Special edition - Masterclass No. 2

Hello all,

The bamboo container in the above arrangement was originally owned by Norman Sparnon. The NSW Sogetsu chapter recently had a sale of a number of Mr Sparnon's containers and I was delighted to have been able to purchase this, very unusual container. I'm grateful to the NSW members for their efforts in organising and, subsequently, packaging and sending the containers. My materials are a single knifophia and pinellia Pedatisecta leaf.

And now for the second Masterclass. Each participant was given a container and materials she had not previously seen and was asked to, as quickly as possible, sketch the very first idea that came to her for arranging said material. Once that was done, I asked them to create something completely different. I instructed them that they could use as much of the materials provided as they chose. This was quite a challenge but they all rose to it and below are the photographs of the end results.

Vicky used two large strelitzia reginae leaves, three sunflowers and dietes leaves in a heavy stone container.

Susan used canna lily leaves and umbrella grass, flowers and stems separated and flowers cought to create a rough balloon shape. The ceramic container has a partial split to one side. She, also, had some leucodendron flowers, which she chose not to use.

Christine use red dogwood stems, leaves removed, leucodendrons and amaranthus in ceramic container.

Bredenia used a number of aspidistra leaves, curved and cought, crocosmia seed heads and crucifix orchids, creating a rough mass and line arrangement.

Akemi had cornus capitata berries, which by the way, are edible, and hydrangeas in a metal container. The simple arrangement belies the difficulty in balancing the branches, both physically and aesthetically.

Jenny had a large mahonia branch, which reduced in size and placed facing on rather than the way it grew, creating a type of pin wheel effect. She used the dahlias I provided but chose not to use the amaranthus stem.

Lucy's arrangement was difficult to photograph because of its length. She had a heavy ceramic container, a dried gum branch with seed pods, New Zealand flax leaves and aeoniums.

Bye for now,

Emily