Hello all,

Sam and I have just returned from a ten day trip to Vietnam.
The photographs, above and to the right, were taken in Halong Bay. There are more than 1,600 limestone islets in the bay. It is exquisitely
beautiful and there are hundreds of boats full of tourists travelling there every day. But the authorities manage to avoid excessive traffic in any one place by spreading the boats all over the bay. Also, the various types of cruise boats have silent motors making the experience of gliding through the rock formations most enjoyable. I highly recommend a visit to Halong Bay. It has been recognized by UNESCO as World Natural Heritage.

A picture tells a thousand words

The cities, however, are a different story. Hanoi, the capital, for example has a population of almost 8 million and, according to our tour guide, has about 6 million motorbikes. All of these motorbikes seem to be out on the streets at any one time and, those that are not, are parked on the foot path. Walking in the city streets is extremely difficult and one has to watch one's step to avoid tripping on the uneven footpaths and to avoid all the parked motorbikes as well as people cooking and selling food.

Crossing the street is quite an adventure. Our tour guide forbade us from crossing on our own. Eventually we got the hang of simply walking into the traffic with cars and motorbikes zooming past us. Pedestrian crossings might as well not be there. Traffic lights are a little bit safer but the turning vehicles are still a danger.

Electricity cables. Very different standards on Health and safety

One of our tours in Hanoi was The Pottery Village. Almost all of the Vietnamese pottery is too ornate for use in ikebana but I was able to find some usable items. There is a kiln there, which is over 100 years old but is no longer in use because it was fueled by wood and now all the kilns use gas.

The 100 year old kiln

I enjoyed trying my hand at the wheel. It's not as easy as it looks

I was quite impressed by these large bonsais, mostly of ficus benjamina, which we
saw in many places in Vietnam

And now back to ikebana. In my absence, Lucy took the class and she set the theme for the senior students of 'Disassembling and Rearranging the Materials'.

Lucy used ginkgo biloba branches

Nicole used eucalyptus branches

Vicky used aspidistra leaves

Last Sunday was Orthox Easter and, due to our absence I was not able to prepare all the traditional fare. However, I simply had to make a couple of arrangements to mark the occasion. I used last year's Easter eggs, which are much lighter, having dried up in the past year. Oh, and imagine my delight at finding three flowers on my Kamo Hon Ami camellia in a garden that is drought affected and neglected.

The marbling effect on these eggs is achieved by covering them in
brown onion leaves held tight by old stockings and then died in
blue die.

Bye for now,
Emily

Hello all,

'Miniature Ikebana' was the theme of our recent Sogetsu workshop run by Helen Quarrell. This theme has been recently introduced into the curriculum, officially, even though it had been introduced by Kasumi Teshigahara, the second Iemoto, a long time ago. It is a very enjoyable exercise, which appeals to most people. My mother, who has lived with me for more than a decade and has seen countless ikebana arrangements in my home, has never commented on any of them. But when I make miniatures she is absolutely delighted. Please go to Sogetsu Ikebana Victoria and click on 'Recent Workshops' for more members' photographs.

The theme for last week's class was 'Glass Containers'. In this exercise the transparency of glass is an important feature. The materials can be displayed inside, outside or both in and out of the container. I've done this exercise many times before, including very recently when I demonstrated at MIFGS (arrangement to the left). So, I decided to work with this beautiful and colourful but rather difficult glass vase. It is difficult because there is enough detail inside the vase itself, that adding materials to it would be unattractive and messy. The challenge was to place materials in such a way that the stems would NOT be seen through the glass and to allow the colouful swirl to feature.

Persimmons and clivia berries

Vicky re-used the agave from a previous
lesson and nandina domestica nana

Lucy used umbrella grass stems and crab apples

Nicole used weeping willow and eucalyptus leaf and one aster flower

Bredenia used 1 gymea leaf and
purple flowers

At yesterday's Ikebana International meeting we enjoyed a demonstration in a basket by Aiko Nakada, head of Ohara School Melbourne. Sadly this was Aiko-san's last demonstration as she is leaving us to return to Japan. We will miss her!

Many beautiful arrangements in equally beautiful baskets were made by members and, I'm sure, Christopher will post photographs on the II blog in due course. Please go to II Melbourne.

Usually baskets are light and require light materials to make a successful arrangement. Being very short of time, I was unable to find enough light materials to use in a conventional basket, so I chose to go a different way. I used the woven box with lid, below, with amaranthus, dahlias and crab apples.

I leave you with this last arrangement, for which I re-used two bromeliads from my exhibit at MIFGS. I couldn't bear to throw them away, thus the creation of the arrangement, below. It is interesting to note that despite the fact that the bromeliads do not reach the water, they look fresh and vibrant.

Bye for now,
Emily

Post apocalyptic scene

Hello all,

My goodness, it's been an unbelievably busy time, ikebana-wise and I am utterly worn out. I've exhibited at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show (MIFGS) eleven times so far and, each time, I try to come up with something I haven't done before. There's a great deal of work involved and I had intended to give it a miss this year, however, my cousin Nick offered me a large perspex dome because he didn't know what to do with it and, of course, I jumped at the offer.

I knew I would use it at MIFGS and it wasn't long before I came up with the idea of depicting a post apocalyptic scene, with vibrant life under the dome but devastation all around. This was a very conceptual work and not at all Ikebana but I wanted to make an environmental statement.

Sadly, the dome was very reflective, making it difficult to photograph, so at the end of the show, I took a photo of the interior without the dome.

On the right hand side I had a running waterfall over rocks into a pond but, again, it didn't photograph well.

At the same time, our Ikebana International Melbourne Chapter is celebrating its 60th anniversary with many events planned. Firstly, we had the privilege of the Iemoto (Head of School) of Ichiyo School,  visiting us and making a large display at MIFGS with displays by the other four schools on either side. The exhibit was awarded a bronze medal. The theme was 'Green Bamboo and Autumn'.

Below are the photographs of the exhibits taken separately because it was impossible to photograph the whole display due to its size.

Ichiyo School exhibit

Sogetsu School exhibit

Ikenobo School exhibit

Ohara School exhibit

Shogetsudokoryu School exhibit

A luncheon was organised for our members with a demonstration by the Iemoto last Thursday. Mr Naohiro Kasuya chose the column in the centre of the room, around which he created an installation without the use of mechanics such as wire screws etc.

Mr Naohiro Kasuya

The table arrangements for the luncheon were made by volunteer members and I was one of them. An oval shaped ceramic bowl was given to each of us and we were asked to make a table arrangement that would, then, be won by one of the guests at each table.

There were many considerations for making this arrangement - it had to be low so as not to obstruct the guests' view of each other, it was to be viewed from all sides, it had to be without a kenzan and it had to be portable - both by us to the venue and by the winners to take home.

Below are two views of my arrangement. I used green bamboo to create a structure that could stand independently over the bowl, onto which I wired the swan flowers and aspidistra leaves. The winner seemed very pleased.

But wait, there's more!

Last Saturday, Mr Kasuya conducted a workshop on the theme 'No Kenzan' arrangement in a suiban, in the Ichiyo school style. We have the same theme in the Sogetsu school but the principles are very different. I found it a very interesting and learning experience.

We all had four stems of tortured willow to create a base in the suiban, which would support subsequent branches and/or flowers. Then we could choose a small bunch of foliage material and a small bunch of flowers.

Mr Kasuya with his example

Lucy with her arrangement

My arrangement at the workshop

But wait again, there's even more!

On Sunday, the last day of the show, members of the five different schools demonstrated on the main stage. I was the Sogetsu demonstrator with my trusty assistant, Lucy. We were the opening act.

Julie Ireland, our tireless events coordinator, suggested we make one arrangement that non ikebana members of the audience could go home and make themselves. So, I chose a very simple glass vase, two mother-in-law tongues and a small tamarilo to show that we don't need a fancy container or expensive flowers to create something interesting. That's the first photograph, below.

For my second arrangement, I chose the theme from Book 5 - 'A Composition Expressing a Moovement. I used part of a large philodendron leaf and three long stemmed crucifix orchids (Supplied by Eugenia Chudacek) to depict 'Flight'

There were very bright screens behind the stage, which made taking good photographs impossible. Below are the best of a bad lot of me and Lucy demonstrating.

On that Sunday evening we had to take down our exhibits. My poor, long suffering husband, Sam arrived with a borrowed ute to take everything back home. Carrying the dome to the Exhibition Buildings and then back home was a major challenge. It is 1.8 metres in diameter, making it too wide for the ute tray. Securing it took some effort and ingenuity but we did it and now it's sitting on my lawn. Anyone want to buy a large perspex dome?

And last but by no means least, my grandson's basketball team won their championship on Saturday and Xavier was named 'Best Team Player'. Could Yiayia be any more proud?

OK! I'm going to bed now. I'll write about class on my next post. Thank you for staying to the end.

Bye for now,
Emily