Welcome to my television debut! In March of 2000, I was invited to Japan to
compete, on air, in the annual "Papercraft Champions" produced by Tokyo TV.



I competed against 3 delightful and enormously talented Japanese paper
artists. We were assigned 2 projects to be completed in a given amount of time.



The first, a pop-up Mother's Day card, was judged by mothers from 20
different countries. We were filmed in a large shopping mall and working
with a camera over my shoulder was, to say the least, a "unique" experience!



I created "Matrushka" or Russian nesting dolls. Each doll popped from the
card holding an envelope containing a smaller doll holding an envelope.



The last held a "Happy Mother's Day" card. That particular round resulted in
one vote for my creation! Yes. it came from the Russian mom!

The second project was a time-travel piece and filmed in a science museum. I
chose to focus on my western roots and created a Renaissance atrium complete
with mosaic floor and fountain.

If viewed through the arches with ornate
Corinthian-like columns there is a large paper "portrait" of my surprised
self, hanging on the back wall.

If the piece is turned, the outside of the
back wall has a rectangular opening that exposes the back of "me". A ladder
descends from the opening as the means with which I climbed into the
painting to experience another time era.



The judges were an eclectic group of science fiction writers,
movie directors and photographers. I fared a little better this time.
A whopping 14 votes catapulted me into 3rd placefrom my previous
last place standing! (Not quite the Jamaican Bobsled Team of the "paper olympics"!)

I've pulled some shots off the video (thus the poor quality) but I hope they
help a bit to tell the story of a truly wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime
experience.



The way I see it, I may have been "out papered" but I did win an
all-expenses paid trip to Tokyo and I came home with ARMLOADS of fabulous
Japanese papers!