Misei Ishikawa sensei with her Celebratory arrangement

Hello all,

Last weekend Lucy and I, together with another 6 Victorian members, flew to  Sydney to attend Textbook #5 training plus workshops run by Master Instructor Ishikawa Sensei . It was an intense couple of days with lectures, demonstrations by Sensei and workshops.

The NSW members worked tirelessly for months, resulting in the very smooth running of this event. We, visitors, were very well looked after. Containers, kenzans and materials were all provided, so we just had to pack our hasamis and go. Lunches were provided to all who had pre-ordered them and there was an unlimited supply of cakes and baked goods provided by the members. On the Saturday night we all went to dinner, where we relaxed and socialized.

We came away feeling inspired and much more confident about teaching the lessons in Book #5. We, also, enjoyed the social aspect of the event. Meeting up with old acquaintances and forming new ones was an added bonus. For me, it was a particular pleasure to see Ishikawa Sensei again. I first met her at Headquarters in 2016 where she worked in the classroom and, with her excellent English, was very helpful to me and the other students.

On the Saturday Sensei conducted lectures using a power point presentation and demonstrated 9 arrangements, an exhausting day's work! On Sunday, some more demonstrations and then it was our turn. In the morning the theme was 'Two approaches to branches' and, for this each participant was given a bunch of dry branches. Also Sensei requested that we all use some camellia branches in whichever quantity we wanted. Once we created a structure with the branches, Sensei critiqued it and then we selected containers, flowers and leaves provided by the committee to complete the arrangement. For photographs of Sensei's work, I recommend you go to www.sogetsu-ikebana.org.au because it was difficult for me to take good photographs in that environment.

My arrangement using hydrangeas, Asiatic
lilies and aspidistra leaves

Lucy's Arrangement using hydrangeas and strelitzia
leaves

For the Celebratory arrangements sensei wanted to know which event each one of us intended to celebrate with our arrangement. There were a surprising number of different and interesting ideas. Mine was going to be a simple Christmas arrangement for which I had bought an unusual white sheet of some synthetic material, which had glitter on one side. Unfortunately this doesn't show in the photograph, below. As the arrangement 'evolved' it took a shape of its own and I decided that it was a ' Christmas Celebration on a Sailing boat on Sydney Harbour'

Asiatic lilies, aspidistra, sprigs of camellia and mizuhiki, provided
by Ishikawa sensei

Lucy's arrangement, in her own words, was the celebration of a non-gay person of the success of the 'Yes' vote for marriage equality.

Camellia branches, hydrangeas and gold paper

Ishikawa sensei was also able to demonstrate Japanese iris thanks to Yoshiro Umemura, who provided the iris and leaves.

Ishikawa Sensei with assistant, Sandy Marker demonstrating
Japanese iris arrangement.

Finally, I would like to thank Margaret Hall, Sandy Marker and all the other Sydney members for hosting this event so successfully and for their warmth and generosity.

Bye for now,
Emily

Lucy with George, both dressed in the style 'Steam Punk'.
If, like me, you don't know what that is, I recommend
google

Hello all,

As this is an ikebana blog, I keep posts of personal events to a minimum. However, I would like to share with you some photos of a recent, somewhat significant event. Lucy, pictured above, is my sister and most senior student and has recently had a milestone birthday. And, as with the previous two milestone birthdays, she celebrated it with a fancy dress party.

A great deal of preparation was required by the whole family for the party that turned out to be a resounding success. The venue was large and well appointed so that we had ample room for dancing. We Greeks love to dance and we danced our shoes off that night. The caterers did a great job and the friends and family members, who provided cakes for the dessert part of the meal, outdid themselves. But it was the effort that everybody put into their costumes that created the most fun. Here are some photos.


 Lucy, mum as Judge Judy, me as Queen Nefertiti and Vicky as Maleficent.

Sam as King Henri VIII and I

My granddaughter Hermione

My grandson Xavier, as Michael Jackson in 'Thriller"

Xavier with his father, Warren the zombie 

Granddaughter, Aria as 'Pebbles'

My son, Dennis as 'The Green Lantern' with daughter, Hermione
and wife, Jeannine as Carrie Bradshaw from 'Sex and the City'

Peter as Sultan and Vicky

My daughter, Madeline as Uhura from 'Star Trek'

A great number of amazing costumes were worn on the night, which I can't include here but the photo, below, is of the five of us from my ikebana class that were in attendance.

Lucy, Bredenia, Vicky, Aurelia and I

Apart from making my costume, my daughter's and granddaughter's, I also made four table arrangements and the cake with Lucy's assistance.

This, too, is in the Steam Punk style. I apologize for the poor quality
of the photo. It didn't occur to any of us to photograph the cake. This is
an enlargement from a larger photograph which I cropped

Lucy, Vicky and I made four table arrangements each, all of them different. Unfortunately, I was the only one to photograph mine before placing on the tables. The variety of ikebana arrangements created interest, even among people who would not normally notice the flowers on the table. Below are just a couple.

Hippeastrum, Canna lily leaves and mizuhiki

Umbrella grass stems and strelitzias

I leave you now to rush to the airport. Lucy and I are flying to Sydney to attend workshops and a training session on Book 5 of our curriculum, run by Misei Ishikawa sensei from headquarters. More about this later.

Bye for now,
Emily

A spring arrangement to lift the spirits.
Using five materials - clematis, wisteria, viburnum
opulus, cottage gladioli and alstroemeria leaves

Hello all,

The ikebana highlight of the past fortnight has been the annual Sogetsu exhibition at the Malvern Arts Society, which is still on and will end on Tuesday.

For my exhibit, below, I used a large, doughnut-shaped metal piece, the front of which I painted in this greeny-yellow colour. The branch material is a weeping mulberry and it measures 1.7 metres in length. I used a vivid blue paint colour to contrast with the green. The strength and colour of the green goddess lilies finishes this large, wall arrangement.There will be photos of the whole exhibition in our Sogetsu website in due course.

With the off cuts from the mulberry, I put together this arrangement using a flower from a strelitzia plant that came from my dear aunt's garden. You will notice that the flower has grown with an unusual bend to it.

An example of two themes - 'Colour of the Container' and 'Shape
of the Container'

At the moment my garden so prolific in materials for ikebana that I don't have the time to arrange them all, nor the places to put them. Basically, I'm suffering the embarrassment of riches, a condition for which I expect no sympathy.

My flag irises have all bloomed at once. Here are a couple of the arrangements I made with them.

A pond arrangement in a container I made using
 crushed coloured glass, which, after 
firing, becomes a glaze.

A close up of the flower, whose colour is such a
deep purple that it is almost black

White flag iris with weeping willow and
Japanese maple

My spuria irises are also flowering now. These grow very tall and are a challenge to arrange, so I bent them to point downwards in this modern wall arrangement. I used stainless steel strips to create an interesting balance.

The flower stems in this next arrangement were almost two metres tall and belong to a plant I thought is curculigo. It was given to me by my generous coleague, Pat Hetrel, who is a very knowledgeable gardener. I wanted it for its leaves, which are pleated vertically. I did not expect flowers and was absolutely delighted when I saw the spikes coming through. I waited to see what they would look like when fully opened and then I cut and arranged them. I had to remove some of the length to make them fit under the staircase. The sad thing is that after two days the lovely yellow flowers turned brown and the tips of the spikes drooped. Clearly, not great as a cut flower.

Here is the plant growing in a corner of the garden
next to the rain water tank

I leave you with this little arrangement using what I believe are arisaema flowers. I consulted google to find the correct name for them but had no success. If any one knows it, I would be very grateful if you would email me.  I have them growing in deep shade in a pot. Their flower is very interesting with this long thin 'toungue' as are the leaves.

Bye for now,
Emily