9th August, 2021

 

Hello all,

The theme for the advanced students at last class was from Book 5 - 'Japanese Narcissus'. I demonstrated, 'Hagumi', the technique of removing the flower and leaves from the sheath that holds them together just above the bulb of the plant, then re-arranging the leaves and flower and re-positioning them into the sheath. Each student, also, practiced this technique with one plant and then proceeded to make an arrangement in their own way. This technique destroys the plant because all the leaves are cut and the bulb cannot continue to grow. Therefore, those of us who grow our narcissus, would rather not sacrifice our bulbs and chose to make our arrangements without the use of 'Hagumi'.

In the arrangement, above, I wired the leaves in order to bend them in this way. The arrangement would fit the theme 'The Shape of the Container'.

Vicky was particularly prolific doing three arrangements. Below is her first one with kiwi vine and below that I have taken a photo of all three as she had them lined up on the table. I felt they made a beautiful display this way, almost like a 'renka'.

Nicole used two small suibans creating this naturalistic arrangement.

Jenny used willow with her narcissus in this strong ceramic container in aqua. 

Lucy went for a more modern look by wiring the narcissus at the bottom and the top to keep the lines of the stems straight. The arum lily leaf finishes the arrangement beautifully.

Lei's curriculum lesson was 'With branches only'. Her arrangement, below was, in my opinion, close to perfect. Unfortunately, the lack of depth in the photograph belies that fact. Lei used pittosporum, camellia and prunus in bud.

Shaneen's curriculum theme was 'Disassembling and Rearranging the material'. She stripped all the leaves from the pittosporum tenuifolium 'Tom Thumb' and spread them on the table in such a way as to simulate a shadow cast by the container. The yellow wallflowers finish the arrangement.

Wendy's lesson was 'Colour of the Container'. She used a vase with a dark red, upper part, which looks paler in the photo than it actually is. The strong structure of the gyamea leaf is balanced by the strength of the deep red, large camellias.

Nicole had brought to class quite a lot of prunnings of this unnamed conifer for everyone to take. I picked a couple of pieces to play with. I like its curved, pendulous form and wanted to emphasise it. An early flowering clivia and some clivia seeds finished the arrangement in this modern ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Emily