Lei making

So here it is Sunday morning and I'm still working on Thursday's posts. I'm already far behind in the blog and don't know when I'll have a chance to catch up. Friday was a full day and I have a lot of cool pics to share (birding, coastlines, lava tubes, and more. . .). I've also done my all-day demo with the Honolulu woodturners. Today will be my hands-on class with some of the club members and then I have to pack up and get to the airport. I'm catching a 12:30 am flight to Australia via Fiji.



To cap off Thursday's post, though, I'll share these images of Nashira (Craig and Teri's daughter-in-law) demonstrating how to make the traditional lei's used for the hula dancer's costume. These are made from Ti leaves.








Nashira told me that she freezes the leaves to make them more pliable.
















The leaves are cut into trapezoidal sections, which are then worked into the lei.











The cut sections are squeazed in the middle and braided into the growing chain of leaf sections.









It looks pretty complicated to me, but Nashira said it was very easy, but time consuming.












Here's what the braiding looks like.










A detail of the braiding.