WORKING WITH METAL

 

Hello all,

At our recent Sogetsu meeting I conducted the workshop on the subject of 'Working With Metal'. An email was sent out to the members in which I gave only a couple of instructions - 

That this theme is an extension of our curriculum theme in Book 4 - 'Using Both Fresh and Unconventional Materials'.

That the metal should be the main focus of the arrangement, not just an add on afterwards.

I demonstrated four arrangements using different types of metal. In the photograph at the top of this post I used tarnished, copper piping. To create the tarnish I had spread yogurt, unevenly, over it and left it outside for a few days. The container was a gift from my cousin Steve and his wife Nieves and the stunning hydrangeas were supplied by my colleague, Beverly Webster. Beverly lives in an area with acidic soil, hence the intense blue colour of her hydrangeas. Alas, my soil is alkaline and I have been battling it for years by the addition of all sorts of chemicals around the hydrangeas in an effort to change them from pink to blue. The best I've been able to achieve is an insipid mauve.

In the arrangement, below, I used stainless steel tubes and pipes. To secure the tubes on to the wooden board I had attached pieces of bamboo onto it using screws and was able to fit the tubes over the bamboo. I used a small branch of smoke bush (Cotinus Grace) and three nerines. Each of the fresh materials was placed in a plastic, water vial and the vials were pushed into the tubes.

I have used the very old and rusted piece of metal, below, in a couple of ways in the past, including at an exhibition. I'm particularly fond of it and handle it very carefully as it is quite fragile. This time I secured it onto a very tall, ceramic vase and added some of my white hydrangeas which are changing into their autumnal colours. As a final touch, I added three tufts of foxtail grass (Alopecurus).

The next arrangement was partially done at home because it would have taken far too much time to demonstrate the cutting of the wire mesh and wiring the two cones together. I chose the container for its shape. The fact that it was metal was a happy coincidence. The fresh materials were crucifix orchids. I chose them for their lightness to fit with the lightness of the mesh.

I'm very grateful to my colleague, Christopher James for supplying me with the next three photographs. 

Vicky's piece was very dramatic. She secured a thick, dried branch onto a board and attached to it silver duct tubing. For fresh materials she added red dahlias to the back and dietes leaves sweeping forward.

Jenny, clearly, had fun raiding her kitchen for metal utensils to use with her large, metal container. Tying everything together were swirls of a thick wire. She used only one kind of fresh material - agapanthus seed heads, without the seeds.

Lucy kept her arrangement simple but quite dramatic. On a tall, black vase she balanced a sheet of shaped, silver metal. Having cut a hole in the metal, she placed through it the inside part of an agave.

Bye for now, 

Emily

MASTERCLASS #38

Hello all,

At our recent Ikebana International meeting our guest speaker was Chieko Hesta, who is an expert on all things origami. She kindly brought along materials and instructions for all of us to create our own origami tulips. As for the members, we were asked to bring arrangements inspired by origami. 

The arrangement, above, is mine. Origami comprises bending and folding of paper, so I created an arrangement with bends. I joined together a number of umbrella grass stems to create a kind of ribbon, which I, then, bent into a shape that reflected the facets of the ceramic container. I repeated the shape using two variegated, NZ flax leaves and added two nerines as the floral element.

The arrangement, below, was made by our Jenny. It's had to see in the photograph but the curculigo leaves she used are pleated naturally and she bent them to reflect the origami technique. 

And now for our Masterclass. I provided each participant with materials that comprised a large branch, flowers and two black canes. My instructions to them was to use as much or as little of the provided materials and, after studying the materials, to select a container from the shelf. They had no choice in the materials they received.

Jenny had an interesting but, rather, difficult blue juniper branch. I say difficult because it was almost horizontal and quite challenging to place in a container with the stem in water. Haviing secured it in one triangular container, she used one of the two, curved stemmed agapanthus in a separate one behind, having it coming forward. There was some discussion about the naturalistic look of the branch and the modern look of the agapanthus but, the general consensus was that it worked.

Vicky had a large mahonia stem with two side shoots. She trimmed them back and placed the remaining one, with its long stem in this donut shaped container with three openings. The short stem outside the container adds the illusion of the stem continuing beyond the container. She did not use flowers, as she felt they would have been superfluous. 
 

Having finished early and having materials left over, Vicky made a second arrangement. She used another of her mahonia side shoots and her hydrangeas in a yellow, ceramic vase. And, if you look very closely, you will see the two black canes going through the arrangement. She was the only one of the group to use the canes. 

Lei had two pieces of nandina domestica, which she trimmed very heavily, leaving a very light and lacy effect. She used two matching containers. In the back one she placed the two hydrangeas to be seen through the leafy 'curtain'.

Swann had a large viburnum opulus branch, which she trimmed heavily to reveal  the movement in the branch. It looks as though she just placed it in the container but there was considerable work in making it look that way. The massed roses made the floral focus.

Lucy, also, had a viburnum opulus branch, although it was quite different to Swann's. In this case the stem was long and thin and had been growing downwards. It required a degree of skill and expertise to make it balance the way she did. She had a number of leukadendron flowers but chose to use only one.

Bye for now,

Emily

9TH MARCH, 2026

 

Hello all,

The theme for the advanced students at Wednesday's class was 'Dried, bleached or Coloured Materials'. For my example, above, I looked in the storeroom for inspiration. I found a bunch of dried, fine bamboo to start with, then looked around for an appropriate container. The container dictated what colour I would spray the bamboo, that being brown and how I would place it. I secured half of them at the front and the other half at the back of the container. Having created the dried structure, I looked around the garden for fresh materials, when, to my surprise, I came across the yellow kniphofia. I say surprised because these flowers seem to appear overnight. They were absolutely perfect for my arrangement. I, then, needed some green materials - enter the variegated sansevieria, with its matching yellow edges.

Nicole had an unusual piece of dried material, which looked like coral and which she placed over the kenzan in her suiban. She pushed the stems of dried, red coloured agapanthus and dietes leaves through it to reach the kenzan.

Having finished her arrangement rather quickly, Nicole chose to make a second one. She had a piece of driftwood, which she placed over a nageire vase and added variegated ivy, which she found growing through the fence from our neighbour's garden and which I keep fighting to prevent it from taking hold in my garden. Vicky donated a yellow Oriental lily and the arrangement was complete.

Vicky used bark and a dried piece of contorted hazel (Corylus avellana Contorta), which she placed over the top of her ovoid, ceramic container. She was able to fit the Oriental lily stems through the small opening of the container.

Vicky, too, was quite prolific, making three arrangements but I've included only two of them here. Actually, I'm happy to include the girls' second arrangements because we had many absences and I would have been short of content for this post.

Vicky's material was bleached branches, which look like matsumata but are not. She secured the branches behind the container and placed the dahlias inside it at the front.

Jenny created quite a dynamic arrangement, using dried bamboo, which she wired together to create parallel lines of the thicker part of the bamboo. She added Asiatic lilies in bud and some mandarins. Interestingly, her container was, also, made of bamboo. She placed weights inside it for balance. 

Lucy was absent from class because she was fighting some kind of bug and didn't want to expose us to it. Very considerate! The conscientious ikebanist that she is, she made an arrangement at home and sent me the photograph. She used the same kind of bleached material as Vicky, placing it outside of the ceramic container and added 2 variegated NZ flax leaves and a mass of crucifix orchids.

Mary does not have a garden, so I supply her with most of the materials she needs for class. For this exercise we looked around the garden and found these partially dried strelitzia reginae leaves, with very interesting curls. Mary placed them diagonally in a ceramic, trough container and added two stems of St John Port creeper flowers. This arrangement could, also, fit into the theme of 'Lines at the Base'.

Wendy's class theme was 'Composition with Branches - a Two-step Approach'. In this exercise we create a structure with dried branches, which can stand alone. We then introduce a container and fresh plant materials to complete the arrangement. Below is Wendy's structure, which she created using pear branches....

..... and then she added the ceramic container, into which she had placed red roses and a palm leaf split in half.

Bye for now,

Emily

2ND MARCH 2026

Hello all,

The container in the arrangement, above, is new and is one of a number of containers that my sister, Vicky, picked up from an Op shop. She did not attend the most recent Masterclass but was out shopping instead. She called me during the class and offered to pick up containers for whoever wanted one. We were very grateful as the containers were interesting and well priced.

I was removing the dead and dying leaves from my strelitzia reginae the other day but couldn't bring myself to throw out some of the partially dried leaves. I used a couple in the above arrangement with dahlias and another two in the vertical arrangement, below, this time with leucadendrons.  

The arrangement, below, almost made itself. The crucifix orchid broke off from the parent plant and fell and, looking around for something else, also with a curve, I picked the hydrangea. Back in the studio, running my eye over the shelves, this container seemed an obvious choice.

For our first regular class of the year I wanted to get us all back to basics, so I set Variation no. 8 as the class theme for the advanced students. In this arrangement we create one moribana and one nageire arrangement, then place them together.

Below is my variation No. 8. I used viburnum opulus branches and hydrangeas. The nageire was Variation no. 4 slanting style and the moribana was the basic upright style, reversed.

Jenny made a variation no. 4 slanting style nageire, using a prunus branch and Asiatic lily. The moribana arrangements was variation no. 2 slanting style, using Japanese maple and roses.

Cymbie used oleander branches in both arrangements. The nageire was variation No. 4 slanting style with an Oriental lily for hikae and the moribana was variation no. 2 slanting style, with dahlias as hikae.

Vicky used quince branches and dahlias for both arrangements. The nageire was variation no. 4 and the moribana was basic upright.

Lucy is particularly fond of the golden elm (Ulmus glabra 'Lutescens') in my back yard and uses it at every opportunity. In this case she made a basic upright nageire and variation no. 1, slanting style moribana. In both arrangements she used Asiatic lilies for the hikae.

 Wendy's class theme was tsuribana, which is an arrangement in a container hanging from the ceiling. She used a basket because of its lightness and added gerberas at the front and back as well as crocosmia and squiggly grass.

I provided Mary with some rather strong loquat branches, which she used to make a freestyle arrangement, loosely based on variation no. 4, slanting style. She used 3 apricot coloured gerberas for hikae and jushi.

Bye for now,

Emily

Hello all,

This afternoon we attended the Sogetsu Victoria meeting and workshop. Christopher James led the workshop, demonstrating three different arrangements on the theme 'Glass Containers'.

I made the arrangement, above, using two, rectangular, glass containers. I created triangular shapes with umbrella grass stems and placed them inside and outside of the large container. In the smaller container I placed a small number of triangles and a small anthurium, creating depth in an otherwise flat looking arrangement.

The arrangement, below, was made by Lucy in this unusual, glass decanter, which has a pointed bottom designed to sit in a silver base, which holds it upright. However, it is much more interesting to use it lying down, allowing it to swing creating movement. Lucy used only dietes leaves, in and out of the container.

You may remember the arrangement, below left, from last week's post. I was quite pleased with it at the time. However, after two days and with the pernicious effect of gravity, the materials collapsed, below right.

Original arrangement

After two days

So, reminding myself of the old proverb about lemons and lemonade, I reworked the materials in a nageire container, allowing the droopy agave to be accommodated.

Final arrangement

At our recent Ikebana International monthly meeting our guest speaker was Debra Collett, above, who gave a very interesting and informative presentation on dahlias. She, also, very kindly, brought a large number and variety of dahlias, which were raffled at the end of our meeting. And, in case anyone is interested, The Dahlia Society of Victoria will hold their 2026 Show on Saturday 28th February and Sunday 1st March at the Mount Waverley Community Centre. I, for one, plan to go.

After Debra's presentation, my sister-in-law Toula demonstrated four, very creative arrangements featuring dahlias. The photographs, below, are of Toula and three of her arrangements, curtesy of Lei Wang.

Below is my arrangement using dahlias. I have a flat dish with holes across the centre of it, which I placed over a round suiban into which I placed kenzans. I particularly wanted to use my pinellia pedatisecta leaves with the three dahlias that survived in my garden.

Lucy, in her arrangement, below, used kiwi vine and a small golden elm branch with her dahlias in a cheeky, glass vase. The photograph is by Lei Wang.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS # 37

 

Hello all,

My anthurium plant has been doing very well in the bathroom, where it is not seen by anyone but me. I cut two of the flowers and looked around for other material to use with them. The agave was my first choice as it has very sculptural qualities that appeal to me.

As I was watering the garden, YET ONCE AGAIN, I noticed the umbrella grass, which is suffering from the lack of rain. My watering is just enough to keep my plants alive but not enough for them to thrive. I cut some of the stronger looking stems and played with them in this nageire container with three holes on each side. I had created this design so that I could use the last of my current, gloriosa lilies. I have more plants just coming up and I'm looking forward to seeing how they will develop so late in the season.

For our recent Masterclass I had provided all the participants with hawthorn branches with berries. I, also, gave them a variety of other materials and instructed them to use as much or as little of their materials to create their arrangement. They were to study the materials before selecting a container from the shelves.

In the arrangement, below, Lei chose not to use any of the hawthorn. The corky elm that I provided had leaves, which Lei stripped and then bent the branches to create the spider-like structure with it. She secured it in one of my self made containers and added two of her three agapanthus.

Midori, also, chose not to use the hawthorn but stripped most of the golden elm (Ulmus glabra 'Lutescens') branch of leaves and bent it to create a curved line. She kept the split in the container mostly clear and uncluttered, adding only a stem of Oriental lilies with two buds and some elm leaves in the other opening.

Angie, in her first Masterclass, created a naturalistic arrangement, using all three of the materials provided. She removed a number of side branches from the golden elm to reveal its sweeping lines.

Akemi, like Lei, stripped the corky elm of its leaves and created a roughly spherical shape enclosing the space created. She, also, stripped the hawthorn of leaves and placed them low, in and out of the structure. In the inner space she placed two Oriental lily buds. 

Jenny trimmed both the hawthorn and the golden elm branches leaving the long, curved stems of both. She placed them in the same direction, almost like a hanging shin, then added the hydrangeas and more, smaller elm and hawthorn branches. The container is a very heavy, reconstituted stone and ideal for the heavy materials.

Cym discovered how difficult it is to use a container with small openings, which will not allow a kenzan inside. She worked hard but managed to balance the materials very well. There was some discussion as to whether she should use a flower. I left the decision to her because the arrangement, in my opinion, looks complete as is. She chose to leave out the flower. 

Julie, also, removed the leaves from her hawthorn branch and placed it in the tall, ceramic container. She had a loquat branch, which she trimmed and placed in the opposite side of the container. The lily buds completed the arrangement.

Lucy chose to keep the leaves on her hawthorn branches. She used a container with a split down the middle, which can be helpful but, also, difficult to use because it can only hold water up to where the split begins. The white, fluffy material is probably a privet. The three lily buds were necessary for balance on such a large arrangement.

It was also Swann's first masterclass. She, too, chose a container that's difficult to use. Its large size demands large materials but the small opening makes this a challenge. Swann managed this by keeping the stripped, corky elm above the container and only placing the hawthorn and lilies into the opening to reach the water.

Bye for now,

Emily