Hello all,

My student Dianne Longley, who lives in Trentham, has an enviable, prolific garden and often brings materials to class that are bigger and more beautiful than the ones we grow in Melbourne. Case in point is the huge garlic flowers that she brought and shared with the class. 

I used mine in the arrangement, above, having cut down the very long stems and placed in a ceramic container. I chose the canna lily leaves for their colour to contrast with the garlic flowers.

Last Monday we had our first Sogetsu meeting for the year. It was presented by Angeline Lo, who chose the theme 'The preparation and use of dried materials in Ikebana'. Below is my example, using belladonna lilies and a date palm inflorescence, which I had soaked and shaped to give a wind-swept look. I rarely take the self made, ceramic container out of the house because it is large and awkward to carry and, because it is too precious to risk. However, I made an exception because, I felt, it worked well with the materials. To view the work by Angeline and other members, please go to Sogetsu Victoria Workshop.

My strelitzia nicolai plant produces huge leaves, which are almost impossible to use in an arrangement unless they are cut down somehow. So, it was a delightful surprise to find a small one growing from the bottom of the trunk. I cut it and placed it in a heavy, ceramic container with two openings and added a mass of gloriosa lilies. The lilies did not last very long, so I replaced them with a single sunflower. The leaf is likely to last for weeks and I'm loath to throw it away, so I'll keep replacing the floral material until it dies. 

Now, back to class. I had set another double theme to the advanced students - 'Fruiting Plant Materials' and 'To be Viewed from All Sides'. The most important consideration when using fruiting plant materials is the weight of the branches, necessitating the use of strong, heavy containers.

Below are three views of my arrangement.I used apple branches, a crabapple branch, hydrangeas, amaranthus, dahlias and Portugal laurel berries, in a self made container.

Jenny used orange branches and hydrangeas in a ceramic vase with a number of holes all round.

Bredenia used fig branches, kiwi vine with fruit, hydrangeas and Japanese maple in a heavy, ceramic container.

Vicky's material was osage oranges and was particularly challenging because the fruit are very heavy and likely to drop. She used oriental lilies facing different directions to make it pleasing to view from all sides.

By coincidence, Dianne's class theme was 'To be Viewed from all Sides'. She used one nandina domestica branch and dahlias in a vase with split on two sides.

Shaneen is doing revision and chose her 'favourite' lesson - In a 'Suiban Without a Kenzan'. She used Japanese maple, coprosma and alstroemerias in a rectangular suiban.

Wendy's class theme was 'Keeping in Mind the view from Below'. She used oak branches with acorns, oriental lilies and a fine, mauve material, the name of which escapes me.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS #21

 

Hello all,

On Saturday we had the first Masterclass for the year. A couple of days earlier I dropped some food off to my son, who was suffering with a bout of covid. As I was leaving I noticed that his neighbours across the road had been pruning and left the cuttings on the nature strip. One neighbour had cuttings of a conifer much like the book leaf pine. The neighbour next door had quite a number of dried flower spikes of acanthus. Opportunities such as these cannot be ignored. So, I filled up my boot with these materials, abandoning the original plans I had for the class.

I gave each student a large piece of the conifer and one large or two smaller acanthus spikes. They were to select a container and create a structure using only these two materials.Once they were satisfied, they were, then, able to choose a flower from a variety that I had in a bucket.

The arrangement, above, was mine. I had removed a great deal of the foliage to reveal the beauty of the stems, as per the photo, below. I tried using the acanthus spike in  many different ways but settled on it going through the conifer. I did not feel that I needed to add a flower.

Jenny also did a great deal of pruning from a branch which was considerably bigger that than the one in  the photo. With the sharp angle of the acanthus, she created space, into which she placed two  hydrangea flowers.

Vicky chose to feature the interesting stem of her piece, removing any side shoots and placing it in a large, narrow, glass container. She used a small piece of the acanthus at the top of the vase. She decided not to add a flower.

Cym saw the beauty of the inside of the acanthus stem and wanted to feature it. She split the stem and cut it into four, unequal pieces and joined them, horizontally, using a bamboo skewer. She then added a small amount of the conifer foliage, trimmed sharply to complete a very modern arrangement.

Christine used her materials in a naturalistic style. She chose a large, tsubo vase for her large conifer branch and created an arrangement reminiscent of Variation No 4, slantting, with the branch being the Shin and the acanthus the hikai. The ginger flowers are jushi.

Akemi turned her branch up side down over a nageire container, with the acanthus spike through the foliage, outside the container, creating height. In her arrangement the single hydrangea at the back was quite appropriate.

Bye for now,

Emily

11TH FEBRUARY 2024

A single stem of gloriosa lily.

 

Hello all,

The mahonia branch, below, is the way it looked when I cut it from the tree -

.... It took some judicial trimming to reveal the beauty of the stem. I then added two agapanthus flowers in a spherical tsubo vase. This arrangement is an example of the theme 'Lines at the Base'.

For our recent class I set a double theme to the advanced students - 'Variation no. 6 Horizontal' style and 'With Leaves Only'. In my arrangement, below, I used New Zealand flax, hostas, calla lily leaves and cordyline leaves. The container is an asymmetrical, lacquered suiban

Jenny used strelitzia leaves, New Zealand flax, mahonia and canna lily leaves in a ceramic suiban.

Lucy also used a lacquered suiban in which she placed a strelitzia leaf, aspidistra leaves, fatsia leaves and cathedral begonia leaves.

Nicole used New Zealand flax, cordylines, bromeliad leaves, calla lily leaves and geranium leaves in a ceramic suiban.

Mary used aspidistras, arum lily leaves, flag iris leaves, bromeliad and cathedral begonia leaves in a ceramic suiban.

Lei's curriculum theme was 'Miniature Arrangements'. She created a delightful  group of tiny arrangements.

Wendy's curriculum theme was 'Dried, Bleached of Coloured Material'. She used bleached, tortuous willow (Salix Matsudana Tortuous) and gladiola flowers and leaves in a ceramic container.

 Shaneen's lesson was 'Preparing for a Future Exhibition'. She used a dried branch sprayed copper, hydrangeas and papyrus in a tall, ceramic vase.

Dianne's lesson was 'Lines at the Base'. She used three stunning garlic flowers and nandina domestica in a spherical tsubo vase.

Bye for now,

Emily

5TH FEBRUARY, 2024

 Hello all,

The arrangement, above, has evolved after two other, unsuccessful attempts. And, finally, I'm reasonably happy with it. 

The first, below, seemed a good idea when I designed it in my head but, when I finished it, I was not entirely happy.

.......The second one, below, was also somewhat disappointing as I expected a greater contrast between the monstera leaf and the gold sprayed leaves. As frustrating as this situation can be, it is a great learning experience.

In an effort to be responsible and use as much of the materials as possible, I wanted to use the offcuts of the monstera deliciosa leaf. However, they were quite floppy, since there was no spine to them, so I chose two, rectangular, glass containers in which they could be placed and, thus, held up. I placed the cream calla lily at the back, just peaking out.

I have a pot of small, yellow kniphofias which has just produced three flowers. I kept the first one straight and arranged it with a single squigly grass in a small. ceramic container. The other two I manipulated to create curved stems.

I had used the basic structure of the next arrangement at Christmas with Cashmere cypress, white hydrangeas and mizuhiki. Now, with an abundance of gloriosa lilies, I replaced the original, fresh materials with the lilies and Japanese anemone leaves.

Original

I have a self seeded fern growing next to my favourite rose bush, causing all kinds of problems. I was pruning it back very hard when I discovered more young plants growing between the rocks. I have tried using the fern in ikebana but it doesn't last very long. I wanted to try using the small plant with its roots intact to see how well it would last. The problem I had was that, with its rounded base, it would not be penetrated by the kenzan spikes.

.....So, I wired a bamboo skewer to one of the stems. The skewer went into the kenzan securely, holding up the fern.

And then I usd it in a naturalistic arrangement together with more gloriosa lilies.

Mary did a Double Shin arrangement using long gladiolas and nandina domestica nana.

She finished the arrangement with time and materials to spare, so, I suggested she, also, make a ka-bu-wa-ke arrangement to compare the subtle differences between the two.

At the bottom of the garden I found a bromeliad flower called Queen's Tears that had to be arranged. I was looking for some delicate material to use with it and settled on this fern, Nephrolepis exaltata. I removed most of the leaves leaving the thin, dark stems and placed them all in a vase with three holes on each side.

Bye for now, 

Emily