She might be better off putting it in her suitcase. I have bought 'doll needles' at Joanne's that work fine for leis too. They are 5" long.

We are actually stopping by at Joann today I'm thinking Lei now.

Got the "decorator's needle" 3 different sizes. Now, what is the best time to pick the blooms and do Insoak it in water or chill it in the fridge? How long will the lei last?

I pick my blooms generally in the morning. No need to soak but I do keep them either in a plastic bag (with plenty of air) in the fridge or in a small mini cooler with an ice pack on the bottom (a towel or some bubble wrap in between so the blooms don't actually touch the ice pack). Once the lei is made - if it's not to be worn right away - I mist it with a spray bottle, then store again in the ziploc bag in the fridge, in the little cooler, or - and I learned this from a fellow plumerian in California - in one of those clamshell containers that lettuce, etc. comes in.
How long your lei will last depends on many things: the quality of the blooms, the variety of the blooms, the temperature, etc etc.
Generally if it's worn for - say - an evening, and then misted again and placed in the fridge afterwards, a lei can last 2-3 days.

Wow for the info Hetty! I will try to make my first plumeria lei tomorrow. I am glad that it is possible for me to make it a day in advance. One of these days, I also want to surprise a co worker of mine who loves this Hawaian lei.

Another Ti lei, made this morning. I need to trim it a bit.

That's nice Hetty and here is mine. These are a divine and Mini white blooms.

Beautiful leis, everyone.

Excellent job, Gigi!!!

Ken! Maybe you can send some rain our way.

Hetty! ...now I'm hoping to be able to bring smiles to my friends' faces this hot summertime.

Gigi, with the weather, it always seems to be too much or too little.

Ken you are right, besides a dry side is good for my plumeria blooms.


Here is my second lei, this is going to a special girl. I made a pendant (double) of my no ID pink that the bloom does not open all the way. For added fragrance, I put 2 blooms of Singapore White before the pendant and for additional beauty Puu Kahea bloom.

Great job! Beautiful lei for a lucky girl.

I keep practicing my Ti leaf leis; here is yesterday's, incorporating Ixora blooms. Mostly I want to see how long they last.

I also realized I have to tuck the stems in better after looking at the picture

They look great to me. I'm just starting and you are going PRO already

I'm just glad that I have enough blooms to make the lei that I like so much :).

Gigi, those Ti leaf leis are really easy. Once I got the hang of it I could do them in my sleep.

You make it look easy but am not good in braiding anything.

These are so joyous!!!

Thank you Robert. Where have you been???
The lei I made the other day is still nice but the Ixora blooms only lasted one day. I'm trying to find flowers other than Plumeria that I can use in my Leis. Anyone have suggestions? (Other than Orchids).

Robert I've been asking Stuart where you've been too! You got to post those plumeria leis you guys made a couple days ago here. They were stunning!

If the pictures were not watermarked I'm pretty those would have made it to Explore! But then again you run the risk that someone will use your photos unauthorized.