MASTERCLASS #39

 

Hello all,

A friend of ours, Angie, gave us a large number of place mats in different colours, suggesting that we might use them in ikebana. Well, I thought it was a great idea for our Masterclass. I gave each student two place mats together with 3 other, plant materials. They were to select their own container.

I made the arrangement at the top of this post using place mats, spent agapanthus and nandina domestica nana.

Examples of the place mats

During the class I stripped one of the placemats as an example for the students and, after the class, I thought I'd use it in an arrangement, below.

Lei cut out the centre of one of her place mats and rested it on a trimmed monstera leaf bringing two gerberas through the hole of the place mat, behind the leaf.

Lei, having finished early and having some materials left over, made a second arrangement, below.

Vicky stripped the leaves from the Siberian Dogwood branch (Cornus Siberia alba) and used all of her allocated materials in a rather large container with a small opening.

Cymbie used the two place mats but only one of her NZ flax and one of her Gerberas. The unusual container is made of resin and, I suspect its original use was as a candle holder.

She, too, finished early and had a leaf and flower left over. She made a second arrangement by stripping the flax leaf and placing it and the gerbera in a container in the shape of rings. This arrangement addresses the exercise 'Paying Attention to the Shape of the Container.

Akemi cut up one of her place mats in a very intricate design of triangles. She stripped the leaves from the weeping willow and created curved lines, which then, created spaces. She placed her two, spent agapanthus behind the place mat and the two gerberas at the front.

Bredenia had two branches of cotoneaster berries, from which she, too, stripped the leaves. She, then, placed them in a stainless steel trough. She cut up the place mat and rested it on the branch. She added two, spent agapanthus flowers to the back and the two gerberas at the front.

Lucy' tall arrangement began with a pine branch (pinus radiata), which took some doing to secure in the correct angle in the tall vase. She then added the place mats and the two hydrangeas in between the two mats.

I'd like to make two points here. Firstly that, when using an unconventional material, it should be the main focus of the arrangement and not something to be added on like 'decoration', to quote Kawana sensei.

And secondly, I've observed over the years that, when we have the opportunity to make a second arrangement, after our main exercise is done, the arrangement is often better than the first. I believe this is because the pressure to perform is off, our minds are open and we are able to take more risks.

Oh, one more thing - I'm very proud of the work my students produced.

Bye for now,

Emily

BEAUTIFUL PORT DOUGLAS

 

Ruffled fan palm (Licuala grandis)

 This fan palm appeals to the dressmaker and the ikebanist in me. I’d love to use it in an arrangement and I’d also love to make a pleated skirt with it. 

Hello all,

My sisters and I and our men spent 8 days in Port Douglas in Queensland. For my overseas readers, this is a tropical part of Australia and a popular holiday destination. Here the vegetation is lush and vibrant, with palms, tropical foliage and brightly coloured plants creating a rich, green backdrop everywhere you look. At Niramaya Villas & Spa, where we stayed, this is elevated into beautifully maintained gardens—calm water features, manicured lawns and dense tropical plantings that made the ikebanist in us swoon. In terms of flowers there are not as many as we have down south but the myriad of colourful foliage more than makes up for it.

My favourite plant is the lipstick palm (Cyrtostachys Renda) with its scarlet to bright red stems and contrasting, green foliage.

On our first foray into the town I was quite taken by this shrub with rather large, jasmine-like flowers. Thanks to AI, I was able to identify it as Wrightia antidysenterica.

I managed to resist the temptation to use some of the abundant materials for ikebana. However, on the last day I gave in. The villa in which we stayed has a garden, which backs onto some boggy ground. I cut some materials from the very back, where it would not be noticed and created two arrangements using vases which were at the villa.

The dry, black material in the arrangement below, is an inflorescence, which fell to the ground, most conveniently for me. It came from the grey coloured palm (Bismarckia Nobilis). The rest of the materials are heliconia - leaf and flower and some unfamiliar, green leaves. I used thread from my sewing kit to tie the inflorescences together and managed to position them at the top of the vase.

In the second arrangement, I bent a long, heliconia leaf and added a mass of brightly coloured foliage at the back and some cream coloured ixora chinensis at the front. I placed a plastic water bottle inside the vase into which I placed the stems, so that the materials did not rest on the sides of the vase. 

Another plant in great abundance and which fascinated me is the beach spider lily (Hymenocallis littoralis)

 I took the photo, below on one of my solitary walks through the compound. It took me about half an hour during which I saw no other person. These geese were my only companions. 

We took a number of walks after dinner, when it was quite dark but the strategic lighting of the trees and shrubs gave an otherworldly feeling. The weather was perfect! During the day there are very pleasant sea breezes but at night all is calm and balmy, with only the sounds of night creatures in the trees.  

We enjoyed a number of indulgent meals. The photo, below, is of the six of us having lunch at Osprey restaurant in Thala beach. If you’re traveling that way, I highly recommend it. 

Sisters three - Emily, Lucy and Vicky

Bye for now,

Emily

6TH APRIL, 2026

 

Hello all,

At our recent Wednesday class I had set the theme 'Maze-zashi' - A Variety of Materials. In this exercise five or more materials are used and care must be taken to maintain a lightness of colour and form.

Mine is the arrangement, above. It is, actually, the second arrangement I made of this theme because I forgot to photograph the first. I used six different materials in a self made, ceramic container.

Below is Lei's arrangement. She, too, used six different materials in a ceramic container.

Lucy used seven different materials in an Ikenobo style container which elevated her arrangement, adding to the feeling of lightness.

Nicole, also, used six materials in a ceramic container.

Six seemed to be the number of the day, as that was the number of Vicky's materials, also. Her ceramic container was also in the ikenobo style.

Jenny opted for a ceramic trough for her arrangement and, she too, used six different types of materials.

Wendy's class theme was 'Complementing an Art Piece'. The container she used picked up the colour of the painting and she created angles using the stems of umbrella grass. Her floral focus were two-tone dhalias.

Bye for Now,

Emily