This little LIGHT of mine, I'm going to let it SHINE

This little LIGHT of mine, I'm going to let it SHINE

On April 28, me Kawena HIkari and my band Hi'ilawe Aloha (Kishimoto Kyouichi & Shige Ikari) will be at YOKOHAMA BAY QUARTER for an event sponsored by Hula Hawaii.  See the EVENT tab above to learn more about other events that I will be at  this month and next.

Having the Yokohama event lined up,  I thought that it would really be nice for the  HA Band to have matching aloha influenced shirts.  So, I headed out to our local Uniqlo, which is equivalent to GAP or Target back at home.  I found the cheapest dress shirt that my money could buy which was ￥990. Then started to let the magic flow.

Before I begin, I want to tell you that I actually wanted to do much more to this shirt but because I am under a lot of time restraints, I didn't.   Sorry to disappoint you all but the "flowing magic" I mentioned above wasn't flowing so much.   

Since I have a lot of fabric from my favorite designer NAKEU.  I wanted to use that fabric to embellish the shirts I had bought.  Oh by the way, please when you go to Hawaii visit his store in Kalihi.  His aloha shirts and dresses are dazzling and very chic. Check out the link I provided.

Step 1. Cut the fabric pieces.  What I had envisioned was to do a little  embellishment on the pocket area of this shirt.  Note: I didn't measure the fabric. I only matched it up against the shirt and then cut the pieces roughly.

Step 2. Use a seam ripper and open the pocket area a little.  For my project removing the entire pocket wasn't necessary.

Step 3. Simply fold the fabric piece into a rectangle shape.  I just wanted to make a strip of fabric cover the upper part of the pocket.  After you folded the fabric to size pin it onto the shirt.  Another idea that I could have done was actually make a new pocket.  To do do, you could remove the old pocket and then use this pocket as a pattern to create a new one.                 

Step 4.  Sew the fabric piece onto the shirt.  After this is done,  reattach the upper parts of the pocket by sewing it onto the shirt.

DEKIMASHITA.  This is the final product.  Keep in mind if I had more time, I would have liked to experiment by making a new collar.  Or,  I would have like to add pieces of fabric to the bottom sides of the shirt.    The total time to complete this project was 20 minutes.  

If you have some time, please come to Yokohama Bay Quarter.  Tell me what you think of my band Hi'ilawe Aloha and their new shirts.  I think they will look COOL!  God bless!  Aloha  HIkari

毎日 FUN under 日本 SUN

Kazukiko, you made a very nice ipu heke,
Omedetou!

The past few days have been long and tiresome.  Besides having my classes,  I always try to make time for my craft work.  Recently, as many of you have already seen, I have been making ipu heke here since an acquaintance of mine from another halau asked me to teach him.  Of course my answer was, 'yes.'  Kazuhiko san, who lives in Nagoya, left early and arrived at my home 10 AM here in Shonan.  

E Malama, take care!

I am always very happy to share ike, knowledge with others.  I love when people come here because I enjoy the company. Most times, I work alone.  

When learning to make ipu heke or any other craft,  the student must be makaala, aware or alert.  I love this word.  The student should do more listening and watching rather than talking.  Nana ka maka, ho'olohe ka pepeiao and pa'a ka waha.  This is always the teacher's expectation of their haumana.     I love Japanese learners because they do this well;  they are detail orientated and they are always very respectful.  

  

After craft making, lets have some
fun time at local restaurant.
CAUTION! Too much fun not
good for your health.

Many kawaii ipu heke!

One thing I want to share with you is my idea of spirituality and mana as it relates to my craft work.  I believe my ideas has been shaped by my hula and craft teachers.  One of my teachers Loea Hewett, says that mana can be increased through the good we do.  I remembered his word very strongly and have thought about it so many times since he first uttered them to me.  Having this ike,  I always think about the good things I can produce with my hands.   'Hand work' Hewett shared with me,  'reflects what is in our heart.'   It is always a nice thing to remember ike and its source.  I believe remembering the source of ike makes us more spiritual since it is the connection to our teachers and kupuna.  As for mana, power  there is both positive and negative.  I believe my teachers have instilled in me a kind and gentle mana.  It is with this essence, I do my work.  The things that I do and my focus is never about competition nor do I want my deeds hurting others.  I love the fact that my abilities can encourage others and to help lift them up.   I truly feel this is a good philosophy.   To always have great meaning and purpose for the things we do.  This is my very important goal.  

God bless you all always,

HIkari

Same Ice Cream truck.  I think there is definitely
NO ice cream in this truck.

Looking like we have a lot of time.
After this brief time of having fun, we headed to Tokyo. 

Today: Ipo & I scream for ICECREAM

It just so happened that when we took this photo it was next to this Icecream truck. By the way,  I think there is no ice-cream in there. It's just a facade.  We had just finished our lesson  which is very near to our home.  Our student is doing great!  Ganbatte...ke ha'a la'a i ke kai....



Today, up until this moment, it has been a nice day.  Earlier in the morning,  I had a lei making lesson with one of my students.  Correction,  two of my students if you count my niece Emmalei.  Emmalei loves lei making.  Sometimes, she says, ʻI am Kawenaʻs student.ʻ And, 'I can teach, too.'  And my response is ʻmada mada.ʻ  Not yet!  She is one energetic kamaliʻi that loves lei making.  She will someday take over my work with hulalei.

After our lei class,  I cooked us lunch.  Check out this fish.  I don't even know what the name is.  But when I saw it in the fish store, I wanted it.  Oishikatta!  Onolicious.   Japan is excellent.  すごい　です。Japan has so many oishi things like meat, fish, eggs, chicken, vegetables.  Cooking is fun and always such a pleasure. For my ohana back at home, this is a fish oven.  We don't have this back at home. Its quite convenient to やく　 or broil fish with one of these.  One doesn't need to heat up the barbecue.

Kore kara, from now, I have another lesson with my keiki in Shonan.  Seeing them and teaching them is always great.  I learn something new from them all the time.  They are a machine that keeps on running. They should be known as my Green Class. Green meaning eco.   For example, this  class needs no gas (Kawena Kumu)  input, they just work, function, operate like a well oiled machine.