Finding Strength in Crumpled Paper: Why I Love Momigami
A meditation on stress, caregiving, and creativity
Finding beauty in times of stress can be difficult. Often, we shut down, withdraw from our lives, and block our emotions. Stress affected not just my emotions, but my creativity.
Years went by, and my love for jewelry making slowly faded. The process I once loved had to stop. An allergy, bigger than I wanted to admit, brought me down harder than I expected. Metal smithing became my kryptonite.
Then came Momigami, the Japanese art of kneaded paper. Ordinary paper, softened and crumpled repeatedly, becomes fabric-like in texture. It’s easy, meditative, and unexpectedly grounding.
The steps are accessible, inexpensive, and don’t require much time. But what they do need is presence.
Paper has always been more than paper for me. It’s the cornerstone of my being. I didn’t always think about it that way, but when I look back, it was so central that it became my career.
I’ve run a printing press, embossed, foiled, cut, and folded paper, been a print/paper buyer responsible for millions of printed pieces, and traveled across the country as the corporate color representative to press check catalogs. Paper has always been my obsession.
This morning, while handwashing dishes, all my thoughts collided, connecting the thread of paper in my life, not just the paper, but the meaning of doing something with my hands. Believe it or not, I find washing the dishes relaxing as I wash and look out the window.
A couple of months ago, I read a quote from Reese Witherspoon that stuck with me:
“Whenever you’re nervous, get out of your head and into your hands. Go make something.”
That line hasn't left me. It reminded me that working with my hands has always soothed whatever was happening in my life and my mind. Making something gives me space from anxiety and worry, even if just for a moment.
Becoming the primary caregiver for my parents was harder than I ever imagined. I’ve never regretted where I am, but I’ve had to reshape how I see myself. I’ve had to redefine who I am, what I feel, where I’m going, and what my future might look like.
And the only answer that seemed to work? Be present.
It sounds simple until life starts life-ing. When your world starts feeling unfamiliar, when even small things like a commercial, a song, or a line from a book hit you with unexplained emotion, it’s concerning.
I’m grateful for friends who hold space with empathy, compassion, and lived experience. One day, while trying to explain how I felt, my friend Val said:
“It sounds like you are experiencing anticipatory grief.”
That phrase made all the difference. Suddenly, it made sense, not just emotionally, but physically. I was experiencing anticipatory grief on multiple levels of life, and I didn’t have words for it until that moment.
That’s when Momigami found me. I didn’t go looking for it. Two years ago, I didn’t even know it existed. Call it the universe, intuition, or timing, it showed up exactly when I needed it.
All the dyed and decorated paper I’d made over the years became my muse. In the past, I would crumple paper out of frustration. Now, I fold it slowly and knead it gently, the same motion but with a different energy. Before, frustration. Now, presence.
Crumpling paper became a quiet ritual. I was transforming paper with softness and patience, and in the process, I began to soften toward myself.
How To Make Momigami-Click Here
I started a YouTube channel, Creative Rise Art.
And somehow, unexpectedly, I became the AI Overview for “Momigami” on Google.
I don’t know where this will lead, but for now, I know where I am, in my hands, in this moment, for this purpose.
What Momigami Means to Me Now
It’s not just about paper. It’s about resilience.
It’s about staying present, even when life is hard.
It’s about making something, even when you don’t know what comes next.
If you're curious about trying Momigami, I have several video tutorials and other mediums on my YouTube channel, Creative Rise Art.
That line from Reese Witherspoon stuck with me. It still does:
“Whenever you're nervous, get out of your head and into your hands. Go make something.”