NA LEI

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The Lei Making Methods

WILI, the winding method.

Materials were cut with stems one to three inches long.  The stems were tied to a center cord of ferns, dried banana stalk skin, hau bast or ti leaves or were tied together without the center cord with a string of hau or banana.  The tying consisted of winding the string around the center cord and stems two or more times.  The wili method of construction may consist of simply twisting two or more strands of material together as in the lei kauna'oa and sometimes the lei maile.  Knotting was not necessary until the lei was completed.  In addition to all the materials that were used in the haku method, flowers leaves and fruits with somewhat shorter and more brittle stems were also suitable for this technique.

Reference:  Ka Lei, The Leis of Hawaii by Marie A. McDonald