Siberian dogwood bare branch, camellias and conifer

Hello all,

At our Ikebana International meeting last month, we had the pleasure of meeting the new patrons of the Melbourne Chapter, The Consul General of Japan, Mr Matsunaga and Mrs Matsunaga.

Also, Christopher James conducted a workshop with the theme 'Working with bare branches'. The photograph, above, is of my arrangement. I used a container by Graham Wilke, which has a small opening and required some serious mechanics to secure the branch above the container. For photographs of arrangements by all members and, especially, Christopher's, please go to our blog - melbourneikebana.blogspot.com.au.

Our group met again this morning for our AGM, when we welcomed the new committee, headed by Patricia Ward as President. Afterwards, there was a demonstration by the Heads of five schools. Arrangements below -

Christopher James - Sogetsu

Yukako Braun - Ikenobo

Aiko Nakada - Ohara

Chieko Yazaki - Shogetsudokoryu

Eliasha Zhang - Ichiyo

We also had a number of arrangements by members, mine below, fits two themes - 'Shape of the container' and 'Colour of the container'. It is difficult to see the latter in the photo but the interior of the container has a dull mauve hue which is picked up by the hellebores. And on the subject of hellebores, I found that one day after they were cut and arranged, they wilted and looked quite sad. I plunged them in a bucket of water for a couple of hours, which seemed to revive them beautifully. They lasted for about two days before drooping again, when I repeated the plunging exercise with the same results.

For class last week the senior students were set the theme 'Jika Dome' - Direct Fixing, which is in Book 5. This seemingly simple fixing method can be quite challenging, especially with heavy branches, as it requires bending and balancing. In my arrangement, below, I struggled a little to balance the ginger seed heads facing inwards when gravity kept insisting on pulling them downwards.

Ginger seed heads, cordelines and hydrangeas

Vicky Kalokathis - magnolia branch and oriental
lilies

Bredenia Raquel - geranium and leucadendron salignum

The arrangement, below, has the theme 'Specific Scenes, Occasions or Spaces'. I chose to celebrate my husband's Name Day, a Greek tradition that we use as an excuse to get the family together and which falls on the 6th August (last Sunday). The dry material I used came from my bamboo, which sheds them as it grows. (If anyone knows what they're called, please let me know). These jonquils are the earliest to flower in my garden and I chose them for this arrangement because they are Sam's favourite flowers. He has fond memories of collecting wild jonquils when he was a boy in a little village in Greece and selling them to passing motorists for pocket money. While they're in season, I keep a little vase of jonquils always on his office desk.

Aurelia Dong - 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Materials
Lilly pilly

The black pine in this next arrangement was donated by some kind member of II a month ago and which looks every bit as fresh today as it did then. The kamo hon ami camellia, however, has to be replaced every few days but it's well worth the effort.

Bye for now,
Emily