Leis

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Connie

Connie

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May 10, 2004
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We have a customer requesting a lei, type of flowers designer's choice. She wants two leis. We've never made one and have little idea of the mechanics involved. Any suggestions from anyone? I know that someone on the board sells leis for homecomings or a similar event, but I seem to remember that he buys ready made ones. Also, what price do you charge for them? Any help on this topic is appreciated, and we need info ASAP.:tread:
 
Hi Connie, we've done them for graduations. We use a heavy plastic coated wire but you could use a heavy fish line. Take an ice pick, run it down thru the throat of the dendrob. Continue stringing them the same way, face to butt all the way up the line. The line should be no less than 36" and could go to 45". You could use beads, bows, thru out, etc... if you like that look. We buy Flowerbuyer orchids for this, 10 stems will give you 1 lei easily. We sell them for $25, takes about 10 min each to do. Hope that helps.
 
For the string, we like Dental Tape (like floss but thicker). The best tool we've found are genuine lei needles and we order ours from Hawaii. They're long - 10" or so - and very sturdy. In a pinch, you can just bend a 4-5" long piece of 24 guage wire into a tight, asymmetric hairpin and loop the dental tape in a fashion similar to needle and thread. Make sure the bend is pinched tighly so you don't make large holes in the orchids.

Here are a couple of online lei 'how-to's':
http://www.alohafriendsluau.com/game9.html
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/crafthold/lost.html

Jerry, the ice pick thing is giving me visions of Basic Instinct. :>
 
That is the easiest sounding way I have heard of to make a lei. I have made them before and totally gone crazy . I never made any money on them by the time I hade broken soo many flowers. Great advise!
 
We use the wire hair pin and dental floss. The few we've made have been with carnations... the customer thought they would be sturdier and it seemed to work, looked a bit different, but it was what they wanted.
Iggy
 
FTR, we usually buy them ready-made. Sometimes the finished price is less than the parts to make them, especailly when you factor in labor.

Leis are big for graduation here so most wholesalers or orchid brokers offer them at good prices for bulk purchases - usually dendrobs in singles and doubles in a variety of colors.

Most come from Thailand. I had to laugh when we received a lei greeting at hotel check-in in Maui and were given Thai Bombay dendrobs.
 
Thanks to all of you for the very helpful information. You've given me a lot of confidence about something that was pretty intimidating!
 
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