Hello all,

Ikebana colleague and former student, Marcia Lamrock, made the above arrangement during a recent Ikebana International meeting. It is a wall basket woven from palm inflorescence, into which she placed the coloured, ornamental vine to complete this delightful arrangement. Marcia bought her basket at the International Flower and Garden Show.

This basket was the inspiration to make our own baskets. When I suggested the idea to the class, they agreed enthusiastically and we set aside one lesson for basket weaving. I made a basket before the lesson to work out any problems so that I could guide the students. I provided the inflorescence, which I had soaked earlier and off we went. It was a most enjoyable lesson with every student delighted with her creation. In the following class, as well as their regular lesson, we each used our basket to make an arrangement. The photographs are below.

This was my first attempt

Shaneen Garbutt - Wall basket

Nicole McDonld, table basket

Wendy Sun. This is a wall basket but Wendy made a base,
into which the basket can sit and be placed on a table

Bredenia Raquel - wall basket

Rachel Jones, still in book 1,- wall basket

Vicky Kalokathis - table basket

Lucy Papas made a larger basket by weaving it more loosely

Lei Wang - wall basket

Dianne Longley - wall basket

Mary Sutherland, who has just finished Book 1, made this table basket. I helped
with the arrangement

I had some of the inflorescence left over, after cutting branches for the students, and couldn't help playing with it. I made two more baskets.

As you can see, the baskets are very different reflecting each student's personality and taste. In the previous books of our curriculum we had a lesson - 'Making Your Own Container'. The thinking behind this was that while making a container, the student thinks about how it can be used and becoming more intimate with it. Making our own baskets fits right into that concept.

We are, also, toying with the idea of taking up pottery. We'll see.

Bye for now,
Emily