Bare Manchurian pear branches, cotoneaster berries and aeoniums 

Hello all,

After months of isolation and suspension of activities, on Wednesday we had our first class, albeit with a reduced number of students. I made sure that there was one student per sanitised table and had hand sanitisers available as everyone arrived.

It was so good to see everyone and to feel connected by our common interest - ikebana. However, we've just had some disturbing news here in Victoria, with many new cases and we may have to rethink resumption of our classes.

For the few senior students that attended I had sent them an email instructing them to make an arrangement using bare winter branches in a nageire container. This is not the same as using dry branches, which can be out of water. Winter branches still have life in them and need to be in water. Unfortunately, I forgot to use a nageire container myself for the three examples I  made. Bad sensei!

The arrangement, above presented some difficulty in placing the very heavy branches in the position I wanted. A kenzan was out of the question for two reasons. Firstly, the round shape of the container meant that a kenzan would have to sit in the middle, if at all. And, secondly, no kenzan could hold the weight of the branches.
The photo, below, shows the horizontal fixture with two forks that I used instead.

Example no. 2. Here I used branches from a weeping elm. These grew on an errant branch creating a little cluster and needed to be removed. This is one of those 'Two birds, one stone' situation.

Example no. 3. This is an example of using bare branches but, also, of reusing material. The magnolia branch (and, yes, it is just one branch) was in a wall arrangement initially, photo below. The flower buds on the branch have continued to swell and with time, one or two should flower.

Magnolia branches and camellias

I'm very pleased to have some of my students' work to include in this blog as I've had to do all the work myself for many weeks.

Vicky's arrangement, with its lichen covered branches, was too big to photograph on the table, hence the floor position.

Nectarine branches and leucodendrons

Nicole used Birch, leucodendrons and camellias

Lucy used a difficult golden ash branch and a stunning camellia reticulata.

Shaneen did the last lesson in book 3 - Freestyle sketching and arranging. The most challenging part of this arrangement was to work out the mechanics of positioning the beautiful stem correctly. A drill and a screw were employed in the end.

Camellia branch and chrysanthemum

Reusing materials.
Below are another two arrangements made with previously used materials. The agave is from the arrangement on the right, which I made on 18th February and which has lasted all this time without water. And, the pomegranates, plus one more, from the arrangement, below.

Original arrangement

The next arrangement using two containers was made with what was left of the rhus that I used in a previous arrangement, below.

On Saturday was mum's 90th birthday and we gave her a small (by our standards) party of 20 guests. We did not celebrate the birthdays of any other member of the family during the pandemic (including me) but we couldn't let such a milestone go by without acknowledging it.

Many happy returns mum!!

Bye for now,
Emily