DALANI TANAHY

K A   H A N A   K A P A

I had wanted to learn kapa making for a long time.  I saw Herb Kane 's painting of Pua Van Dorpe and figured, she must be the one who knows about this but had no idea how to contact her so I just let it simmer.  In about 1995 I went to one of Kawai Aona-Ueoka 's kapa tool-making classes.  I made my first hohoa and i'e kuku .  I also got my first wauke babies from her which I planted in my yard.  Later that year I attended a kapa introduction workshop by Alyce Ikeoka at the Ka'ala Learning Center and was introduced to some really..... fragrant..... mo'omo'o .   In 1996 my plants had matured, and while doing the restoration work at Kane'aki Heiau in Makaha Valley, I was able to process my trees and soak them in the raging river that passed by the heiau.  I remembered I suffered much with this kapa, having no real clue what I was doing.  I went back and read Bingham , and Kamakau , and Kooijima n one more time, called Maile Andrade for some over-the-phone kapa solutions and could swear I heard the laughter of na kupuna ...laughing WITH me of course..not at me...sure sure.  In the end I called a truce and was able to make a pretty good piece of kapa, dyed it orange with achiote and gave it to one of my very good friends, Landis Ornellas .