With deft fingers, Auntie Amelia Ka'opua Bailey quickly braids together flowers with sprigs of liko and mock orange leaves, in what is the beginning of a lovely haku lei.

Soon, a pattern begins to form, and the haku lei takes shape.

“;It's just natural,”; said Bailey. “;When you make a haku lei, you develop a rhythm. The more lei you make, the better you get.”;

Bailey, 87, has been making haku lei (floral head lei) for the Punahou Carnival since it began in 1972, and teaching others how to make them for almost a lifetime through workshops and classes. When her children were students, she volunteered at Punahou in many capacities, eventually becoming the school's costume coordinator, a post she held for nearly 20 years.

She will be on hand at the carnival's Haku Lei booth this weekend, with lei of all kinds and a gracious smile. Many of the lei will feature native flowers and plants.

Many grow in Bailey's yard in Manoa, where she lives in a historical 1950s home. Her workshop is in the garage.

Besides rows of palapalai (native ferns) out front, Bailey has red, yellow and yellow-orange lehua trees, baby ti leaf plants, and accent flowers of all colors in her yard.

She has five children (all of them Punahou alumni, with one, Cliff Bailey, deceased), and eight grandchildren, six of them granddaughters.

“;Every one of them, I have taught how to make haku lei,”; she said. “;Some are good, some are still learning.”;

Her children were only 5 and 6 years old when she'd set out a basket and the materials to show them how to wili (twist) the flowers and greens with braided raffia.

Her granddaughter, Meleana Blaich, recently made her a haku lei from liko she gathered on the Big Island in hues of greens, purples and reds. Bailey wore it proudly for the Star-Bulletin interview.

“;As a tutu, I feel, because I've learned the craft of lei-making, I want my grandchildren to learn it,”; she said. “;When I'm gone, I want them to say, my tutu taught me.”;

THE ART OF making lei has been a passion of Bailey's—who graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1941 and from Queen's Hospital School of Nursing in 1945—ever since she was tapped to be a judge for Honolulu County's May Day festival decades ago.

There were lei from all of the different islands, featuring native plants from each region, each unique in its own way. She was struck by their beauty and diversity, and so inspired that she sought out lei-makers to learn the art.

The pursuit took her on a journey from the mountains to the sea, where lei-making materials are gathered. Among her mentors during the Hawaiian renaissance of the 1970s were Marie McDonald, Barbara Meheula, Irmalee Pomroy and Marcie Freitas.

Since then, the master lei-maker has been teaching others how to make lei at Punahou School workshops, elementary schools, and for the Garden Club of Honolulu at Lyon Arboretum.

She has had hundreds of haku lei students of all ages.

“;I always say, today is going to be the first day of your new life,”; Bailey says she tells new students. “;It is going to make you aware of the many beautiful things that grow in and around your neighborhood.”;