Hello all,

The theme for last week's class was 'Glass Containers' from Book 5. In this exercise and because of the transparency of the containers, attention needs to be given to the inside as much as the outside of the container. The added interest is the refraction of light through water.

In my example, above, I chose not to use water, mainly because it is a very big bowl which would require at least 15 litres of water. It would make it quite unmanageable. Also, the agave I used will last better dry. If I were to immerse it in water, it would rot quite quickly.

In my next example I used the coloured leaves from my blushing bromeliad (Neoregelia Carolinae) in a tall, rectangular container, which I filled with water to the very top.

Below are two views of the same arrangement showing the change in the look of the leaves because of refraction of light through glass and water.

I made this next example because I found some rather large squiggly grass, which were growing in part shade and thought their lines would be ideal for this exercise. Once I made it and photographed it against a white background, I looked for a surface on which to display it. I was in a hurry before class and put it on a dark piece of furniture. It was only later, when I was discussing the arrangement with the class, that I realised I was wrong to place it on such a dark surface. A great example of the importance of making an arrangement suitable for the place in which  it will be displayed. In this case I should have, also, taken into consideration the colour of the surface.

In the first arrangement, below, Jenny used small agapanthus seed heads in a narrow, cylindrical vase filled with water. She, then, placed that vase in a larger one but decided not to use water in the second vase because it distorted the appearance of the arrangement too much and not in a good way.  She used the bent stem of an agapanthus to add line to her mass.

In the second arrangement Maren used a single aspidistra leaf and a single agapanthus flower. She managed to keep the materials off the bottom of the vase giving an impression of floating.

Vicky used a decanter with one large and one small
agapanthus seed head, with th seeds off

Bredenia used two birds nest fern leaves
and one gloriosa lily in a tall cylindrical vase.
The frilly edges of the leaves relate well with
the frilly edges of the lily

Lucy used two tall, cylindrical vases with an aspidistra
leaf in each. She removed half of each of the leaves
making them narrower, thus emphasising the curl.

Lei's piece of 'Intertwining Plant Materials'. We had a discussion of
keeping our weaving more loose as it had been pointed out to me
many years ago by Kawana sensei, when I did exactly the same
weaving.

Shaneen's arrangement 'Showing Lines
at Base. She used papyrus and sedum

Wendy's 'Vertical Composition' using gladioli and
their leaves

I'd like to let you know of some of my up coming events:

Sunday 10th May, 10.30am

2 hour workshop

Bulleen Art and Garden

6 Manningham Road W, Bulleen

https://bulleenartandgarden.weteachme.com/classes/1035149-ikebana-workshop

Saturday 30th May, 10.00 am

2 hour workshop

McClelland Sculpture Park & Gallery

390 McClelland Drive, Langwarrin 

Monday 6th July, 2.00 - 4.00pm

60 - 90 minute ikebana demonstration 

Whitehorse Library Blackburn 

Cnr Blackburn and Central Rd, Blackburn 

Bye for now,
Emily