2025 - FIRST CLASS

 

Hawthorn berries, crabapples and dahlias 

Hello all,

Classes for the year began last Wednesday. We all enjoyed getting together again after such a long break. Studying ikebana takes a very long time, which means that students and teacher get to know each other quite well and develop a unique relationship. I genuinely miss the girls when I haven't seen them for a while.

For the first class I set a relatively easy theme - 'Seasonal Materials'. My example, above, is of a wall arrangement which I photographed against a black background rather than on the wall on which it is hanging. When photographing against a white background, the colours seem to be distorted somewhat, whereas against a black background the colours are rich and vibrant.

Cymbie used a stem of rose hips and hydrangea in a ceramic container. The stem reflects the shape of the container.

Bredenia sacrificed a number of pomegranates for her arrangement and added Corymbia ficifolia and Amaryllis belladonna in a large, ceramic container.

Mary used Portuguese laurel, Prunus lusitanica with its berries, amaranthus and hydrangea in a footed, ceramic suiban.

Lucy's vertical arrangement comprised of hanging amaranthus, hydrangea and crabapples in a ceramic vase.

Vicky used a long, contorted hazel stem, Corylus avellana contorta, in a vertical arrangement and added a single geranium flower.

Nicole, who tends to favour baskets, chose grass seedheads, nandina domestica, hawthorn berries, hydrangea and belladonna lilies.

Lei's curriculum lesson was 'What Ikebana Can Do Today'. She planned for her arrangement to be placed in the waiting room of her hairdressing salon. She started with an interesting, metal container and added palm fronds, which she trimmed heavily, massed statice and a single anthurium. This arrangement could fit into two curriculum themes - 'The Shape of the Container' and 'Repeating Similar Shapes'.

Wendy's curriculum theme was 'With Leaves Only'. In this exercise the interest is created by the different colours, shapes and textures of leaves. Wendy used young strelitzia nicolai, New Zealand flax, canna and cordyline leaves in a large, ceramic vase.

Dianne's exercise was 'Fruiting Branches'. The challenge in this exercise is to balance the branches, which are heavier than normal because of the fruit on them. Dianne used nectarine branches and added kniphofias. It required some stabilizing of the kenzan by wedging a horizontal fixture over it to prevent it from tipping over due to the weight of the fruit.

The arrangement was very pleasing with the main stem sweeping forward. However, in the photograph the branch appears to be sweeping upwards...

... so we cut the branch to lower it, thus making the arrangement more balanced.

Bye for now,

Emily