Hokulea
Posted on January 31, 2008
Its a long time I have not done a 12 inch scale model of the Hokulea and I feel a bit anxious to get on with it. But like always when dealing with a new model or one that I have not done for a while, I need to dig out plans or have new ones made, dig out templates, scale down sizes, check the lines, select the woods I will be using etc, basically spend an entire day getting stuff together and than finally, the following day, a small model of the Hokulea is in the making starting with 2 small pieces of Koa.
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The last stand.
Posted on January 30, 2008
The Kiawe tree.
Kiawe trees are descended from a single tree planted in 1828 at a corner of a church in Honolulu. By 1840, thanks to the seeds collected from that first tree, progeny of the tree had become the principal shade trees of Honolulu and were already spreading to dry, leeward plains of all islands.
In Hawaii, Kiawe is most common on leeward costal areas but it some locations, however, it can be found at 900 feet elevation.
Kiawe, for most Hawaiian, is synonymous with barbecue chicken, ono grilled food, as it is mostly used as fuel.
Its wood is dark braun , extremely dense, with a beautiful polish.
If there are many Kiawe trees along the leeward side of Oahu, there is only one, to my knowledge, along Kamehameha highway all the way from Haleiwa down to Pear Harbor, and it’s a 20 foot high tree located near the bridge crossing Waikalaloa stream near Waikalani Drive.
I can’t explain why, but I feel much attached to that tree and would hate it if ever somebody would cut it. Somehow that tree symbolizes the urbanization of central Oahu and he stays there like the last stand before the backhoe and front end loaders move in.
Move in they did, but not to build houses, rather to build berms along that stretch of the road. And like a bird that shall not fly away, they cut the nicest branches of that sole kiawe tree for it not to hang over the highway.
Some other rather interesting trees grow around that area, namely some Pomelo trees bearing extremely beautifully shaped and colorful fruits as well as many coffee trees.
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La vie d’artiste
Posted on January 16, 2008
Every Frenchman would immediately visualize a multitude of pictures associated with those 3 words; la vie d’artiste.
Lets see; Monet in his black robe…the sunflower painting by Van Gogh…lavender fields..the game of the petanque…Absinthe…les cafes de Paris..Place Montmartre…Quartier Latin…Pigalle …Honfleur..Deauville…Gauguin..Tahiti and many others.
But what it really means is the artist’s life, whether poets, painter, musicians, actors etc and his lust for love, life and art. It also illustrates
somebody who is in charge of his life, free to go play golf or hike up Haleakala when ever it pleases him, free to be able to lay down his pencil or tool and “talk story” when been visited, free to work or have a lazy day, c’est ca la vie d’artiste.
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SENNIT/Cordage
Posted on January 4, 2008
Oceanic people fabricated very strong and durable cordage with the fiber of coconut husk, also called the coir. Strands of coir were removed from coconut husks than soaked, beaten, sorted out and separated into strands of different lengths or characteristics. Then, to obtain strands of a desired thickness, several fibers were rolled together either by hand or by rubbing it against the tight or against the palm of the foot, adding additional fibers in the process. Once enough strands in hand they were then braided, always by hand of course, into cords of desired length and strength. Sennit is still produced in relative quantity in some Austral Islands , to be used for the fabrication of local crafts and also to lash or rig real size or model canoes.
The leaf base of the coconut palm is made up of very fine and long fibers and those were used for the fabrication of baskets and even clothes. A very fine example of such a palm leaf base is illustrated hereby. I found it lying on the street and wondered how many local people and visitors to these islands know what the ancient Polynesians were capable of doing with those beautiful strands of fibers. The color of those dried fibers is a beautiful red brick color.
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