24th July, 2023

 

Hello all,

For last week's class, for the advanced students, I had set the theme 'Composition Expressing a Movement'. In this exercise it is important to differentiate between a verb and a movement. Although all movements are verbs, the reverse cannot be said. For example words such as sleeping, sitting, standing, thinking are all verbs, but they are not movements. Running, jumping, dancing, throwing, punching are all movements. That's what we are required to express.

My arrangement, above, was done with variegated agave and I'm hoping that the movement of 'walking' is recognisable.

Jenny's arrangement, below, expressed the movement 'Exploding'. She, painstakingly, curled strips of variegated flax leaves and added billy buttons and dianthus in a delightful, glass vase.

Nicole's arrangement expressed 'Fighting'. She used rather aggressive looking aloes with tendrils intertwined in two, matching, ceramic vases.

Cym wanted to express 'Swirling'. She used palm inflorescence and dietes leaves to create the movement. The vase is made of glass.

Lucy's movement was 'Flying'. She managed to balance two aspidistra leaves on long umbrella grass stems and added a red crucifix orchid as a focal point.

Shaneen's curriculum lesson was 'Composing with Branches - A Two Step Approach'. In this exercise a free standing structure is created using branches. Once that's completed it is, then, used with a container and fresh materials, thus creating a new piece.

Shaneen used some unknown branches, below, for her structure. 

She, then, placed it on a tall vase and added queen's tears bromeliad flowers, leucadendrons and white lilly pilly berries.

Wendy's curriculum lesson was 'Disassembling and Rearranging the material'. She, very painstakingly, removed all the leaves and berries from cotoneaster branches. She used the branches to create the curved lines and placed the berries in a glass bowl inside a larger, glass vase. The stem of the tulip that she added reflected the curves of the branches and added another element to the arrangement.

Lei's curriculum lesson was 'Green Plant Materials'. She used a large, fatsia leaf, fatsia berries and chocos in a ceramic vase. Although the materials are all green, enough interest is created by the different textures and shapes.

Dianne's lesson was a 'Mass Arrangement'. She created three different groups of massed materials - euphorbia, hypericum berries and alstroemeria psittacina leaves in a newly acquired, ceramic container.

Mary's lesson was 'Arrangements for Celebrations'.Mary chose to celebrate the birthday of a friend who loves Australian natives. She used a wattle, whose name I was not able to find and dwarf banksias in an arrangement based on Variation No. 3, slanting style, nageire.

Bye for now,

Emily

One Kind of Material

 

Hello all,

The arrangement, above, is made up of two stems of Banksia Lemanniana, which I had used at my demonstration for the Vermont Floral Art group.

I had some left over materials from the Ikebana International workshop last week and simply had to use them before they died. It was only after I finished that I realised they fell into the theme 'One kind of Material. The protea, below, is from my son's neighbours' garden. I had removed all the side shoots and leaves, leaving only the one stem with flower and revealing the curved stem. This is, also, a 'Simplified Arrangement'.

The tulips from 'Mr Fresh' were excellent and lasted very well. I made the arrangement, below, exactly one week after the demonstration.

And, whilst we're on the subject of one kind of material, Mary's class theme was 'Japanese Narcissus'. In this exercise, the flower stem and leaves are removed from the sheath (Hakama), which is just above the bulb and rearranged, then the sheath is fitted over the bottom of the stems, holding them together. The flaw in this process is that it destroys the bulb. I was able to provide Mary with two plants to practice this technique. She then made a simple arrangement in an unusual trough container. 

Mary made a second arrangement with narcissus and aspidistra leaves in a triangular suiban.

Shaneen's class theme was 'Arrangements for Celebrations'. She used cypress, kniphofia, leukadendron and mizuhiki (paper strings) in a ceramic container.

Lei's class theme was 'Arrangements on the Table'. She created bamboo structures which she placed over two, art deco, ceramic containers. She, then, added friesas and ivy.

Wendy's class theme was 'Vines'. She used wisteria vine, wattle and camellias in a tall, ceramic vase.

Dianne's class theme was 'Shape of the Container'. She started with a circular but narrow container with curved ridges running across it. She used brown cordyline leaves and dietes leaves to reflect those lines and miniature iris as a focal point. The arrangement was to be placed on a pedestal.

I leave you with this reworking of my arrangement from last week. I had used Japanese flowering quince branches with my prunus mume and salvias. Within a week the prunus and salvias had died but the flowering quince was fuller with the buds having opened. I removed the dead materials and replaced them with red and white camellias.

Reworked

Original

 

Bye for now, Emily

10th July, 2023

 

 Hello all,

Last Saturday, I had the privilege of running a workshop for our Ikebana International group. We liaised with Mr Fresh, a wholesale florist company, from whom the committee bought materials for the members to use.

Lucy, my beautiful assistant, and I put together combinations of materials on the tables and then numbered them. As each member arrived she or he picked a number which corresponded with one of the bunches. They were instructed to bring one nageire container and one suiban, in order to have a choice and were required to make an impromptu arrangement.

I demonstrated two arrangements and, in the interest of fairness, I did not prepare my work either. However, I had one advantage as the demonstrator of being able to choose some materials. 

My first arrangement was in a nageire vase and I used long stems of bare, magnolia branches, which required some mechanics, disbud chrysanthemums and red and white hypericum berries.

My second arrangement, at the top of this page, was in a suiban. I was quite taken by the rather strange tulips with their bent heads. I used with them umbrella fern, which I rather liked but which proved a point of contention in the room. Some people loved it and others hated it. Over the kenzan I used a small amount of alstroemeria.

For photographs of work by the other members please go to Ikebana Melbourne.

And now back to class.

I didn't set a theme for the advanced students last week, instead I provided them with branches of my Japanese flowering apricot (prunus mume) and they brought containers and other, complementing materials. It's such a pleasure to have blossoms in the middle of a cold, bleak winter. It's not a large tree but it does need pruning to keep it in shape and I do that when it's in flower, so we can all enjoy the branches.

For my arrangement I used a large, self made container, Japanese flowering apricot, Japanese flowering quince and a type of salvia that I discovered at my son's garden. If anyone knows its name, please write and let me know.

Bredenia's arrangement was 'In a suiban without a kenzan'. She balanced the three branches very well, then added just two green goddess lily buds.

Vicky used oriental lilies and nandina domestica with her blossom branches, in a delightful trough container.

Jenny's vase was, also, very interesting with its three 'legs'. She used spray chrysanthemums only with her blossom branches.

Nicole used a simple, pink container and azalea branches with her blossom stems.

Lucy, also used an interesting container and gorgeous, red camellias with her branches.

Bye for now,

Emily

3rd July, 2023

 RESCUED FROM THE RUBBISH HEAP

Hello all,

As I mentioned previously, we are in the process of preparing our house for sale. One of the most difficult tasks is to get rid of the clutter in my store rooms. Or, at least, decrease it. I had taken out and placed on the lawn a great number of dried and unconventional materials. Some were sold and others were to be thrown away. Do you think I could do it??? As I picked each one to put in the bin, I imagined what I could do with it.

The first one was a thick piece of dried, weeping mulberry (photo above). I brought it into the studio and balanced it on top of the ceramic container. I chose camellia branches because they are in flower and because they have a relatively thin stem, which could fit in the small opening of the container.

Then I picked dried, sprayed corky elm branches that were wired together in a particular shape. I cut away the wire and re-arranged them in a sweeping motion in a modern, lacquered suiban. My son's neighbours very kindly allowed me to cut some of their proteas, which were, then, added to the structure.

I had some enormous, dried strelitzia nicolai leaves, from which I cut away most of the material, leaving two, small curved pieces on a short stem. The two, metal, conical containers with a number of holes, were quite convenient. This red camellia is a favourite of mine and I will attempt to dig it up and take it when we leave. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it survives.

There were piles of wisteria vines to be thrown away, amongst which was this little piece. All it needed was a vase and this camellia looking up through the round 'window'.

In the next arrangement, I used a piece of plastic, fluorescent light cover, which I had distorted using a heat gun. I had done this a very long time ago and I had intended to throw out but, I thought, it deserved one more use. It sat around the studio for a number of weeks because I couldn't decide what flower to use with it. I discovered this large, green goddess lily beside the rainwater tank and immediately thought of my plastic material.

Yesterday I pruned the roses. It is July after all. Amongst the prunnings was this small piece of iceberg rose stem that I could not discard. It has enough character and drama to make an arrangement on its own.

Mary's class theme was a 'Floor Arrangement'. She chose the position under the staircase in which to place her arrangement. She used a heavy, nageire container and Japanese flowering apricot branches (prunus mume) and disbud chrysanthemums. 

Bye for now,

Emily