The Story of a Wahakura for Te Kainganui

As a leaving gift for the early childhood center our mokopuna attends I made a dolls wahakura. I took photos of the process and made them into a story to go with it.

John’s father bought a batch in Hatepe more than 50 years ago. His parents and his grandmother had many happy memories of times spent there. After his father died we bought the batch and took over the lease.  Our children are very pleased that we did and now their children are the 5th generation to enjoy holidays in this very special place.
The beautiful harakeke I used for this project was harvested, with their blessing, from a neighbours garden in Hatepe.

        
The next step was to hapine, to make the whenu soft enough for weaving.

     
The frayed ends of the whenu were plaited together.
The whiri have fourteen whenu on each side

           

       
Four whiri woven together form the base of the wahakura.

        
These photos show the sides of the wahakura being formed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
After weaving part of the way up the sides, each whenu was split in half.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weaving continued to make the sides higher.

Once the weaving was finished the top was rolled to make it stronger.