Craft Workshops on Oʻahu

The unusual thing about craft on Oʻahu is how much of the introductory teaching is free. Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikīkī runs a free cultural lesson every weekday at 11:30 AM — ʻukulele on Monday, hula Tuesday, lauhala weaving Wednesday, keiki hula Thursday, lei making Friday — with no registration and nothing to buy. If you have never plaited a hala leaf or strung a lei, that is where to start, and it costs you an hour.

The paid classes are where you go deeper. The Honolulu Museum of Art School runs six fiber-arts courses in a typical fall term — Shibori, Saori Weaving, Ulana Lau Hala, an accessible “Art for Life” shibori section, and two kids' fiber courses — at $265–$318 for ten weeks. Its single-evening workshops (Hand-Stitched Sustainable Bookbinding, $40; Botanical Monoprints, $37) are the cheapest way to try printmaking or book arts without a term. The Hawaiʻi Handweavers' Hui, Honolulu Printmakers and Hawaii Craftsmen run their own workshops on announced dates, and Fishcake in Kakaʻako fills the gaps with one-offs like Sew Simple and Forever Flowers.

Free, weekly, no booking

Royal Hawaiian Center: lauhala weaving Wed, lei making Fri, both 11:30 AM

Cheapest paid workshop

HoMA Botanical Monoprints ($37) and Hand-Stitched Sustainable Bookbinding ($40) — one evening each

Deepest fiber programme

HoMA Art School — six fiber courses in the fall term, ten weeks each, $265–$318

Where to buy supplies

See our craft supplies guide for the shops that stock weaving, dye and print materials on Oʻahu

We split the island's making classes into three pages so each list stays useful: this one for fiber, lei, print, book, glass and jewellery; pottery for anything with clay; art classes for drawing and painting. If you want the whole island in one place — every studio, including the ones that only teach a couple of terms a year — the fun classes guide is that list, and the lei making guide goes deep on one craft. Each class on this page was read off the venue's own booking page by a person; prices are the printed ones, and if a venue doesn't print one we say “see listing” rather than invent a number.