Nicole was quite quick with her arrangement, so was able to make a second one. In the first she used umbrella grass, dietes leaves and alstroemeria psittacina leaves....
Nicole was quite quick with her arrangement, so was able to make a second one. In the first she used umbrella grass, dietes leaves and alstroemeria psittacina leaves....
Hello all,
The advanced students were set the theme from Book 5 - 'Relief Works', where dried, bleached or coloured materials are arranged on a board, meant to be hung on the wall.
The photograph, above, is of my relief work. I used a painting canvas on which I glued mung beans and black beans and I wired wisteria vine and nandina domestica berries.
Mary, in her arrangement, below, used corrugated cardboard and dried leek flowers.
Jenny created a white on white piece using wire and paper to create circles, then added white coloured, Japanese anemones after the petals had fallen. She added a subtle colour with the dried hydrangeas.
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Contorted hazel (corylus avellana contorta), red stemmed dogwood (cornus siberica alba), variegated New Zealand flax and strelitzia reginae flower |
Hello all,
At our recent Sogetsu meeting, I led the workshop on the theme 'In a Suiban Without a Kenzan'. This was originally part of the curriculum in Book 4 but, more recently, it is, also, featured in Book 5, where the difficulty is increased. This is probably the most challenging lesson in our curriculum. I added another level of difficulty by asking the members to use mainly fresh, bare branches as well as some other materials.
In this arrangement the focus is on the water in the container and the stems of materials entering the water, hence the 'no kenzan'.
I had one arrangement set up and demonstrated three others.
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Yellow dogwood (Cornus sericea flaviramea) and variegated New Zealand Flax |
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Corky Elm and Green Goddess lilies in a self made, ceramic suiban |
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Japanese flowering apricot (prunus mume) and strelitzia reginae |
Mary and Cymbie made arrangements on the theme 'With Leaves Only'. In the arrangement, below, Mary used variegated New Zealand flax, arum lily leaves and curculigo leaves in a ceramic container.
Bye for now,
Emily
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Magnolia, pine, cotoneaster, chrysanthemums and gypsophila |
Cymbie's arrangement was made in a nageire container.
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Photograph courtecy of Lei Wang |
And now to ikebana. I made the arrangement, above, for our recent Ikebana International workshop. It was led by Angie Chau of the Ikenobo school. Our theme was 'Autumn Colours'. Most attendees used branches with autumn coloured leaves, however, I didn't have any as all of my trees were well past their best. I chose to go with the strelitzia nicolai leaf from my recent prunings, which was colouring beautifully. The two, strelitzia reginae flowers finished the arrangement. I had to employ some serious mechanics to have that heavy leaf stand just so. I, then, pinned the flower stems to the leaf stem to keep the line clean.
For our recent class I asked the senior students to make an autumnal arrangement in a tsubo vase. Below is my example. I used branches from my viburnum opulus, hydrangeas and oranges in a ceramic tsubo vase.
Nicole used poplar branches, cotoneaster berries and nandina domestica nana in a ceramic, tsubo vase.