Monday 11 March 2024

11TH MARCH, 2024

 

Hello all,

The advanced students were given the theme 'Green Pant Materials' at last class. In this exercise we rely on the variety of green colours, size, texture and shape of different plant materials to create interest. Obviously variegated materials and branches with strong colours are to be avoided.

In my arrangement, above, I used fig branches with the leaves removed, agapanthus seed heads with the seeds removed and young gymea leaves (doryanthes palmeri), in a self made, ceramic container. I left one fig that was yellowing as an example for the students of the sorts of things that must be removed.

Vicky used a number of glossy green, aspidistra leaves agapanthus inflorescences and nandina domestica in a ceramic suiban.


Nicole used a pine branch sweeping forward and aspidistra leaves halved, folded and pinned.


Bredenia used two agave pieces, clivia berries and a small stem of eucalyptus. The agaves look as though they are touching in the photograph but, in fact, they are  not. There is space between them.



Mary used swan flowers (Gomphocarpus Physocarpus), strelitzia leaves and Japanese anemones leaves in a ceramic suiban to create a vertical arrangement.



Lei's curriculum theme was 'Kakebana' , an arrangement displayed by hanging the container on a wall or pillar. She created a structure by joining triangles of fine bamboo and placed it over a slim, bamboo shaped, ceramic container. She added two dahlias at the back and an amaranthus draping forward.


Shaneen's revision arrangement was 'Seasonal Materials'. She had a great number of flowers from her prolific garden but I encouraged her to leave out at least half of them. She settled on salvias, belladonna lilies, sedum and marguerite daisies. Unfortunately, the space between the materials is lost in the photo.


My Japanese flowering quince produced a number of small, inedible fruit, which looked quite charming. I used them with a couple of crucifix orchids in a ceramic vase.


The son of family friends was getting married on Saturday and I wanted to send them a floral gift with the card. I made an arrangement using philodendron leaves trimmed to reduce their size and sprayed silver on the top side. I added white lisianthus and gypsophila in a glass vase.


I went to lunch at my friend Erica's last week and brought a floral offering. I used a manchurian pear branch and hydrangeas in a ceramic vase.


Bye for now,
Emily




 

Monday 4 March 2024

4th March, 2024

 


Hello all,
In the above arrangement, I cut two very big philodendron leaves, from  which I removed the front three quarters leaving the two sections that point backwards. This greatly reduced the size of the leaves making them manageable. But they were still very dense, so I thinned out the leaves, creating more 'holes'.

The container was an easy choice as it is quite heavy, made of reconstituted stone and could hold up the weight of the leaves. My next challenge was to secure them in an upright position in  the container. A kenzan was not an option. Instead I pushed a skewer through the two stems and cut it to the exact internal width of the container, thus wedging it in firmly. Two, cream coloured, belladonna lilies added the floral component of the arrangement.


We had our first Ikebana International meeting in February with our guest speaker being Naoko Goghlan, a Japanese born and trained potter. After her very interesting presentation and display of her pottery, it was my turn to do a demonstration for the group.

I chose some of my self made containers for this demo. As an ikebanist, making my own containers means I have a better understanding of how to use them. 

The arrangement, below was in situ, near the entrance, as a welcoming piece. I used two, large loquat branches and three hydrangea paniculata flowers in a spherical shaped tsubo vase.

In the next arrangement I used a triangular shaped vase tipped onto its narrow side. I wanted to create a continuous, vertical line from the vase to the New Zealand flax. The sunflower added a focal point. The arrangement would, also, fit into the theme 'Colours in a Similar Tonal Range'.


Container in upright position


















I remember just how chuffed I was when I made the container in  the next arrangement. I don't think Da Vinci was any more proud of his Mona Lisa than I was of this vase. Because it has a very small opening, I tend to use with it dry materials, which can be placed on the outside of the container leaving room in the opening for a few, thinly stemmed, fresh materials. In this case, I created a structure by joining triangles made of skewers. Two orange crucifix orchids and a New Zealand flax split in half completed the arrangement.


Since making the next container, I realised that elaborate containers require very simple arrangements, which is one of the reasons that I used it infrequently. In this case I had a large apple branch with one healthy apple hanging from it. I removed almost all of the branch, leaving a short stem and the apple, which I placed in the vase. I, then, added a small hydrangea inside the vase. Please go to II Melbourne to see more photographs from the meeting.
 

In my travels today I came across a Manchurian pear tree with a broken branch hanging down and held by a small piece of bark. Interestingly, the leaves on the tree were quite green. However, the leaves on the broken branch had changed into their autumnal colours.

I placed one branch horizontally in this large, self made container and added two kniphofias that I discovered hiding behind the nandina domestica. If they thought they could escape me, they were mistaken!


Mary's lesson the previous week was a combination of two themes - 'Fruiting Plant Materials' and 'To be Viewed from all Sides'.She used kaffir lime ranches, from which she removed all the leaves, leaving just the fruit. She also used orange cellocias, hydrangeas and amaranthus in a heavy nageire vase. 


The following week her theme was 'Focussing on the Uses of Water'. She placed a single, curved stem of agapanthus into a large, rectangular, glass vase. She had trimmed the inflorescence to fit in the narrow vase.


Bye for now,

Emily

Monday 26 February 2024

 



Hello all,
My student Dianne Longley, who lives in Trentham, has an enviable, prolific garden and often brings materials to class that are bigger and more beautiful than the ones we grow in Melbourne. Case in point is the huge garlic flowers that she brought and shared with the class. 

I used mine in the arrangement, above, having cut down the very long stems and placed in a ceramic container. I chose the canna lily leaves for their colour to contrast with the garlic flowers.

Last Monday we had our first Sogetsu meeting for the year. It was presented by Angeline Lo, who chose the theme 'The preparation and use of dried materials in Ikebana'. Below is my example, using belladonna lilies and a date palm inflorescence, which I had soaked and shaped to give a wind-swept look. I rarely take the self made, ceramic container out of the house because it is large and awkward to carry and, because it is too precious to risk. However, I made an exception because, I felt, it worked well with the materials. To view the work by Angeline and other members, please go to Sogetsu Victoria Workshop.


My strelitzia nicolai plant produces huge leaves, which are almost impossible to use in an arrangement unless they are cut down somehow. So, it was a delightful surprise to find a small one growing from the bottom of the trunk. I cut it and placed it in a heavy, ceramic container with two openings and added a mass of gloriosa lilies. The lilies did not last very long, so I replaced them with a single sunflower. The leaf is likely to last for weeks and I'm loath to throw it away, so I'll keep replacing the floral material until it dies. 



Now, back to class. I had set another double theme to the advanced students - 'Fruiting Plant Materials' and 'To be Viewed from All Sides'. The most important consideration when using fruiting plant materials is the weight of the branches, necessitating the use of strong, heavy containers.

Below are three views of my arrangement.I used apple branches, a crabapple branch, hydrangeas, amaranthus, dahlias and Portugal laurel berries, in a self made container.




Jenny used orange branches and hydrangeas in a ceramic vase with a number of holes all round.


Bredenia used fig branches, kiwi vine with fruit, hydrangeas and Japanese maple in a heavy, ceramic container.


Vicky's material was osage oranges and was particularly challenging because the fruit are very heavy and likely to drop. She used oriental lilies facing different directions to make it pleasing to view from all sides.


By coincidence, Dianne's class theme was 'To be Viewed from all Sides'. She used one nandina domestica branch and dahlias in a vase with split on two sides.


Shaneen is doing revision and chose her 'favourite' lesson - In a 'Suiban Without a Kenzan'. She used Japanese maple, coprosma and alstroemerias in a rectangular suiban.


Wendy's class theme was 'Keeping in Mind the view from Below'. She used oak branches with acorns, oriental lilies and a fine, mauve material, the name of which escapes me.


Bye for now,

Emily

















Monday 19 February 2024

MASTERCLASS #21

 


Hello all,

On Saturday we had the first Masterclass for the year. A couple of days earlier I dropped some food off to my son, who was suffering with a bout of covid. As I was leaving I noticed that his neighbours across the road had been pruning and left the cuttings on the nature strip. One neighbour had cuttings of a conifer much like the book leaf pine. The neighbour next door had quite a number of dried flower spikes of acanthus. Opportunities such as these cannot be ignored. So, I filled up my boot with these materials, abandoning the original plans I had for the class.

I gave each student a large piece of the conifer and one large or two smaller acanthus spikes. They were to select a container and create a structure using only these two materials.Once they were satisfied, they were, then, able to choose a flower from a variety that I had in a bucket.

The arrangement, above, was mine. I had removed a great deal of the foliage to reveal the beauty of the stems, as per the photo, below. I tried using the acanthus spike in  many different ways but settled on it going through the conifer. I did not feel that I needed to add a flower.


Jenny also did a great deal of pruning from a branch which was considerably bigger that than the one in  the photo. With the sharp angle of the acanthus, she created space, into which she placed two  hydrangea flowers.


Vicky chose to feature the interesting stem of her piece, removing any side shoots and placing it in a large, narrow, glass container. She used a small piece of the acanthus at the top of the vase. She decided not to add a flower.

Cym saw the beauty of the inside of the acanthus stem and wanted to feature it. She split the stem and cut it into four, unequal pieces and joined them, horizontally, using a bamboo skewer. She then added a small amount of the conifer foliage, trimmed sharply to complete a very modern arrangement.


Christine used her materials in a naturalistic style. She chose a large, tsubo vase for her large conifer branch and created an arrangement reminiscent of Variation No 4, slantting, with the branch being the Shin and the acanthus the hikai. The ginger flowers are jushi.


Akemi turned her branch up side down over a nageire container, with the acanthus spike through the foliage, outside the container, creating height. In her arrangement the single hydrangea at the back was quite appropriate.


Bye for now,
Emily

Monday 12 February 2024

11TH FEBRUARY 2024

A single stem of gloriosa lily.

 

Hello all,

The mahonia branch, below, is the way it looked when I cut it from the tree -


.... It took some judicial trimming to reveal the beauty of the stem. I then added two agapanthus flowers in a spherical tsubo vase. This arrangement is an example of the theme 'Lines at the Base'.


For our recent class I set a double theme to the advanced students - 'Variation no. 6 Horizontal' style and 'With Leaves Only'. In my arrangement, below, I used New Zealand flax, hostas, calla lily leaves and cordyline leaves. The container is an asymmetrical, lacquered suiban


Jenny used strelitzia leaves, New Zealand flax, mahonia and canna lily leaves in a ceramic suiban.


Lucy also used a lacquered suiban in which she placed a strelitzia leaf, aspidistra leaves, fatsia leaves and cathedral begonia leaves.


Nicole used New Zealand flax, cordylines, bromeliad leaves, calla lily leaves and geranium leaves in a ceramic suiban.

Mary used aspidistras, arum lily leaves, flag iris leaves, bromeliad and cathedral begonia leaves in a ceramic suiban.


Lei's curriculum theme was 'Miniature Arrangements'. She created a delightful  group of tiny arrangements.



Wendy's curriculum theme was 'Dried, Bleached of Coloured Material'. She used bleached, tortuous willow (Salix Matsudana Tortuous) and gladiola flowers and leaves in a ceramic container.


 Shaneen's lesson was 'Preparing for a Future Exhibition'. She used a dried branch sprayed copper, hydrangeas and papyrus in a tall, ceramic vase.


Dianne's lesson was 'Lines at the Base'. She used three stunning garlic flowers and nandina domestica in a spherical tsubo vase.


Bye for now,
Emily



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