Wednesday 4 March 2009

Greenstone Carving in Hokitika



When Ric suggested we go and make our own Maori style bone or jade pendants (you know the ones travelers seem to love) in Hokitika I admit I wasn't particularly enthusiastic:
a - because it would take all day
b - because it might be rubbish and/or tedious, and
c - because I didn't think I'd make something I could/would actually wear because they're too naff.

He was eager to do some thing besides walking though so off we went to Bonz 'n' Stonz, a carving studio in the centre of Hokitika which is run by a lovely warm fellow called Steve (originally from the Solomon Islands) who has been in the business for 18 years. My doubts soon melted away once we got to work designing our own Taongas (Māori for treasured items), picking out a raw piece of Greenstone (NZ Jade) and then cutting, craving and polishing them for the next few hours.

It reminded me of the pottery classes I did on Monday afternoons after school when everyone just wanted to do something with their hands and be free to do what they please. I forget how cathartic focused creative activity can be. We both had fairly ambitious designs but mine turned out fine and I am thrilled with it. Poor old Ric though - his first attempt snapped in half just as he was finishing cutting it so he had to start all over again after five hoours and we didn't get out of there til 7pm. He even had to go back the following morning to finish it off while I wandered aimlessly around the town for three hours and then chatted for a while to Steve about his interesting career history, his emigration story, his marriage to a Kiwi girl and the repercussions of that, and more besides. He seemed curious and deeply impressed by what Ric does for a living - his wife (a school teacher) is addicted to online games apparently and plays them every night, thus depriving her husband of her energies, affection and time.

He was clearly thinking hard about the concept of 'building' these computer games and as he watched Ric work silently, precisely and diligently for hours on end, he kept saying of him 'wow, that's really amazing...to be able to do that', as if his own carving skills were nothing. He didn't give a monkey's what I did but Ric appreciated the consideration.

Ric got there in the end as you can see from the picture above!

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