WAIMEA — Susan Griley couldn’t help but laugh Tuesday night as she tried to speak while holding raffia between her teeth, braiding the palm strands as the first step making wili style lei po’o: Hawaiian head lei.
“Everyone does it a little bit different but I like to braid it out to about a shaka length, or in Hawaiian we call it pi’a,” Jade Perreira said, a 25-year-old lei weaving artist born and raised in Waimea who led the workshop at Red Water Café.
On a long table, colorful orchids, ginger, heleconias, anthuriums, roses, carnations, alstroemerias and poppies were displayed, along with apu’u, kupukupu and laua’e fern, Song of India and green and red ti leaves.
Fifteen ladies from their 20s to 60s carefully selected ideal colors and textures to create their own unique head lei. Back at their work stations, they contemplated which flower to use first.
“You can choose whatever you want to start. Some people start with flowers, some with foliage. It’s all about preference,” Perreira told the group.
Lei po’o, or floral crowns, are most often worn by hula dancers and alii. Time and patience are required to conscientiously weave 20 to 45 flowers and leaves into each individual lei.
“I love teaching how to make lei more than I like making lei,” Perreira said, who started her company, Uakoko Lei Po’o, last October. “Watching everyone figure it out and see them smile over it is great.”
She sells her po’o lei in pop-up shops at Merrie Monarch Festival, Hilo school graduations and on her website.
“Learning the different weaving styles throughout my lifetime and now being able to share my craft truly fills my soul,” Perreira states on her website. “I teach lei weaving workshops on the Big Island for those who are eager to create and hold power in their art.”
Lei po’o have grown in popularity over the last few years.
“I’ve never worn a lei po’o before and wanted to feel like a queen,” Sara Linton said. “I know Jade from years ago and am so proud of her and wanted to support her.”
Kristi Weiser worked diligently to tightly weave each flower into her crown.
“After 26 years teaching fifth grade, this is the way I unwind — by winding flowers,” she said.
Word spread fast about the workshop after Perreira posted the event on Facebook several weeks ago.
“The class came across on my news feed and I really wanted to learn how to make this kind of lei,” Nancy Jones said. “I thought, what a great way to meet other people and learn how to make beautiful lei. She’s a master lei maker so I felt really honored and happy to get to come.”
Perreira, who doesn’t consider herself a master lei maker quite yet, responded, “There’s always room for improvement. I’m so young and still look up to many weavers myself.”
She first learned how to weave when she was a junior in high school.
“Being a foster youth, I never got to participate in many extracurricular activities besides high school sports,” Perreira said. “I first learned to make wili style lei po’o when Kaniho ohana would pick me up from my foster home. I credit my uncle, Keke Kaniho, for teaching me the fundamentals. When I became an adult I found out that both of my great grandmothers were weavers.”
In addition to learning a new craft, women found the workshop an ideal way to spend quality time with family and friends.
“I heard about the class on social media and thought, oh this is perfect,” Maia Wasowski said, who attended the class with her mother. “It’s fun and creative. I did wreath making in December and this is the next step.”
As the ladies completed their final weaving that evening, Perreira helped them tie the braids together and place the floral crowns on their heads.
“They walk away with their creation and say, look what I learned,” she said. “I’m like, I taught them that. It’s so cool.”
Perreira is planning a second lei po’o workshop at Merriman’s in Waimea on June 13, and private workshops can also be arranged.
Info or to sign up: Call 557-4959, email uakokoleipoo@gmail.com or go to www.uakokoleipoo.com