29th November, 2021

 

Hello all,

I made the arrangement, above to showcase the large, softly coloured, oriental lilies, which were a gift from my two beautiful nieces, Angie and Joanna when they came to dinner last week.

I used the agave because I had it in abundance, having just trimmed it back, away from  my lawn-mower man with his whipper snipper.

Looking around the garden, I noticed some pink and mauve flowers and was inspired to use them together. This was not easy because the agapanthus and clematis are both very dominant and hard to use together. Hence the two tall vases. I put each material in a vase - the agapanthus going upwards and the clematis hanging down, as this was the way it grew. The dark purple material was Siberian Iris. 

When I placed the two vases next to each other, the arrangement did not jel and seemed quite disparate. The one on the left looked contemporary where as the one on the right looked naturalistic. I overcame that problem by placing a sprig of clematis leaves in with the agapanthus, thus changing the look to a more naturalistic one. My teacher, Carlyne would have said that now they 'married'.

Before

After

Continuing with the mauve theme, I used the clematis with its long vine in a wall arrangement. This time I used iris ensata to complete the arrangement.

As you know, I have an abundance of materials in my garden but I still get very exited when I get the opportunity to use something I don't have. The Grevillea Robusta in my next arrangement came from my neighbour's tree. I noticed it every time I drove past but then forgot about it when I got home. Today I remembered. The frustrating characteristic of this tree is that it flowers up high, requiring my extendable cutter and the flowering branches hang downwards, making them difficult to be put in water and have them look right. I managed to find a couple of stems that were usable.

Last week I wrote about our workshop with the combined theme of 'Arrangement in Glass Vessel' and 'With Leaves only'. Christopher has uploaded the photographs from the workshop. Please go to  Sogetsu Victoria to view them.

Continuing with the glass container theme and, as I mentioned before, with an abundance of agaves, I made the arrangement, below.

My student, Mary did the next arrangement from Book 3 - 'Composition of Straight Lines'. She used umbrella grass stems (Cyperus alternifolius) and Strelitzia reginae in a ceramic suiban.

On Saturday I had a rare day alone with my 9 year old, grandson, Xavier. He was nursing an injured ankle and couldn't play his scheduled basketball and, with his parents out, he spent the day with me. Typical boy, he can't sit still for a second but, with a sore ankle, he was forced to. Amongst other activities we engaged in was ikebana and it was at his request. Imagine my delight when he was able to understand my explanations of angles and proportions involved in the first lesson in the book. And, he was wearing the Jacket I made him during the lockdown. He also wore it to school on Friday as they had a free dress day. Apparently, his friends liked it and said that I was talented. But the biggest complement was when one of them referred to me as 'Bad ass'. For an old granny, that's pretty cool!

My very special boy with his 'Basic Upright' arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily

22nd November, 2021

 

Hello all.

The wisteria constantly needs cutting back because it grows very quickly, especially this time of year, and attaches itself to the trees growing near it. After a recent prune I found this beautifully curved piece. As you can imagine, I had to remove quite a number of side shoots to reveal this shape. The vase was ideal at it allowed me to feature the lines and it supported the vine, which would, otherwise, be floppy. The arum lilies and smoke bush stem completed the arrangement.

Today we had the pleasure of meeting face to face with our Sogetsu colleagues at our scheduled workshop after a number of previous, such workshops held on line. This time  Angeline Lo led the workshop with the themes of using "Leaves only" and in a "Clear Glass Vessel". She demonstrated three arrangements and emphasised the refraction and reflection that can occur in water through differently shaped glass. I found it a very interesting workshop and enjoyed seeing the different works and containers of our members. Christopher would not have had time to post the photographs onto our blog yet but I'm sure he will in time.

For my arrangement, I had prepared a piece initially, with which I was quite happy. I used a  small, square, crystal vase with facets which reflected onto the oddly shaped vase on top. I worked two variegated, New Zealand flax leaves in and out of the containers.

However, this was not the one I took to the workshop. Going over Angeline's notes again, I remembered a tall, triangular shaped vase that I've used before and know that it reflects very well. I used a mauve coloured glass cylinder inside the vase, around which I twisted a single, variegated, New Zealand flax. I had intended to use a second flax but the reflections filled the glass to the point that it looked almost crowded.

 Another, very interesting aspect of glass arrangements is that the view changes based on one's viewing position. I have taken photographs from three different aspects to demonstrate this.

Front view

Three weeks ago we had my son and his family move in with us, quite unexpectedly, after a kitchen fire which rendered their home uninhabitable. My little granddaughter, Althea was sent home with a sore throat on Tuesday and had to go through the precautions of testing and awaiting results. Fortunately, they came back negative. However, as my regular class was scheduled for the next day, it had to be cancelled. The exercise I had set for the advanced students was to bring along their most difficult container so we could workshop it in class. Before the need to cancel the class, I had prepared my example with a container that I designed and made in 2016 at the Sogetsu kiln. The difficulty with using this container is that the receptacle for water is small and set high, which means I can't use any heavy materials as it will topple over.

So, I opted for, primarily, light materials, such as the horse tail (equisetum) and smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria - Grace). The heaviest was the strelitzia reginae but it was placed low and close to the centre of gravity.

When there's a flower on my strelitzia nicolai, which I can reach with a reasonable ladder, I have to cut it come hell or high water. In order to get the longest possible stem, I had to sacrifice two, very large leaves. But it was worth it.as I used parts of those leaves in the arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily

15th November, 2021

 

Hello all,

For our November Ikebana International meeting, Chieko Yazaki, head of Shogetsudo Koryu School, lead a workshop on Christmas Ikebana via zoom. Chieko demonstrated three Christmas themed arrangements and we, the members, were asked to make our own arrangement and send a photograph of it to the committee to be included in our Instagram and Facebook accounts. If you would like to see all the arrangements by Chieko and the members, go to our instagram account 'ikebanainternationalmelbourne' but give it a few days for them to be uploaded as the due date for submitting the photos was today.

The arrangement, above was my contribution. I used a mahonia stem with berries, my first white hydrangea, iris ensata and mizouhiki in a glass container.

I made a second Christmas arrangement because I had materials that were crying out to be used. This time it was a wall arrangement using hippeastrums, rhododendron leaves and, behind the flowers and seen only from  side, a spray of white, miniature roses. The silver material is sprayed, dried, spear grass. I debated about which arrangement I should submit. The wall one is simpler but more striking, where as the table arrangement is more subtle as well as more complex. I went with that.

My smoke bush, Cotinus coggygria 'Grace' has gone berserk! It grows on the southern side of the willow and, in an effort to reach the sun, it has grown really long stems, all of them with flowers at their end. I've been impatient to use this wonderful material but, if cut too young, it wilts immediately. Today I gave in to temptation.

Smoke bush in the garden
Apologies for the poor photography but it's very hard
to photograph against the sky

And in the vase with nandina domestica and 
arum lily

My evergreen dogwood, Cornus Capitata is also doing very well and I cut the first stem and used it with the first of my pink hydrangeas.

The 'container' in the next arrangement is made up of a curved container at the bottom. The top is a tile, into which I cut a hole and which I use as a wall container. The two had been sitting on a table in my studio, waiting to be put away, when the idea came to me to combine them. I chose the Siberian iris for its elegant, long stems as well as for its vibrant blue colour. The squiggly grass added some interest with its curves lines.

The ornithogalum that I have featured a few posts ago was 'Ornithogalum arabicum'. In the next arrangement I used Ornithogalum thyrsoides, which flowers a little later. Very convenient for us, ikebanists.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS NO. 6

 

Hello all,

Well, it's been a long time coming but we've finally been able to have another Masterclass. As always, I tried to challenge these advanced students. I set them the theme 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan' but I added a degree of difficulty to this, already challenging theme, by providing quite disparate materials. They each had some sort of dry branches as well as fresh ones with leaves, which would require water. Also, they were given large containers and materials to encourage them to make large arrangements. I'm very pleased to say that they all rose to the challenge and did it justice. Very satisfying for a teacher.

The arrangement, above, was done by Akemi Suzuki. The unusual, dry material is the flower of the agave plant. It is very woody and heavy. The green material is a cordalline, whose leaves were cut sharply and the flower, of course, is an arum lily. Initially, I had given Akemi a much larger suiban but, when the arrangement was finished, it was obvious that the container was inappropriate. So we changed it for a much smaller one and everyone was happy.

Nicole had tea tree branches in two different stages - flowering stage and seeding stage. Also, walnut branches and, for the accent, a stem of oriental lilies in a ceramic suiban. Nicole is not used to making such large arrangements and her comment before she left was that she would have to move house in order to fit this arrangement in it.

Christopher had some unknown dry branches, as well as coastal banksia. I was particularly taken by the white colour on the underside of the leaves of this material. So, Christopher, in deference to me, chose to make a feature of this and he positioned the large oriental lilies behind the branch structure, allowing the banksia to dominate. The container he used was a glass suiban with an uneven base, making this exercise just a bit more difficult.

Vicky had three stelitzia reginae leaves and one flower as well as some unknown dry material. Her container was a large, oval, ceramic suiban.

Jenny had some browallia orange branches, which I cut from my son's garden, a double headed strelitzia reginae and a couple of walnut branches. The container was a rectangular, ceramic suiban.

Christine had  couple of pieces of kangaroo apple (solanum aviculare), some dry bamboo and a stem of oriental lilies. The interest in this arrangement is the creation of triangles with the bamboo which was both in and out of the rectangular, ceramic suiban.

Lucy had large stems of dried magnolia branches, red callistemons and flowers of an unnamed grass. Her container was a very big, stainless steel bowl. 

Just as an explanation, especially for the non-ikebanists amongst my readers, all the arrangements were big and challenging. All the participants struggled to produce the work they did but it was worth it in the end. I, too, had some difficulties and that was with photographing them. They were so big that they barely fit within the area of my photographing screen.

Bye for now,

Emily

8th November, 2021

 

Hello all,

With the easing of restrictions, we were able to resume classes last week, much to everyone's cautious relief. The theme I set for the advanced students was from Book 5 - Arrangements on the Table. There are a quite a number of points  that need to be taken into consideration when making this arrangement, which are clearly explained in the book and which make it a more challenging arrangement than one might think.

My example, above, was for our large dining table (3 metres long) and measured 1.3 metres in length but I kept it quite narrow to allow for food paraphernalia around the base. I, also kept it low enough so as not to obstruct diner's view of each other. The colour of the timber table is almost black, so I kept the colours to a subdued pallet and avoided fragrant flowers. I used sansevieria, smoke bush (Cotinus 'Grace'), arum lilies and on the other side I also used a white and yellow mollis azalea.

Because the festive season is not too far away, I offered to students, who are still studying the curriculum to, also, do this arrangement. Wendy took up the offer and made a striking, modern arrangement, using a strelitzia nicolai leaf, heavily trimmed and curved and flag iris and roses in a ceramic suiban.

Lucy chose to decorate a boardroom table, so she made an arrangement much wider than the rest of us. She used golden elm branches with white and pinky-red roses in a ceramic container. 

Nicole used acacia aphylla stems, sprayed white, blue ceder, plectranthus argentea and roses. She went for silvery colour palette in her materials with the accent of pink in a ceramic suiban.

Vicky's arrangement was also quite long and narrow. She used dogwood branches (cornus sibirica alba), geraniums and iceberg roses in a ceramic suiban.

Shaneen's curriculum theme was 'Fruit and Vegetables'. She used a pineapple, cabbage leaves, lemons, egg plants and a capsicum in a self made, ceramic bowl.

One of my favourite trees is the Portugal Laurel and it is flowering at the moment, with its sprays of white, fragrant flowers. Later these flowers will become green berries changing to deep red-purple, almost black. I used the flowers in the wall arrangement, which is in the entry of the house, welcoming any visitors with their sweet fragrance. The roses are my beloved altissimos.

There is a clump of Green Goddess lilies growing between the rainwater tank and a wall and, therefore, quite protected. The flowers are particularly beautiful with strong contrast between the green and white. However, because these flowers resemble leaves, I struggle to find complementary materials to go with them. I usually arrange them on their own in some way. I've done the same here because I wanted to feature the beauty of each individual flower, thus my only addition is some black coloured wisteria.

Bye for now,

Emily

1st November, 2021

 

Hello all,

Last Friday we had an extreme weather event with wind speeds in excess of 150 km/h, as a result of which trees fell, roofs were blown and thousands of homes were left without power. We fared quite well with just a couple of power interruptions. We even had internet. 

In anticipation of this severe weather, I went out the previous day and cut a number of roses and some branches of my mollis azalea, which would have been badly damaged by the winds and rain. Above is an arrangement with 2 mollis azalea stems and some cumquats in a ceramic vase. And below is another arrangement with a mollis azalea branch and strelitzia reginae flowers in a ceramic container.

As for the roses that I cut, I made a large mass of pink and red roses (about 18 flowers all together) and a number of ornithogulums in this tall structure made of dried corkscrew willow (Salix matsudana 'Tortusa'). I attached all the pieces together, creating a kind of cradle into which I placed a tsubo vase to accommodate the flowers.

Down the road from our house, I discovered a clump of agapanthus that had on it all three growing stages at the same time - buds, a flower and seed heads. Needless to say, that's quite unusual and I was compelled to cut them and arrange them. I bought the cute ceramic container in Vietnam.

The ornithogulums have done extremely well this year and are very useful in ikebana, both for their beauty and their versatility. The flower head is made up of multiple individual flowers with the characteristic black ovary in the centre of each. They are ideal as a mass and are long lasting but they also have long stems, which I like to manipulate to create curves. In the arrangement, below, I used two flowers with similar curved stems and three loquat leaves, which I kept low so as not to obscure the curved stems.

My student, Mary, has just graduated to Book 3 of the curriculum, with her first lesson being 'A Vertical Arrangement'. She, certainly, did justice to it, using spuria iris and mollis azalea in a ceramic suiban.

For many years I have been nursing a straggling plant of Stipa gigantea, a tufted, evergreen grass, which brings long spires of golden, oat like flower panicles in spring and summer. I was beginning to despair of it ever flowering until this year. You can't imagine my delight at the first flower, which, of course, I had to cut as soon as it reached its peak of golden colour. It is such a light material that the breese created by simply walking past it is enough to cause it to flutter in a most charming way.

Stipa gigantea, altissimo rose and ornithogulum

Bye for now,

Emily