How to Make a Carnation Flower Lei

Video Transcript

"Aloha, my name is Nalani, and we're here at the Mai Kai Restaurant, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In this clip, we're going to show you how to make a carnation lei. There are many different kinds of leis. There are penny leis, and candy leis, but in this case, we're going to teach you how to make a carnation lei. Carnation leis are exactly what it sounds like. It's made of carnations, instead of other different kinds of flowers. The supplies you will need, are the string, a scissors to cut your string with, and a needle to sew through your flowers, so let's begin making our carnation lei. First, we take your needle that's already strung, take your carnation, and you break off the hard part of the stem. You're going to go right through that hard part, and come up the middle of the flower. String the flower all the way to the end of your string, and take your next flower. It can be any color. You can alternate or you can use the same color. Pull off the end again, go through the top of the flower. When you reach the first flower, you want to push this green part into the flower, as far as you can go, so that you don't see too much of the green. Take your next flower, break off the stem again, go through there, and up the middle, and press it in again. As you notice, I'm using a darker color, then a lighter color, then a darker color again, and that will make for a very good visual. After we've strung all the flowers unto the string, we're going to finish it off, and what you do is, you tie your string tight, and you push the first flower into the last flower that you strung, and then you're going to double the knot, to make sure it's secure. Get your scissors and cut off the string, and when you're done, you have this beautiful carnation lei. This is Nalani, from the Mai Kai Restaurant, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Thank you for watching."