The Lauhala Experiment Pt. 5

The last few leaves, and some steps of processing!
<-Here I am, straightening leaves on the edge of my table. I start at the base and pull while holding the leaf down with a damp cloth, till I get the tip.... then turn over and do the other side. And then do that a couple more times till the midrib softens. Below is before and after the first pass.

I will still have to strip out the midrib before I strip the leaves prior to weaving. Below-left is a bamboo stripper hand-made by my kumu's father. Below-right is the one leaf I stripped. Great care has to be taken to remove as little leaf as possible because the best part of the leaf is next to the midrib. The thickness of the leaf decreases as you get near the edge, so the edges are usually discarded.


Below are pics so you can see that the "right" side is the shiny upper side of the leaf, and the "wrong" side is the dull underside.


And the final product.... I arranged them by width. And now, what shall we make?


The clothespins are so they don't unravel. I removed them before they left an imprint on the leaf. They are waiting in a brown paper bag in the garage.

Aloha!
~Su

The Lauhala Experiment Pt. 4 - Hoike!

We went to the Prince Kuhio Day Parade in Waikiki, and Ho`ike`ike at Kapi`olani Park. The kids love parades, and I went to visit my Lauhala group in the cultural craft booth.

<- the Weavers!

We came away with a fish - my second ever project! My first ever lauhala craft was a bracelet long ago at a Summer Fun Program. Have to dig that up to post!



Aloha,
~Su

The Lauhala Experiment Pt. 3

I had sick kids at home, and I had to go to work, so the lau (leaves) had to wait.

The next day, first thing after coffee, I was out in the garage. The water in the bucket went from crystal clear to darker than my cuppa joe. It's very tiring on your hands, especially your thumb. You run the wet cloth down the length, wiping with your thumb in the middle groove. Wipe, rinse. Wipe, rinse. This cleans the leaf and softens it for rolling at the same time.
<- note water before. See last pic for water after.

Kumu said they were relatively clean, considering. I had a handful that just had to go straight to the water house, there were so many ants and junk! It took several hours just the first day. I did ten leaves. Ten. See how tiny my roll is?


Here is the bundle before starting, on day 1 on the left, and before starting on day 2 on the right. Not a dent, baby, not a dent. *sigh*

It took a little more than 4 days of several hours each to finish. I am slow. And I have 2 kids running around. Even after I threw out about a dozen leaves that were too old and brittle to withstand the cleaning, flattening and rolling. I didn't have anything suitable to flatten, so I ran it over the edge of my table.

Here is end of day 2:


One more day.

Aloha,
~Su

The Lauhala Experiment Pt. 2

I can never say no. So when they said, "wanna come pick?" I said sure, before I even knew when or where. Of course it had to be 7am on a weekday, out in Kapolei (45 minutes away). That's not so bad, you say? I is when I normally wake up at 8 or 9, and everything is no more than 15 minutes away, if that.

So we met at Starbucks in Kapolei, and the 5 of us carpooled over to a grove of hala trees to "clean the tree" and gather leaves.

After only a couple of hours of hot sweaty dirty work, we cleaned up our mess and loaded up the truck to take it to the kumu's house (kumu = teacher). I thought we were done, but I got invited to the house to learn how to clean, flatten and roll the leaves. Oh boy, it's 9am and I work at 2... Sure! So we go back to Starbucks to get my car and drive to Wahiawa. It's only at the end of the freeway, only 20 minutes away. Which makes it more than an hour from home. Hm.

Kumu has a great place, with a large driveway for working on cleaning leaves. We had cut the ends off at the grove, so all's we need is to clean, de-bone (or not, your choice. Definitely yes if we were working with the thorned variety - thorns on the spine and both edges of the leaf.) and roll the leaves to sit and wait for the next step. We use a home-made bamboo tool to strip/de-bone, made by kumu's father. After a few leaves, kumu gives a tour of her yard and her hala trees, then I bow out gracefully. She hands me a bundle of leaves to take home - she tells me "practice cleaning... so look like you did something today".

And the pics:
The thorned variety... Aunty says they are stronger to weave with.

The beginner's tree. Thornless. Three of us cleaned it. Still took forever. Next time will be easier. Kumu says, go every 3 weeks, not every 3 months, it stays clean and you don't have to work so hard.

Our mess. We pick up fallen leaves, and pull the brown leaves from the tree. Eeew... dirt, bugs, gecko eggs, ants, roaches. Thankfully no centipedes today. I can't stand centipedes.

One bundle. This one has more than just string around because it has razor sharp THORNS!

Aunty's truck, loaded up. See the orange construction barrier? best thing for wrapping leaves in!

Sorry no pics from kumu's house - my phone died. Along with my built in camera and GPS. *sigh* I need a charger for the Wrangler! I finally left around 11:30 and was home in just over an hour.

Aloha!
~Su

The Lauhala Experiment Pt. 1

For Anthropology class, I had to observe a group, then write a paper. I chose a group of Lauhala weavers (plaiting if you prefer) and got to experience some lauhala culture first hand.

Day 1: My first visit, and works in progress.
the workspace.

a round mat in progress. These strands are so tiny in width!

A roll of prepared leaves, and some straightened leaves, ready to cut into strips. See the metal blade on the right? It is very thick and very heavy, great for flattening leaves, same way you curl ribbon, but think of it as getting the curl out.

Aloha!
Su