Do you know what a hihiwai is? How about a hapawai and a pipiwai? A year ago, I wouldn't care about what they are. Not that they are uninteresting creatures, I was probably preoccupied with finishing my research and finding a real job. When I got a job with the State as an inexperienced hydrolo-lo-gist, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the streams in Hawaii. On my first field visit to Maui, I snorkled with staff from the Division of Aquatic Resources. They showed me some of the freshwater animals present in the stream - hihiwai, opae, and oopu. Shortly after the field visit, I bought the book Hawaii's Native & Exotic Freshwater Animals so I could learn more about our stream buddies. As with all things I fancy, I put pencil to paper and out came cartoon hihiwai.
Hihiwai (Neritina granosa) is a freshwater snail that lives mostly in the lower and middle reaches of Hawaii's streams. The hihiwai is amphidromous - it migrates between the ocean and the streams. When the eggs hatch in the streams, they flow downstream and spend about a year in the ocean and then they go back upstream. These animals are usually found in a single line. On my last trip to East Maui (which was last week), I saw so many hihiwai. I even got to hold one in my hands. They look so small and fragile, it is hard to believe that they can move upstream against the flow.
As part of our division's effort to increase stream awareness, my hihiwai was made into a temporary tattoo with the words "I'm a Hihiwai. Protect Our Streams." When I first distributed the tattoos at an outreach event, I was so happy to see the smiles on the keiki faces as they applied the tattoo. I also made hihiwai blank cards using my friend's gocco printer. I have never seen or heard of such a device and was very excited to use it. First, I printed a black and white hihiwai. Then, I positioned the print-out on the gocco screen, a cardboard and extra padding material on top, and then placed all these layers in a slot in the device. My friend installed two gocco light bulbs and ... a moment of slience. We were both very excited as we never used the gocco before and didn't know what was gonna happen. Then ... she pressed on the machine and POOF!!! out came a screen with the hihiwai outlines. We applied blue paint over the screen and printed over 30 cards that day. I know I haven't explained the gocco concept very clearly ... just think of it as T-shirt printing made easy.
I am currently working on cartoon versions of the oopu alamoo and the opae. I already have sketches of them, so I only need to digitize them. Should I tweak this hihiwai and create cartoon hapawai and pipiwai? I really like these snails.
Hihiwai (Neritina granosa) is a freshwater snail that lives mostly in the lower and middle reaches of Hawaii's streams. The hihiwai is amphidromous - it migrates between the ocean and the streams. When the eggs hatch in the streams, they flow downstream and spend about a year in the ocean and then they go back upstream. These animals are usually found in a single line. On my last trip to East Maui (which was last week), I saw so many hihiwai. I even got to hold one in my hands. They look so small and fragile, it is hard to believe that they can move upstream against the flow.
As part of our division's effort to increase stream awareness, my hihiwai was made into a temporary tattoo with the words "I'm a Hihiwai. Protect Our Streams." When I first distributed the tattoos at an outreach event, I was so happy to see the smiles on the keiki faces as they applied the tattoo. I also made hihiwai blank cards using my friend's gocco printer. I have never seen or heard of such a device and was very excited to use it. First, I printed a black and white hihiwai. Then, I positioned the print-out on the gocco screen, a cardboard and extra padding material on top, and then placed all these layers in a slot in the device. My friend installed two gocco light bulbs and ... a moment of slience. We were both very excited as we never used the gocco before and didn't know what was gonna happen. Then ... she pressed on the machine and POOF!!! out came a screen with the hihiwai outlines. We applied blue paint over the screen and printed over 30 cards that day. I know I haven't explained the gocco concept very clearly ... just think of it as T-shirt printing made easy.
I am currently working on cartoon versions of the oopu alamoo and the opae. I already have sketches of them, so I only need to digitize them. Should I tweak this hihiwai and create cartoon hapawai and pipiwai? I really like these snails.
