MASTERY IN BLOOM #1

 

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Hello all,

 As I mentioned in my previous post, Lucy and I have been in Sydney, where we attended a demonstration and workshops conducted by master instructor, Misei Ishikawa. The event, run by Sogetsu NSW, was called 'Mastery in Bloom'. There is an enormous amount of work and planning involved in such an event and we were all very grateful to the members of the Sydney chapter for their efforts. We, the guests were able to enjoy sensei's demonstration, the dinner, the workshops and, very importantly, the socialising. 

The photograph, above, is of Ishikawa sensei demonstrating on the stage. She made a number of interesting arrangements, each one different from the rest, culminating in a large, floor installation using heavy, white branches, tortuous willow, delphiniums, thryptomene and some other fresh materials in two, large, ceramic containers. Sensei, had previously prepared a paper banner on which she had painted patterns in black, gold, purple and silver and then draped over the installation.

Photographing arrangements against a busy background is always disappointing but I did my best with this large one by climbing on a chair to get a good shot. Sensei had secured the large palm leaf base into the large, ceramic container, then added the Japanese maple, double oriental lilies and alstroemerias.

 Below are the rest of sensei's demonstration pieces.

Looking closely you'll see a small bell hanging from the branch and a gold leaf hanging from the bell. The fan was to create a breeze to move the leaf and ring the bell.

For the first workshop, sensei had brought from Japan gold and silver leaf and demonstrated how they can be used to embellish some parts of an arrangement. She used a glue stick on the surfaces of leaves, on to which the gold and silver leaf could be adhered. 

Below are sensei's two demonstration pieces.

Gold leaf in centre of rubber tree leaves (Ficus elastica). Gerbera.

Monstera deliciosa leaves, gerbera and gypsophila 

There were materials provided for all the participants and Lucy chose two fan palms, the stems of which she partially covered in gold leaf. She, then placed the leaves up side down in a container with two openings. She added a gerbera having, embellished half of it with gold leaf.

 

I, two, had chosen two palm leaves. With each one I curled all but the two outer leaves into a balloon shape. I, then, added gold leaf on the remaining outer leaves. I had brought with me the tall, metal container and was able to use the height to drape down one of the ‘balloons’ and place the other upwards. I added two gerberas and a sprig of gypsophila.

In the afternoon workshop sensei demonstrated how wax paper can be used in an arrangement to create depth. She had two different coloured wax papers, which she scrunched to create volume and depth, then used tortuous willow branches on to which she attached the wax paper. To complete the arrangement, sensei added two, small, monstera deliciosa leaves and chrysanthemums.

Lucy also used tortuous willow in a small, ceramic container. She caught the wax paper high on the willow, with the two colours diagonally opposite each other. Ishikawa sensei picked this arrangement as her favourite.

I, too used the tortuous willow for this exercise, as this material was in abundance and was ideal for giving height to the arrangements. I pinched the wax paper from the centre creating a rough cone shape and placed the green in front of the pink. I then fed the chrysanthemums stems into the centres of each paper.

I leave you with these next two photos, the first of me and the second of Lucy getting the benefit of sensei's critique.

I will continue with photographs from the second day of workshops in next week's blog post.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

2ND NOVEMBER, 2026

 

Hello all,

Spring is here and I am enjoying the fruits of my labours. That is, for all the work I put into my garden I am being rewarded by an abundance of materials. The wall arrangement, above, comprises moliss azalea and two gymea leaves. 

When the azalea flowers died the gymea leaves were still very green, so I replaced the azaleas with hippeastrum flowers and stipa gigantea seed heads. I have had a pot of this particular grass for at least 15 years and in all that time it graced me with the sum total of one seed head. But I am patient, if not stubborn, and decided to plant it in the ground and see what happens. Imagine my delight when this year I saw 5 seed heads!

The irises are also blooming all together and I'm struggling to keep up with them. In the end I had to accept the fact that I can't arrange every flower in my garden.

Below is an arrangement with mauve and white, flag irises. I have arranged them in the traditional style with careful placement of the leaves as dictated by the rules. However, one of the flower stems had fallen as it grew and the flowers were facing upwards from a horizontal position, so I placed it in the arrangement almost as a hikae.

The Louisiana Irises are also starting to bloom and I arranged them also in the traditional style. However, because they don't have many leaves, I used leaves from the spuria irises. I added small sprigs of Japanese maple and stipa gigantea seedheads. The container is an art deco, vintage trough. 

Vicky has an abundance of equisetum growing and, having finished her class arrangement, had a bit of fun with it, adding altissimo roses in a ceramic container.

Our recent Sogetsu workshop was conducted by our director, Aileen Clarke, who set the theme 'Paper as the Shin'. She meant for us to use paper as the main element of our arrangement and to think of other materials as secondary, such as soe and hikae.

For my arrangement, I used some pleated paper, which I sprayed blue when it was closed, giving it a stripy effect as the pleats opened. I chose the blue to pick up the blue in the centre of the two, yellow birds of paradise (strelitzias reginae 'Mandela Gold'. I have to confess some arrogance on my part in not doing any kind of trial at home. And, to make things worse, I didn't bring along my entire tool kit. I only brought a few basic ones. Well, after struggling a great deal with the jolly thing, I learnt to be better prepared in the future. Here, too, I used stipa gigantea seedheads. I was not entirely happy with the results. It looked much better in my head.

I had the arrangement on the kitchen island bench and saw it every time I went past and it bothered me. I had to put on my teacher's hat and look at it objectively. I did not want to start from scratch but I had to do something. In the end, I felt the metal container was wrong, in terms of colour and proportion, so I replaced it with a shorter, ceramic trough and am now happier with it. I also added statice, mostly at the back because, being on the island bench, it is also viewed from the back and the statice concealed some mechanics.

Mary's spring arrangement was a joy to behold. In a bright yellow vase she placed mollis azaleas, strelitzias reginae and umbrella grass stems.

Her next arrangement has the theme 'Glass Containers'. Mary used clematis vine with the flowers on the outside and the stems creating curves inside the triangular, glass vase.

I usually post my blogs on Mondays but I'm preparing this on Friday with instructions for Sam to post it on Monday.

Tomorrow Lucy and I are heading off to Sydney for 'Mastery in Bloom', an ikebana event held by the Sogetsu New South Wales branch. There will be an ikebana demonstration by Master instructor, Misei Ishikawa, who will, also, be running workshops. We're very excited and are eagerly looking forward to it. I hope to have photographs and news for you in my next blog post. 

Bye for now,

Emily

26TH OCTOBER, 2026

Hello all,

For Wednesday's class I set the theme 'A spring arrangement'. This is not the same as the theme 'Seasonal Materials'. I instructed the students to create an arrangement with a spring feel.

In the arrangement, above, I used apple blossom branches, clematis and statice in a tall, glass vase and a low, ceramic container. 

Jenny used a tall stem of viburnum opulus and spuria iris in an oval shaped, ceramic container.

Lucy has always been partial to golden elm branches and uses it at every opportunity. At this time of year the new leaves are a very appealing, lime colour. Lucy used ornithogalum flowers and Altissimo roses.

Lei was keen to use the basket she recently bought from an op shop. She had a strong mulberry branch around and over the basket and added ornamental grape vines and a flowering branch which could be an ornamental cherry.

Vicky brought masses of viburnum opulus branches and made another huge arrangement. She used a very tall and heavy, glass vase, necessary to hold the volume and weight of the branches. She also added two very big strelitzias reginae to complete the arrangement.

Nicole placed flowering, hawthorn branches and a late flowering rhododendron in a ceramic, rectangular container.

Last week I posted the photograph, below, of my lilac branch and a rhododendron stem. Once the flowers on both stems died I intended to throw them all out. However, the lilac branch was quite lovely once the dead flowers were removed...

 .....so I decided to use it in another arrangement, below, this time with strelitzias in a contemporary style container. 

I leave you with a couple of cheeky ornithogalum flowers, which I manipulated to create these curves and placed in a slate container made by my very clever brother-in-law, Peter. The leaves are some sort of pinellia. 

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS #35

 

Hello all,

For Saturday's Masterclass I had provided each of the students with two different types of branch materials and a small number of flowers. My instructions to them were to concentrate on arranging the branches harmoniously and then consider how to place the flowers. This is inspired by the lesson 'Using Branch Materials Only'.

As always, I give myself the same challenge. At the end of the class some small amount of materials were left over, which I used to create the arrangement, above. My materials were Japanese maple, cashmere cypress and aloe maculata flowers, all in a metal container.

The arrangement, below, was done by Lei. Her materials were Japanese maple, viburnum opulus and strelitzias reginae in a ceramic vase.

Swann opted for an almost horizontal arrangement using Japanese maple, Siberian dogwood and aloe maculata flowers in a ceramic, curved container.

Akemi trimmed off a considerable amount of her branch materials - callistemon and cashmere cypress. She took advantage of their cascading form and placed them in a tall, ceramic container, somewhat intertwined. The green Goddess lilies were following the same direction, only shorter.

Jenny, quite understandably, was reluctant to trim too much from her branch materials but, after some discussion in the class, she agreed that it was important to show the split of the container and removed the unnecessary materials. Her materials were viburnum opulus, callistemon and green Goddess lilies in a ceramic vase.

Lucy's olive branch was particularly challenging because the leaves have a frustrating habit of facing all directions. She paired it with crab apple branches in flower, in a ceramic, triangular container, then added the clivias for colour.

Those of us using cashmere cypress chose tall containers to best display its cascading form. Vicky used a tall, metal vase and, she too, trimmed a great deal of the cypress and callistemon branches before placing them in the vase, then added the arum lilies in a mass.

And now some arrangements I made purely for my own pleasure. The wall arrangement, below comprised clematis, clivias and nandina domestica seed heads.

This next number is in an extra tall, glass vase. The materials were viburnum opulus (probably too many), rhododendrons and weeping willow.

It is with great pleasure that I share this next photo. I was tickled pink when I saw that my peony had three flower buds. This one is the first to open. I used a loquat branch with it and made an arrangement loosely based on variation no. 4.

Bye for now,

Emily

12TH OCTOBER, 2026

 

Hello all,

The arrangement, above, fits the themes 'Colour of the Container' and 'Shape of the Containr' and the materials are Siberian dogwood (Cornus Siberica Alba) and Asiatic lilies.

The following arrangement fits the theme 'Using One Kind of Material' and that material is strelittzia nicolai.

The large arrangement, below, comprised a palm spathe, strelitzias reginae and kiwi vine sprayed gold in a donut shaped container.

The single stem of pelargonium, after removing subordinate stems, had enough interest in its shape to stand alone. It, also, fits the theme 'One Kind of Material'. The challenge was to secure it in the low, ceramic container which has a small hole, preventing much access to the inside. To be honest, I can't remember how I did it.

A very simple arrangement, below, using an agapanthus inflorescence and crucifix orchid.

And yet another agave arrangement. Don't judge me! The delicate crucifix orchid is a contrast to the strength of the agave.

I made the next arrangement at an Ikebana International workshop, the theme for which was 'Kimono'. I used cane, sprayed black, hydrangeas and Portuguese Laurel berries.

I'm not sure what the dried branch in the wall arrangement, below, is as I found it by the side of the road. The other materials are dahlias and amaranthus.

Yet another example of 'Using One Kind of Material'. This time it's a bromeliad in a glass container.

A large arrangement, below, using wisteria and hydrangeas.

Bye for now,

Emily