along steadily with this wish jar. Really hoping to have a jar to sell before the end of the year.

I wish I could get enough wishes to fill my thousand star jar.

I hope the holidays are not hectic.

I futilely wish for no show. sigh.

We're getting to the end of a semester, and a regular old year. What do you hope happens over the holidays? What wishes do you have for family and friends and the new year? Share!

I'm back!

I'm back! And I'm moving. Bleh.

I am pretty sure I have a place for a machine, in Worschester (spelling? Sigh.) Mass. in a fantastic bakery. So there! It's possible! Tell your friends! The ones, preferably, who own establishments that would like to have machines full of tiny adorable origami stars in them. Because, seriously, if I make any more of these things, they are going to fill every single container I have that could even hold stars. All of them. I'm tired of emptying them out of my soup bowls when I want a bowl of soup.

I wish I had moved and was settled.

I hope I get this apartment I'm looking at soon.

I also hope this whole adventure I'm embarking on goes well.

We're staring fall right in the face - what do you wish you'd done this summer? What do you hope to do for the fall? Who do you want to save?

Don't be shy, tell your friends, come back later when you think of another one, or write me a page or two of ones you've been saving up. I don't mind.

So much travel...

So, I have been living out of my car all summer - you can imagine that makes totting around my star making ...stuff...a little difficult. But I did manage to squish most of it into a travelable form. And I am now filling up a coffee tin instead of keeping them all separated out all nice and pretty like.

The tin is getting pretty damn full. (Ignore the quality of the photo - I'm traveling, remember!)

I hope I don't run out of paper anytime soon!

I wish I could make these all organized and nice again!

I wish I had a puppy! And a beer!

What are you wishing for right now? I could do with a nice hug too. Traveling can get awful lonely...

Edinburgh!

One of my favorite things about travel is sharing what I have with other people and getting new things in return - ideas, thoughts, food, customs, accents. So far I have adopted the way they say "no" and "do" and "sittle dune." (settle down) I have fallen in love with Crunchies - which are chocolate with honey comb in them! And foxes biscuits. And steak pies. I'm pretty sure I can manage to make a steak pie. I'm going to try it when I get back.

In return I've been making stars left and right, showing people, handing out cards and looking for a likely candidate to host a machine. I need to come up with a better spiel though. Even though my life is completely insane, being able to make these stars is a constant that I can take anywhere with me. It is a grounding piece to my life.

I wish I could think of a better, shorter way to explain my project.

I hope I can see all the things at Festival that I want too.

Are you at Fringe? What did you love? What stories did you hear? What wishes are floating around in your brains? Share!

Travel

After huge amounts of travel, I find myself momentarily stationary once more. And boy do I have a pile of wishes stacked up. They're my own wishes though, and I'd like some of yours.

I wish I'd seen more in most of the places I've been recently.
I wish I'd been better at staying in contact with loved ones.
I wish there was a way I could keep up this lifestyle.
I hope I get this job I applied for that will be terribly interesting.

I'm living on other peoples couches at the moment but I'm still making my mini stars. I want to keep up this project, so who's with me? Who's got some wishes?

Documentary

No excuses on why I haven't posted in ages - long, boring story.

I just watched a documentary about paper folding - Beyond the Fold - and it was utterly fascinating. I was, of course, doing some folding of my own while I was watching.

Paper folding is something of an art form, and the film did an interesting thing by tying the process to a variety of different fields - science, medicine, art, math, music. It reminded me of a boy I knew in highschool who would relate anything you said to him to baseball in 6 steps or less. It was fascinating.

So, here's a new idea for you for me, what do you wish origami connected you too? What do you hope you are connected to through something else?

It's That Time of Year

It's that time of year, when all you can think of are the holidays. Finding the perfect present, giving the best hints, securing that secret hiding spot. And forgetting about the wrapping paper, of course.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

That's a lie, I already have those. I want wishes! I want piles and piles of wishes! I want so many wishes that I can't keep up with them.

So, what do you hope you're getting for loot this year? What do you wish you could buy your favorite friends and family? What miracle do you dream about?

I'm exploring a bunch of options to make the Wishing Star Collective an even bigger success than it already is. Kickstarter has gone well, and rewards are being sent out, and ideas are breeding like crazy. Each idea starts as something crazy and then slowly matures into a maybe and then eventually turns into a Tada! I'm hoping for one or two more tada's before the end of the year.

More pictures to come, of the rewards being sent out, and other potential goodies.

But I can't do it without you.

Facetweets

Every day, when I sit down at my computer, I do at least three things. I check my email, I check my facebook and I check my twitter. I watch people post multiple status updates a day, right alongside their tweets. It's easy, takes two seconds, everybody does it. (Or at least a lot of people do.)

I have been trying to come up with a way to make submitting a wish just as easy. I haven't come up with anything yet, short of commissioning some brilliant designer to set up a page for me. Until then, the idea sits and waits for a stroke of genius.

Until then, I wish every person who wakes up and goes to their facebook or their twitter will take the 2 minutes to come to this blog, and submit a wish. Even if it seems like the most insignificant wish in the world. How insignificant are some of your status updates? The whole world won't know it's you, but every wish I get works towards the goal of a thousand stars.

Make this your mission for a week! Make other people make it their wish!

Fundraising?

Remember that time I started a Kickstarter thingy to try and raise at least $700 dollars so I could do things like, oh, buy paper and gumball machines and try and get the word out there in a fun an interesting way about my blog?

That. Just. Happened.

I now have a bajillion things I need to go organize, besides catching up on my NaNoWriMo which I am horribly behind on, so. More blogging at you all later.

I'll leave you with some wishing requests:

What city do you wish you could see a gumball machine in?
How many people do you hope will take home a tiny capsule full of tiny stars and share their wishes with us?
What did you dream about last night?

You, are all amazing. I am completely silly excited.

Thank you. Thank you.

5 Days Left!

Well, since there are only 5 days left to add funds to my kickstarter project, I feel like it's time for an update.

5 days to go and $725 dollars raised - which is excellent. The more money we raise, the better (tell all your friends), but the goal has been met, so the project is officially a win. Thank you, one and all.

Halloween is tomorrow and one of my favorite people is getting married, and so I have a ton of wishes for her, one being that I hope she and her new husband spend the rest of their lives enjoying one anothers company. Another is that I wish they go on grand adventures.

Some hopes I have are mainly for my project. I hope I can do everything I want to do, and thrill my supporters. I hope the gumball machines generate the kind of interest in this site that I can barely keep up with all your wishes.

Most of my dreams are dreams, and I will leave them on the stars and you can all imagine fun things.

Who deserves wishes in your life? What hopes do you have for the future of your projects? What dreams can you imagine and breathe life into? Keep sharing - you aren't limited to one posting per day or lifetime. I love your submissions and I love your support. Because, you, are all, amazing.

Hello!

Hello the internet!

I have lots of wishes about the weather lately. And continued funding for my kickstarter shenanigans. And hopes for beautiful gum ball machines and finding that special jar to house the thousands of wishing stars I will get between now and the end of the year.

Talk to me! School just started, which teachers do you wish would disappear? The economy is terrible, which jobs do you wish would appear? Who do you hope will discover their dreams, where do you go in your own dreams?

I have recently started brainstorming about other sites I can explore and encourage to check us out. This was after a kindly soul threw a link up at a near by knitting website. Follow this wonderful person's example and tell all your friends and link it to the least mention of anything related to this project! The idea is for it to grow, but I can't do that without your help.