This past weekend, I facilitated my first kusikus paper weaving workshop with Rise Tribe for Mabuhay Festival at Nathan Phillips Square. Leading up to it required a lot of prep but grateful for the support from my parents! I even somehow pulled together a instructional zine for it.

Initially, we had planned to have a whole intro and demo. However, upon arriving to our tent, we quickly realized my tiny voice wouldn’t be able to compete the performance stage we were right beside! So we pivoted and adapted to a drop-in style workshop which worked perfectly and felt a lot less informal.

We had pre-cut the warp and weft for 40 folks and I’m happy to report that all of it was utilized. We had 40+ children, youth and adults participated and took home their paper kusikus pieces.

After the workshop, my partner, parents and I walked around the festival, ate some things, bought some Pinay Collection shirts (Feed the Farmers + Pek Pek Power) and had a celebratory dinner together. Overall, had a wonderful, wholesome day and I am so pleased about the overall outcome and output. I’m excited to be able to offer a workshop that is more accessible to folks of all ages and abilities. Looking forward to my next paper weaving workshop! :)