Hello all,

I have an olive tree of which I'm not particularly fond for two reasons. Firstly, it doesn't produce many olives (my husband, who comes from Kalamata, had visions of jars filled with marinated olives) and, secondly, I don't find it useful in ikebana because the leaves grow in all directions and they have a very distinct underside. 

However, when I had a close look at some of the branches I was trimming away, I noticed the branch in the arrangement, above, which had potential for ikebana. After careful trimming, I was left with a branch with beautiful movement.

Then the challenge was to find floral material to put with it. At this time of year there are not many flowers in my garden but I do have some rather straggly chrysanthemums. I placed them in a small mass with their stems following the curve of the olive branch. The glass vase is a much prized gift from my daughter and son-in-law.

A few weeks back, to my great delight, my pot of heamanthus coccineus produced five flowers. It's always a challenge using these flowers in ikebana because they have a short stem. I chose two matching, curved containers into one of which I placed the flowers in graduating heights. In the other container I placed sansevierias in graduating heights and finished off with the addition of a wisteria vine, sprayed white. 

At last month's Masterclass we worked with table mats in arrangements as an unconventional material. I, later, played around with one of the mats by wetting it and reshaping it. As it happened, the red, glass bowl was sitting on one of the tables in my studio and I pushed the wet mat into the bowl and left it to dry. It replicated the shape of the bowl. So then the challenge was to find a way to use it. Feeling a little playful, I made the arrangement, below, using spent agapanthus flowers.

In our May Ikebana International meeting Jo Reitze, a painter of some repute, conducted a power point presentation of her work. She specializes in painting gardens, in particular commissioned work. We, the members, were asked to bring arrangements inspired by our gardens. 

I'm almost always inspired by my garden, so it was easy for me. I love the strong, sculptural look of agave and I have three, large clumps growing. The flower I used is called a 'Cleome spider flower'. I had planted some seedlings a few years ago and, it appears, a seed survived in one of my pots and grew into a tall plant. The juxtaposition of the soft, delicate flower against the strong agave appeals to me.

The arrangement, below was made by Wendy. The green material is small sections of giant philodendrons. The container is a coloured glass bowl and the flowers are disbud chrysanthemums.

Photograph curtesy of Lei Wang

When I find interesting materials I have to use them, even if I have nowhere to display them. Below is a case in point. The bean like material in the arrangement are seed pods from the 'Port St John creeper', which grows over the fence from my neighbour's garden. Together with hydrangeas, I made a simple arrangement based on the 'Variation No. 4 Hanging' style.

At the II meeting one of our members had sent along small cuttings of golden pine from his bonsais. As they were very short stemmed, I placed them in my curved container and placed another container behind it, in which I placed two proteas.

This week's camellia ikebana is in a self made container which I call Aladdin's Lamp but which I use quite infrequently.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS #30

 

Hello all,

I must confess, after so many years involved in ikebana, it's rare that I get excited about some material not previously seen but that's exactly what happened when I walked up my daughter's driveway on mother's day. In her garden I saw what appears to be agave attenuata with a flower spike. The flowers attached to the spike had dropped off, leaving the leafy bits on the end. Of course, I had to have it and couldn't wait to get home and play with it. I managed to secure it upright in this heavy, self made container and looked around the garden for other material to use with it. I tried and rejected a couple of them and then settled on the small agave leaves.

For our recent masterclass, as always, students had no idea which materials they would have to work with. After studying their materials, they were able to choose a container.

Lei had three protea flowers in different stages of opening, three NZ flax leaves and a branch of eucalyptus that I was not able to identify. She chose a tall, rectangular container, placed sideways and created a sharp, modern design with the flax. She, painstakingly, worked on the stem of the protea to make it curve downwards and placed it to peek out behind the flax. The soft, eucalyptus material created a contrast against the sharp lines of the rest of the arrangement.

Akemi had two tall, pomegranate branches and a large branch of orange cotoneaster berries (Cotoneaster franchetii). The container with the split down the middle presented some challenges but Akemi managed it quite well.

Bredenia had two, tall branches of the orange cotoneaster with a lot of leaves. She thinned out the leaves considerably, then snapped the tall stems, bending them downwards. She, then, placed the three proteas in a naturalistic style, close to the lip of the ceramic vase.

Vicky used two of her flax leaves, creating a single line and placed the proteas extending forward, something that's lost in the photograph. At the very back Vicky placed the eucalyptus material.

Cymbie had fig branches from which she removed all the leaves and placed them over a retro, purple, glass container. She added one of her three hydrangeas to the side.

Lucy was absent from class but she came and picked up the materials I had for her and made an arrangement at home. She used only two of the four materials - spear grass (xanthorrhoea) and cumquats in a large, glass container.

And now for this week's camellia arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily

AUTUMNAL ARRANGEMENTS

 

Hello all,

This is a gorgeous time of year for ikebanists in Melbourne, with its temperate, oceanic climate which features crisp, sunny days, mild temperatures (although you wouldn't think so the last few days) and stunning colourful foliage. So I set the theme of an autumnal arrangement for the advanced students.

Of course, I went to town with it. When I have an abundance of materials and the ideas that go with it, I can't resist making many arrangements. Often I don't have enough surfaces to display them and they just sit on a studio table.

The arrangement at the top of this post is an attempt to make something more contemporary. The brown bits on the gymea leaves gives an autumnal feel as do the hydrangeas, which are white when fresh but change to this pink blush as they age. This arrangement also fits into the themes of 'Colour of the Container' and 'Shape of the Container'.

The one, below, is quite large - about 1.2 metres across. The branches are persimmon and, because they were so big, I needed the large mass of sunflowers. The last element is amaranthus.

The next arrangement doesn't have an obviously autumnal look but, I feel, it is because this is the season for both elements. This, also, fits with the theme of 'Seasonal Materials'

This was a particularly difficult arrangement to make. I needed a container that could support the heavy fruit. This, resin one, holds enough water to give that balance. The challenge was to secure the heavy branches without resting on the oval ring at the top. It took some 'engineering' to achieve it.

Vicky, true to form, made another large arrangement. Her materials were ornamental grape vine and oriental lily buds. The tall, glass vase is coloured, thus concealing the stems inside.

Lei used ornamental grape vine, smoke bush, Virginia creeper and chrysanthemums in a tall basket.

Lucy was away from class but, as a keen ikebanist, she made an arrangement at home and sent me the photo. She took a unique approach to this topic. She collected oak leaves and glued them together in a sculptural design. She added two umbrella plant leaves as the fresh material. Poor Lu!  She used a hot glue gun for the job and burnt her fingers in the process. The things we do for ikebana!!

Mary used two containers. In one she placed a persimmon branch with a pronounced curve, unfortunately lost in the photograph. In the second container, positioned far at the back, she placed the chrysanthemums, reaching forward in the space created by the stem.

Last week I received a bunch of red roses, sent to me for my birthday by a friend in Germany. I was quite delighted. I made two arrangements. In the first I used a small section of a large philodendron leaf (philodendron maximum) and placed the roses in a row in a contemporary style.

The second arrangement started with the strelitzia reginae leaf that had a natural tear. Also, being a young leaf, it had a red spine, which picked up the colour of the rose. I placed a single rose peeking behind the tear of the leaf.

And now for this week's camelia arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

Hello all,

At our last class I had set the theme of 'Fruiting Plant Materials' for the senior students. In my arrangement, above, I used cumquats, cotoneaster berries and hydrangeas.

And, since my pomegranates were ready to pick, I couldn't resist making some more arrangements. Fruiting branches lend themselves mostly to naturalistic arrangements but I wanted to challenge myself to make a more modern one, below. I removed all the leaves from the pomegranate branches and placed them in this quirky, footed container. I had to place some metal weights into the container to counter the heavy fruit. I, also, employed some serious mechanics to ensure that the branches did not rest on the edge of the container. The small mass at the opening is made up of cathedral begonia leaves.

In the next arrangement I used a creeper that I was not able to identify and cathedral begonia leaves with the pomegranates.

Vicky used three, newly acquired, metal vases, into two of which she placed fig branches. She brought along dahlias but chose not to add them to the arrangement and I agreed with her.

Nicole used mainly branches of cotoneaster, the berries of which were not quite ripe, hence the orange colour instead of red. The colour, however, was ideal to go with her Paul Davis vase as well as the nandina domestica nana.

Cymbie used kefir lime branches, from which she, painstakingly, removed all but a few of the leaves. She chose a double container but used only one side. The dahlias added the floral focus and colour.

Mary, also, chose kefir lime branches in a nageire container. Her floral focus were the white lisianthus.

Dianne's class theme was 'Arrangements for Special Occasions'. She chose to depict the winter solstice as she has a friend who has a birthday around that time. Her materials were - a bare but still fresh branch, nandina domestica nana and hydrangeas. She used a heavy, ceramic container with a split down the middle.

Wendy's class theme was 'Relief Works'. Her aim was to depict fire works, having painted her board blue and her dried agapanthus in shades of yellow, orange and red, representing the exploding fire works.

And, again, I leave you with a camellia arrangement.

Bye for now,

Emily

MAGIC OF VEGETABLES

 

Hello all,

Our recent Ikebana International workshop was led by Lara Telford with the theme 'Magic of Vegetables'. She had one arrangement already set up when we arrived and demonstrated three others using special, retro containers from her collection.

I made the arrangement at the top of this post. I had arrived from our holiday the night before the workshop and had little time to shop for materials. I chose the leeks because I liked their geometrical form. I added the kiwi vine to contrast that form. I did attempt to add some colour with chilies or cherry tomatoes but, I felt, they were superfluous. 

I had, also, picked a bunch of Dutch carrots but didn't use them until after I came home from the meeting. Unfortunately, their green tops had wilted in the meantime, so, I replaced them with sprigs of parsley

Lucy's arrangement, below, comprised of one sweet potato and some xanthorrhoea grass on a slate container.

Jenny chose to use 5 different materials, forming a sculptural design in a ceramic, trough container.

In a previous post I mentioned that I planned to attend The Dahlia Society of Victoria 2026 Show. Well I did and I shopped!! I've been rewarded with some stunning blooms. The photo, below, is of Dahlia Ken's Gala, which I wanted to showcase in an arrangement.

At first I was pleased with the arrangement, below. However, looking at it from a teacher's point of view, I felt that the container dominated too much, when what I wanted was to showcase the flower...

...so I tried a couple of other iterations. The first with a NZ flax leaf and the second with a strelitzia reginae leaf split in half.

I have a curculigo plant in my garden which has taken up too much space and I wanted to reduce its spread to make room for other plants. The stems of this material, close to the roots, have a beautiful orange colour, which is not visible unless they are dug up. So, I challenged myself to make an arrangement with them. I picked a ceramic vase with a narrow split half way down one side, into which I wedged the leaves. The orange dahlias seemed ideal to pick up the colour of the curculigo. The leaves started to wilt by the next day, as they were not in water but I enjoyed the arrangement for as long as it lasted.

I leave you with the first of my camellias to flower and my favourite - the Kamo-Hon-Ami. A very simple arrangement in a basket with a sprig of pine.

Bye for now, 

Emily

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