2010 - The beginning of my end My journey in truth began in 2010 when my mother started studying raranga at Te Wananga o Aotearoa. I moved up to Hastings from Wellington (why wouldn't you) to escape the rat race and the weather and to improve myself. During this time I started attending mums classes with her as the classes unofficial "Kehua" and picked up the basics of weaving, kono and konae as well as preparing Harakeke into suitable 'whenu' for weaving. Unfortunately this prepared me perfectly to be mum's prep slave for the summer and so I found myself spending countless hours harvesting harakeke, stripping the take, spines and margins from the rau; sizing the rau into whenu as well as boiling and dyeing for mum's class next year. Most of what we harvested over those months were wrapped and put in the freezer for mum to use next year so she wouldn't be harvesting and prepping through the winter months. It was during this time that I found a great love and slow buring passion for the art of weaving, the smell of the flax and the interesting and intricate processes involved in weaving. | 2011 - The end of the beginning 2011 proved to be an interesting time for me as I started offically as a Tauira at Te Wananga o Aotearoa studying Toi Paematua (Maori Visual Arts) specializing in Raranga and following in my mothers foot prints from the year before. I admit now that even though I had spent some time the year previously floating around last years level 4 students I was unprepared for the amount of time that I would need to dedicate to my chosen course of study. The work load came thick and fast and so did the tutorials, research assignments, harvesting trips (with mum), and requests for completed mahi. We also had a record number of new tauira from all walks of life joining us this year and so I spent a large part of my class time assisting those who hadn't been fortunate (or not) as I had been. Since March we have grown by leaps and bounds and as part of my study I have decided to create a website as a digital resource both for myself and for any others who may find my ramblings helpful in their own journey...
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