February 23, 2010 Tuesday (9am -11am)
Beyond the Vase Blossom in this floral design and flower-arranging class. Lyon Arboretum, 3860 Manoa Rd. $15 + $25 supply fee. Ph. 988-0456. Source: Honolulu Weekly

February 27, 2010 Wednesday (9:30am-12pm)
Lei Making Workshops Brian Choy, repeat winner sweeping most categories annually at the Lei Day Celebration, shows you some of his tricks of the trade in this demonstration workshop. Limited to 40 people. Call 373-2722 or visit honoluluparks.com Aina Hina Park, 827 West Hind Dr. Source: Honolulu Weekly

“More than 50 of Hawaii’s top ikebana practitioners will be creating their best floral arrangements to welcome the spring season at the “Splendors of Ikebana” showcase at Honolulu Hale.”

Exhibit, March 23 - 27, 2009 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m
Demonstrations, March 24 and 26, at 10:00 a.m.
For more information, call 768-6622

More information on Splendors of Ikebana
ikebana-hawaii.org

It’s jade lei season again. Check it out at the store. It is out of this world both in color and shape. Some special occasions deserve something different from the ordinary.

Another good combination is the rose and crown flower lei. Pleasant texture. Gentle color combination. Crown and rose are available year round.

Lei making demonstration this coming weekend

CELEBRATION OF HAWAIIAN LEI MAKING
10 a.m. to 3 p.m., March 20 to 22
Academy Art Center at Linekona
1111 Victoria St.
www.honoluluacademy.org 532-8700
Honolulu Advertiser article

We photograph our flowers arrangement with a few point and shoot digital cameras.  We use mostly natural day light and white background. With white flowers, we use darker background.

Soon we will try some of the tips from Table Top Studio  and learn to use artificial light, use a light box to diffuse light and provide a cluster-free background (unless it is mood driven arrangement where the background is also important; wedding flowers is a good example.) Switch your digital camera from the default average focus mode to spot focus mode.  This will give you more control over what you want to focus.  Use a tripod to steady your shots for sharp images.  Use daylight balanced compact fluorescent bulbs so you don’t have to compensate for off white balance shots.  Use two to three source of soft light to eliminate harsh shadows.  Rotate arrangement for the best angle. Shooting down on the arrangments will show more flowers and less vase, which will usually resulted in more dramatic photos.

It’s not easy to make a round orchid arrangement.  Each orchid blossom has to be wired and taped - creating an artificial stem, so to speak. 

We started off the New Year this morning at KGMB Sunrise to demonstrate the arrangement of Kadomatsu and explain its New Year significant. We get to watch the show from behind the scene and see Grace, Steve, Taizo and Malika at work. We even get to meet and see Fanny Pak perform. It was awesome. Happy New Year, Everyone.

Kadomatsu Brings Good Luck to the New Year
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/12866/108/

Fanny Pak, So Real Cru Perform at the Blaisdell
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/12868/108/

Many Waikiki hotels has lesson on lei making and other cultural activities – free to their guests. Check them out. Fun, fun, fun.

Hyatt Regency Waikiki
Lei Making Demonstration
Learn to make your own traditional Hawaiian lei. Our Hawaii family resort offers a Lei Making Demonstration every Friday from noon to 2:45 p.m. on the second floor of the Ewa Tower in back of the ground floor escalator. Visitors can take part in the demonstration and make their own lei as well.

http://waikiki.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/activities/kids/family.jsp

Outrigger Waikiki
Specialty Lei Making
Every Tuesday, 9:30 am -10:00 am
Outrigger Waikiki Lobby
Weave special lei using a technique called Hilo, using ti leaves

http://www.outriggerwaikikihotel.com/events.cfm

Outrigger Reef on the Beach
Arbor Day Celebration (Kumula’au)
(November 6, 2008)
Celebrate Arbor Day and learn about Native Hawaiian plants, with a special focus on the kukui nut tree. Guests are invited to enjoy kukui lei making and a demonstration of la’au lapa’au. Guests can also pick-up a free plant while supplies last. For more information, please call 808-924-6007.

http://outriggerreef-onthebeach.com/local_events/local_events.cfm

Hilton Hawaiian Village

It’s back. Our Holiday flower arrangement workshop series is back. Come join the fun and make an arrangement for the holiday. Take your creation home to enjoy or give it as gift.

Halloween Flower Arrangement Workshop
Sunday, October 26, 2008
1pm – 2pm
Call to reserve your spot

Last year we have a lots of fun creating an arrangement using a pumpkin as the container. This year we will think of something. Please email us your ideas.

If you’re interested in lei, this is a very good book to start you off with. Lot’s of beautiful photos and great information on traditional lei and the everyday lei. At the end of the book, there is even a brief section on lei making.

The first section of the book inspires us with lei from the May Day Lei Competition 2001. Each lei maker explain their relationship and love with lei. I especially love the beautiful rose lei created by Randy Akau – mixing roes, ferns, bougainvillea, and hinahina, who would thought of that. Well, Randy did.

Next section display lei of old Hawaii. Some of these traditional lei such as the maile, ti, royal ilima and white ginger are still readily available today. But lei of lehua, kaunaoa, and mokihana lei are rare and reserved for the special occassions like the Aloha Parade or May Day.

In the 19th century, immigrant workers bring with them flowering plants from their home countries on their journey over to Hawaii. These new flowers were slowly adapted into use for lei making. Missionaries bought with them the American roses. Chinese bought with them the Pakalana (Chinese violet), and jasmine (Princess Kaiulani name it pikake after her peacocks) and the Portuguese bought us the plumeria. Pua kenikeni, ohai, crown flower, pikake, pakalana, plumeria, bozu are still easily found sold at lei shops. Bougainvillea, Maunaloa, stephnotis and hibiscus are rarer.
Modern era lei comprise of the cigar, firecracker, jade vine flower. But nothing like the dendrobium orchid, imported mostly from Thailand has dominated the commercial market in lei flower. It has replaced the plumeria as the airport greeting lei. More sturdy and comes in green, white and purple. The way to string them are many. Among the many, “Christina” orchid lei is credited to Beth Garguilo.

At the end of the book are instruction on lai making. You can give it a try with a stephanotis, ti or ilima lei. Don’t be afraid to substitute flowers that are available to you from your garden or local flower shop. Try it. Enjoy and have fun.

Each month from our reference library, we will pick a book that we just love and we will let you know about it.

I saw this lei on this lady’s hat and I asked her what it is.  It’s a rosette lei made from aging ti leaves.   Wow.  what a concept?

[Eye for beauty - Star Bulletin] 

There are Hawaiian craft workshops at the Bishop Museum, now thru June.  There are feather, ti-leave rosette lei, weapon, fishhook etc.  Demonstration are Saturdays and Sundays 11:30-2pm. Call 808-847-3511 or visit their website for more detail.