MAHI RARANGA, FULL-DAY FOR BEGINNERS

with ANNIE JANE AH MU

Saturday 25 March - 9:30am to 4:00pm (6.5 hours)

Join celebrated weaving tutor Annie Jane Ah Mu at Kelmarna Gardens to learn techniques of traditional mahi raranga, the Māori art of weaving with harakeke NZ flax. This full-day course for beginners is an introduction to weaving that will guide you through the history, customs, and best horticulture practices around harvesting, preparing, and working with harakeke.

With little experience required, this workshop is a crash-course opportunity that is accessible to anyone keen to come away with skills of the trade, an understanding of the culture and tikanga, and a host of craft creations to take home and share! An excellent follow-up to the Raranga for Beginners, Weaving with Harakeke session available at Kelmarna, this expanded workshop will give you knowledge and experience to engage even more fully with the mahi!

What to expect:

Harvesting - The session will begin with a visit to our pā harakeke, or harakeke grove, to cover the fundamentals of tikanga, or the customs and protocols surrounding the time-honoured process of mahi raranga with harakeke. You will learn to harvest and treat the rau harakeke, or NZ flax leaves, that you will use for your weaving projects.

Preparation - With your rau harakeke, Whaea Annie will guide you through different methods of preparing the leaves for weaving. You will boil and dry the leaves and discover the benefits of preserving your strips. You will also discuss techniques for processing the strips, making them more pliable, and working between the fleshy parts and the stringy fibres/muka of the leaves.

The time taken to learn and practise these preparation techniques is what makes this session last the full day. Rather than simply having leaves ready for you to work with, Whaea Annie will take you step-by-step through the preparation processes, so you don't need much experience to take part and you'll end up with firsthand knowledge and experience of how to do each step of the process yourself!

Lunch Break - The amount of learning, technique, and time required for each component of the craft (i.e. harvesting, preparing, and weaving) means that this session is nearly a full day (6.5 hours). So there will be opportunities to pause, as well as a break for lunch. Food is BYO, so don't forget to pack a tasty lunch and/or snack that you can enjoy in the gardens between mahi!

Weaving - Once your materials are prepared, Whaea Annie will lead you in the skills to craft your leaves into beautiful designs. You will begin by weaving a putiputi/flower to help get a feel for the leaves and how to bend and intertwine them. Then you will move on to craft an ika/fish that you can hang from a leaf spine like a fresh catch on a fishing rod. This pattern helps lay the foundation that you will use as the basis of the more intricate kapohau/windmill and the whetu/star designs.

Throughout the session, all of the parakoka/unused off-cuts will be collected and fashioned into a puapua/wreath to honour the plant and create beauty from every bit!

Tickets include: Guided instruction, rau harakeke (leaves for weaving), materials for boiling/drying, and 5 craft designs:

He putiputi - flower
He ika - fish
He kapohau - windmill
He whetu - star
He puapua - wreath

What to bring:

Essential:

craft knife (fixed, not retractable; for harvesting rau harakeke)
scissors (for working the rau harakeke)
a refillable water bottle (to stay hydrated)
a lunch and/or snacks (to make it through the 6.5hr session!)
weather appropriate gear (to keep comfortable)

Recommended:

an old bath towel (to greatly improve your work station)
a notebook and pen (to take notes, if you like)
a face covering or mask (if you prefer to wear one)

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Annie Jane Ah Mu is a weaver in the Māori tradition, working with natural fibres like harakeke (New Zealand flax) and with techniques of raranga and whatu weaving. From Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Annie Jane has a degree from Te Wānanga o Aotearoa and has been working in the community for more than 10 years to teach the art, craft, and culture of weaving.

Whaea Annie works with Auckland Council to provide sessions in Raranga Harakeke at community organisations like Nathan Homestead, Onehunga Community House, and Māngere Arts Centre. She also works with the ACE program (Adult Community Education) to provide classes at Aorere College and Onehunga High School.

Annie Jane’s passion for weaving is grounded in the harakeke plant, the connection with nature, and therapy for people through the craft. She believes that weaving is not only an important path for learning about Māori art, but an important practice in reviving skills and tikanga/customs from the past to help support people and our community in the present.

In this workshop, Whaea Annie is looking forward to sharing with you how to start from the plant and return to the plant, to learn new skills, connect with tikanga/customs, and experience for yourself the therapy of the craft.

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At Kelmarna, we strive to make education accessible for everyone. So, where possible, we offer a 35% discount on our workshops to valid Community Services Card holders. If you book one of these tickets, please email us a copy of your valid Community Services Card, and remember to bring it along to the workshop. Please note that this option does not include Super Gold Card holders. Ngā mihi.