24TH AUGUST, 2024

 

Hello all,

At class last week, for the advanced students, I decided to take advantage of all the flowering wattle trees around and asked the girls to make an arrangement using wattle in two or more containers.

Mine is the arrangement, above. I felt that the Kamo Hon Ami camellias were a perfect accompanying material.

Cymbie had very tall gladiolas, so chose a tall vase into which she placed the wattle and a small suiban for the gladiolas.

Lucy used two different types of wattle and daffodils plus snow drops, daisies and moss.
 

Vicky used two very different, yet matching, containers. She used only wattle and and some unconventional material in the form of a thick wire.

Nicole used two different types of wattle and branches of corky elm in two ceramic containers.

Mary used jonquils and alstroemeria psittacina leaves with her wattle in two matching, ceramic containers.

Lei's class theme was 'Specific Scenes, Occasions or Spaces'. She chose the cabinet in front of the wall mounted television. She kept her arrangement low to prevent obstructing the the screen. She used fatsia japonica leaves, Asiatic lilies and white hardenbergia in a ceramic container.

Dianne's class theme was 'A Variety of Materials'. She arrived to class with a swathe of fabulous materials. She used seven different materials in a large suiban.

I leave you with a few camellia arrangements made with offcuts from other arrangements, which I could just not throw away.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS #24 - WISTERIA

 

Hello all,

At masterclass on Saturday I provided all the attendees with large, rather unruly pieces of wisteria but different accompanying materials. My wisteria had climbed a nearby loquat tree and was threatening to take over. I had employed a couple of young men to remove it from the tree but gave them strict instructions to keep it intact. Once on the ground, it took a Herculean effort for me to disentangle it and cut it into manageable pieces. I had placed the pieces on the lawn because they didn't fit in the studio, from there the students took them and some of them worked on the wisteria, outside before coming in.

I had not prepared an arrangement before the class but, when I was collecting the leftover pieces from the lawn I couldn't resist using some myself. What was left were the thicker, less twisted pieces of wisteria. I made the structure, above and added the green goddess lilies following the same lines.

Cymbie used one of my self made containers with holes all around. She threaded the wisteria through some of the holes, creating an interesting space. The jonquil leaves followed the line of the wisteria and the flowers created a very fragrant mass.

Leigh used a ceramic container which has a handle made of twisted wisteria. She created interesting spaces by adding to that wisteria. The curculigo leaves added contrast and the camellia reticulata a focal point.

Jenny also used one of my self made containers, quite a large one in fact and created a network of irregular sized spaces with the wisteria. The photograph makes the arrangement look flat, when, in fact, it wasn't. Arum lilies and monstera deliciosa leaves completed the arrangement.
 

Akemi chose a very interesting but challenging container, which comprised of a flat plate with irregular holes placed over a large bowl. In order to secure the wisteria upright, quite a lot of mechanics had to be employed between the plate and the bowl. The New Zealand flax continued the lines of the wisteria and the Brushfield's yellow camellia created an informal mass.

Christine's piece of wisteria lent itself to going high. She chose a tall, glass vase and spent some time securing the wisteria in position. She opted not to use the gymea leaves that were part of her materials but placed only two green goddess lilies vertically, contrasting with the curves of the wisteria.

Lucy made a swirl of circles, which she secured onto a metallic vase. Two strelitzia reginae leaves were fed through the 'circles' and an oriental lily flower and buds were peeking from behind.

Vicky used another of my self made containers and, although she was a little disappointed with the material that was allotted to her, she made a very charming arrangement with the pale green banksia flowers and leaves with a silvery back. 

It was one of our most challenging Masterclasses but, when we managed to tame the unruly wisteria, we had a real sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Bye for now,

Emily

FLOOR ARRANGEMENTS

 

Position - Under the stairs on the inside curve  

Hello all,

At last class the theme for the advanced students was 'Floor Arrangement'. In my arrangement, above, I used black pine (Pinus Thunbergii), camellias from aunty's garden and nandina seedheads that have been painted white.

I was quite happy with my floor arrangement but, then, I found, a large broken branch of ornamental pear (Pyrus calleryana) in bud, just laying on the ground under the tree. And I could not resist. Hence the arrangement, below. I had to screw together the four branches at the base, concealed by the vase then added (I should say, squashed in) the arum lilies. I would have liked to have used more but there was, simply, no room in the opening of the container.

Position - on the outside curve of the stair

Vicky made an arrangement for a particular corner in her house and photographed it in situ. She used kiwi vine and green goddess lilies.

Vicky, made a second arrangement to place in front of her fireplace. She used umbrella grass stems and alstroemeria psittacina leaves in a ceramic container. She had sent me a photograph of it in situ but the quality was poor, so I'm using the photo I took. 

Nicole used a very tall, glass vase into which she inserted a variegated, New Zealand flax leaf up-side-down. This added to the design as it made it appear that the leaf continued to the top of the vase but, also, concealed the stems of the other materials. She used aeoniums - stems and flower as well as the flax.

Lucy, true to form, made a very tall and slim arrangement. She used gymea leaf and a variegated, New Zealand flax in front of it. She took great pains to create space between the two leaves and then added a creeper (hardenbergia-happy wonderer). Lucy also turned the container sideways for a more streamlined look.

Mary used two, large philodendron leaves, from which she removed the bulk of the leaf. She placed them in a heavy, stone-composite container, turned sideways, then added Dutch irises (iris hollandica). She kept the stems tightly together to create one single line.

Cymbie made a dramatic arrangement using two gymea leaves and one New Zealand flax leaf in a tall, metal vase.

 

Lei's lesson was to pick one of the 'Fifty Principles of Ikebana'. She chose no. 45 -

If the flowers are the main feature, the container should be subordinate to the flowers. Likewise, if the container is the main focus, then the flowers should be secondary to it.

Lei chose the latter. She used an interesting container with large, round holes in front and back.  She placed a small cymbidium orchid and some alstroemeria psittacina leaves, leaving most of the openings free.

Having finished quickly, I suggested she select one of my containers and help herself to my garden to make another arrangement. She chose one of my self made containers, which is quite elaborate and added only a camellia bud and one alstroemeria psittacina leaf.

Bye for now,

Emily

5TH AUGUST, 2024

 

Hello all,

As many of you will be aware, our chapter is celebrating our 60th Anniversary this year with various events planned, one of which is a demonstration by our special guest, Master Instructor, Kosa Nishiyama. Details in the flyer, above. It is a rare treat to see a demonstration by such an accomplished master instructor outside of Japan, so I hope you will avail yourselves of this opportunity. We're very excited and would love it if you would join us. Also, tell your friends.

At the recent Sogetsu meeting I ran the workshop with a double theme - 'With Leaves Only' and 'Using Two or More Containers'. 

In the lesson 'With Leaves Only', we are required to use single leaves not ones attached to branches and to use at least two different types of leaves. Also, thin leaves, such as dietes or spear grass are considered lines not leaves.

As for 'A Number of Containers', I feel that it is not advisable to fit one container into another because that merely creates one new container. So I advised the attendees to avoid it.

I had one arrangement set up when the meeting began and demonstrated another three. The photograph, above is of me and my three demonstration pieces.

The photograph, below, is of the arrangement already set up. I used Gymea Leaf, 3 New Zealand flax leaves, bird's nest fern and fatsia japonica leaf in two ceramic suibans.

The next three photographs are of my demonstration pieces.

One dried and one fresh strelitzia nicolai leaf, 2 curculigo leaves, arum lily leaves
and cathedral begonia leaves in two, self made containers

Two trimmed, monstera deliciosa leaves, one strelitzia reginae leaf and two sansevieria leaves in metal containers

Haemanthus lily leaf, two aspidistra leaves and bromeliad leaves in one resin and one ceramic container.

Side view of above arrangement

All the photographs of the demonstration are courtesy of Christopher James.

REUSING MATERIALS

I'm always loathe to discard any material that may still be useful. Often, it will be reused but there are, also, times that it will sit in the bucket until it decomposes and, lets face it, start to smell. Below are four examples of materials that have contributed to a new arrangement.

I had used the trimmed conifer in a different arrangement originally but when I dismantled it two weeks later, the conifer was still in great condition. So, I cut it down and created a new arrangement of mass and line with the addition of an arum lily.

The sansevieria leaves were a part of my demonstration piece at our recent workshop. This material can last a very long time, even out of water. To my new arrangement, I added a third leaf and brightly coloured camelias in a ceramic container, which I made at the Sogetsu kiln.

The bare leafed muehlenbeckia is very versatile as it does not need to be in water. I think the two arrangements are quite self explanatory.

 

I split the variegated New Zealand flax leaves and created an arrangement on the theme of 'The Shape of the Container' using my self made, ceramic container.

Mary's class theme was 'Arrangements with Plants on a Wall'. She used a dried branch with aspidistra leaves and camellias.

And one more thing. In my last post I attributed Akemi's arrangement to Cymbie. I apologize to both the girls.

Bye for now,

Emily