8TH DECEMBER 2025

Hello all,

First of all, I'd like to thank all of you kind people, who took the time to email me with condolence messages. I apologise that I haven't been able to reply to all of you personally. Apart from dealing with the grief and organising mum's funeral, with all that that entails, my sisters and I, having spent 24 hours at our mother's bedside in hospital, picked up whatever bug she had and became very sick indeed. Then followed a week of antibiotics and every conceivable cold medicine we could get our hands on. It must have been a particularly virulent strain. We're only just getting back to normal.

So, onto ikebana.

At our last class I had set for the advanced students the theme 'Using Both Fresh and Unconventional Materials'. In this exercise it is important to have the unconventional material be an integral part of the arrangement, not placed on it as an afterthought or a decoration.

Mine is the arrangement at the top of this post. I found some rather unusual packing material which was flat and quite firm. However, I tried dampening it by spaying it with water and it became pliable, allowing me to shape it and, then, when it dried, it kept its shape. It was a dull, brown colour, so I sprayed it blue at the top and white underneath. I liked the contrast of the blue against the yellow of the vases. The fresh materials were chrysanthemums, oriental lily and xanthorrhoea.

I had more of the packing material and wanted to make another arrangement. This one reminds me of the collars worn by the aristocracy in Elizabethan times.

Lei used carboard ribbons in two colours, which she joined together and swirled around two matching vases. Her fresh material was geranium.

The net in Nicole's arrangement is one used by florists and it has enough body to sit up, allowing her to place a rose underneath it. She added another rose together with some leaves on the outside of the net. 

Vicky's unconventional material was the stand, which she used to hold the vase as well as a shape which she repeated with the equisetum. She also fed the equisetum into the tubes of the stand. The single cosmos was the focal point.

Often prolific, Vicky made a second arrangement, this time using thick rope, equisetum and a geranium flower. Somewhere under all that is a ceramic container.

Lucy used the same type of cardboard ribbon as Lei in a swirling pattern in and out of the arrangement. The colour of her zygopetalum orchids worked very well with the colour of the container and the ribbon.

Cymbie started with a circular, metal container and added the stem of a heliconia. She created a ball shape with this polystyrene material which she placed at the top of the stem. She, then, repeated the shape of the container further down. She finished the arrangement with the addition of a geranium flower.

I had mentioned in a previous post the workshop we had with Master Instructor Ms Reito Oizumi, using washi paper. Cymbie was unable to attend so, in class, I gave her what I had left of the washi paper and encouraged her to make an arrangement. Below is her piece, using the flower she cut away from the stem for her previous arrangement.

And whilst I'm on the subject of Ms Oizumi's workshop, I'd like to show you how the arrangement I made then has changed after three weeks. If you look closely, you will see that the Siberian dogwood has sprouted leaves. You gotta love nature! She is indomitable and always finds a way to return and thrive, no matter what.

Original

After three weeks

Wendy's class theme was 'Composition Expressing a Movement'. She chose 'cascading' as her movement, using weeping willow and strelitzias reginae in a tall, ceramic vase.

Bye for now,

Emily

GOODBYE MUM!

 

Mum and me

Hello all,

It is with a very heavy heart that I make the following announcement.

On Tuesday, 25th November, our family said goodbye to our mother, Soultana Papadopoulos, aged ninety-five. In recent years she had been living in an aged care facility, where dementia slowly took more and more from her — her memory, her hearing, her eyesight, and eventually much of the joy she once found in life. She had reached a point where she no longer wished to continue, and we, her family, hoped only for her passing to be peaceful. In that sense, her death was timely and gentle, something she was ready for.

And yet, the sense of loss is immense. Even knowing it was her time does not soften the ache of her absence. Grief arrives in waves I cannot predict, and there are moments when I am simply inconsolable. I write these words to honour her life, to honour the complexity of loving and losing, and to find my way through the quiet emptiness she leaves behind.

I can understand why some people might be skeptical when a daughter speaks glowingly of her mother. But as the eldest, I was the one who received most of the phone calls over the past week from her contemporaries, friends, and relatives — from Greece, where she was born and lived until she was thirty-four, and from those who knew her here in Australia. Every single person, without exception, spoke of the same qualities. They remembered her loving nature, her generosity, the broadness of her smile, and the unmistakable warmth of her heart. They told stories of her kindness, her humour, and the fun she brought into their lives.

Mum had many talents — she was a gifted dressmaker, an enthusiastic knitter, a wonderful cook, and a devoted gardener. Her garden never followed a theme or a carefully planned style; she simply planted anything she could fit into the soil. The result was a glorious profusion of colour and vibrancy, a joyful chaos that reflected her own spirited nature. Try as we might, we could never convince her to use less water, so in the end we installed a large rainwater tank just to keep her from doing the wrong thing. Her garden became the showpiece of the street, a living testament to her energy, her persistence, and her love of beauty in all its forms.  Mum had a natural flair for putting flowers together that looked beautiful and there was always a vase with brightly coloured flowers on the kitchen table.

She lived in a cul-de-sac in Northcote where all her neighbours loved her. And why wouldn't they? She shared her baking with them, always had treats for the children and she grew enough vegetables to share with all of them.

Mum lived with us, after a serious stroke, for nearly ten years and, during that time she saw, literally, hundreds of ikebana arrangements in the house. But she never commented on any of them, which I found surprising. However, she absolutely loved the miniature arrangements. So, today, I made one in her honour.

With all the grief and the busyness of organising the funeral, and with calls and messages coming from well-meaning friends and relatives, I found that spending an hour, quietly working on the miniature arrangements was quite calming. So I made a second one—just for myself.

Bye for now,

Emily

 

Hello all,

Over the years I have received a number of requests or suggestions to write a book. I didn't give this much consideration because I don't think any publisher would consider an Ikebana book by a relative unknown, financially viable. 

However, my most recent such request from a lovely lady in South Australia included a suggestion of a series of instructional videos, to which people could log in and watch. This is doable. I would like to ask for your feedback on the idea and an indication of whether you would be interested in watching such videos. Of course, there would be a fee but I haven't figured out what that would be or how it would be implemented.

Before I put in all the work required, I would like to have some idea of the number of people that might be interested. Please be assured that I am not asking for a commitment, merely a show of interest. Feel free to email me on emilykara@optusnet.com.au with any questions, suggestions and, hopefully, a show of interest.

OK. So back to ikebana. In my previous Wednesday class I had set a double theme for the advanced students - 'Shape of the Container' and 'Colour of the Container'. 

Mine is the example at the top of this post. The colour of the metal container is slightly changed with  the reflection of the surface but it blends with the smoke bush (cotinus Grace). The colours of the Louisiana Iris and the variegated cordyline also tone in with the brown colour of the smoke bush. The shape of the smoke bush flower repeats the shape of the vase.

Nicole used a deep purple coloured, glass vase for her arrangement, below. She used dried weeping willow sprayed white to complement the curve of her vase and vibrant pink crucifix orchids to tone in with the colour of the vase.

Jenny used silver birch branches inside and outside of her vase, which has a pattern of thin branches at the front. Her white roses reflected the colour of her vase.

Vicky chose to complement the shape of her container but to contrast the colour. She used kiwi vine to create a loop extending away from the container and placed a green goddess lily in the space created. Another green goddess and a sprig of alstroemeria close to the mouth of the container, completed the arrangement.

Wendy had a lot of fun creating miniature arrangements, which she placed on an irregularly shaped board made of Huon pine.

Often, during class, a student will finish her arrangement early and will be sitting idle. I usually encourage her to make another arrangement for which materials from my garden can be accessed. Below are three such examples.

Below is Vicky's second arrangement on the theme. She used a monstera deliciosa leaf which she curled onto itself to repeat the shape of the ceramic container by Graham Wilke. A gymea leaf out of the bucket and some left over alstroemeria flowers and the arrangement was complete.

This particular day, Vicky was quite prolific, making a third arrangement. This time it was just a freestyle, using left over kiwi vine and a strelitzia reginae in a tall vase.

Nicole also made a freestyle arrangement with whatever materials she had left and some roses from my garden.

Below is an arrangement that Lucy put together using only materials she found in my 'bucket' - a gymea leaf and three variegated cordyline leaves.

Bye for now,

Emily

SOGETSU EXHIBITION

 

Hello all,

It's been quite a busy couple of weeks, ikebana wise but I'm not complaining. There's nothing I enjoy more than creating ikebana.

As I had mentioned in my previous post, the Victorian Sogetsu group had its annual exhibition at the Abbotsford Convent last weekend. The arrangement, above, was my exhibit. I secured two wooden hoops in a heavy, ceramic container with a split down the middle. The branch is a dogwood, 'Cornus Norman Haddon'. It is just beginning to flower, so the flowers are still small but quite charming the way they sit up above the branch. Another charming feature of this plant is that the flowers start off creamy in colour but become pink as they age, so that at any time, there can be both pink and cream coloured flowers.

Below is Vicky's very simple but striking exhibit. She used the soft, central piece from an agave plant and some papyrus in a ceramic container.

Cymbie's arrangement, below, began with the making of the container. She Used a stripey bamboo cane and, with a weaving method, attached dietes leaves hanging down. The yellow heliconia was the focal point.

On Saturday, coinciding with our exhibition, a workshop had been organized and was presented by Master Instructor Ms Reito Oizumi, the theme for which was 'Working With Washi Paper'. Oizumi-san demonstrated ways that the washi paper can be treated, including scrunching, pleating, stripping etc. Below is the arrangement that she demonstrated using pleated washi paper, twisted willow and strelitzias reginae - flowers and leaves.

Below is my arrangement on the theme. I used stems of Siberian dogwood, Cornus Siberica alba', which I trimmed back leaving five 'V' shaped stems. I attached another stem on the top of each 'V' creating triangles. To those triangles I pasted pieces of the washi paper from the back, so that the stem framed the triangle at the front. I then placed the structure, in a forward slant, into a container with two openings. The Siberian iris completed the arrangement.

Side view showing the forward slant

The previous Tuesday was the scheduled Ikebana International workshop, for which I was the presenter. (I told you it's been a busy couple of weeks!) The theme for the workshop was 'Geometry in Ikebana'. This theme had been selected by Lucy. I was supposed to present another workshop in October and Lucy in November. But, due to surgical procedures for both of us, we swapped.

We use geometry in ikebana all the time by making shapes in lessons such as 'Repeating similar Shapes and Forms' or 'Paying attention to the Shape of the Container' but we don't call it geometry as such.

I had set up one arrangement before the meeting and demonstrated another three. Below is the first of these. It comprised of two fish bowls representing the geometric shape of a globe and two large gymea leaves, in and out of the container creating triangles. The brightly coloured, red hippeastrum flowers were donated by my sister-in-law, Betty.

Photo by Lei Wang

In the next arrangement I started with the two conical, metal containers and added two yellow strelitzias, 'Strelitzia Mandela's Gold'. I placed them in such a way as to create a diamond shape with the flower heads.

The lacquered red container in  the next arrangement was a gift from my sister, Lucy. She brought it back from Vietnam. It has an asymmetrical, geometric shape on its own. Then, I cut two monstera deliciosa leaves into triangles and placed them in the container using a kenzan. I added red, Altissimo roses and white alstroemeria flowers to be seen through the 'window' of the leaves.

For my final arrangement, I had brought along a cube shaped structure made with bamboo and secured it into a square shaped, ceramic container. I added a stem of Oriental lilies in the space created by the cube and a small mass of alstroemeria psittacina leaves at the base.

I leave you with a wall arrangement I made just for me, using smoke bush - cotinus Grace, and strelitzias reginae.

Bye for now,

Emily

SUPPLEMENTARY POST

 

Hello all,

I'm writing this post because I forgot to inform you, in my last post, of our upcoming, annual, Sogetsu exhibition. The details are as follows:

Venue: The Linen Room, Abbotsford Convent

Address: St Heliers St, Abbotsford

Dates: Saturday 15th November, 10am to 5pm 

           Sunday 16th November, 9.00am to 5pm

I hope to see you there.

Bye for now,

Emily

MASTERCLASS #36

 

Hello all,

For our recent Masterclass I provided all of us with the same branch material from a dying, photinia tree. As a tree, this is one of my least favourite. However, as a dead tree, with the leaves gone and covered with lichen, it has a very interesting form. This particular tree, which was in our neighbour's garden, was dying and, at a recent stormy episode, it fell onto the fence. Initially, I saw it as a problem but after  closer inspection I noticed the potential for ikebana. 

So, on a very wet, Saturday morning I got thoroughly drenched cutting branches for all of us. As well as a branch, I provided each student with two other materials. All different.

In my arrangement, above, I used the photinia branch, Siberian iris and hellebore leaves in a tall, glass vase. The colour of the iris is somewhat diminished in the photo. In reality it is a vibrant, Cadbury purple.

The most challenging part of using the branches was securing them to the container. We used a number of different mechanics to achieve that.

Below is Cymbie's arrangement. She worked very hard to achieve the seemingly simple arrangement in a container, which has a very small opening.

Vicky's branch was very big. She cut it and placed the two, uneven pieces on opposite sides. The mass of callistemons created colour and a focal point and the NZ flax, that was split in half and bent, created the lines.

Lucy chose a very challenging container and struggled to secure her branch inside one of the openings. She managed it, however, never one to give up and had the branch sweeping forward. One of Lucy's other elements was smoke bush (cotinus Grace). Sadly a little hard to see in the photo. Her third element was aloe vera flowers.

Akemi secured her branch over a spherical container then balanced two strelitzias reginae and aloe vera flowers.

Bredenia, also, managed to secure her branch over a ceramic, art deco style container, then added the Louisiana iris and iris leaves.

 And, before I sign off, I'll share with you a bit of fun I had with my Siberian iris. And yes, I did manipulate them. After all, what's life without a bit of whimsy!

Bye for now,

Emily

3RD NOVEMBER, 2025

 

Hello all,

Well, spring continues to delight me with an abundance of materials just begging to be picked and arranged. I know, I don't HAVE to arrange everything but I want to. All kidding aside, I do leave some flowering plants to just be enjoyed in the garden.

In our area there are a myriad of callistemon trees, all in glorious colour, which I could not resist. I cut some for the arrangement, above and added a large mass of the viburnum opulus flowers, which balanced in volume and contrasted in colour.

In the arrangement, below, I took advantage of the interesting shapes, which occurred naturally, of the strelitzias reginae. It's the weight of the flowerheads that cause the stem to bend creating a 'neck'. They merely required an appropriate container to showcase them.

In contrast, the ornithogulums in the arrangement, below, were shaped by me. I'm sure I have explained before how I do that but, for my newer readers, I'll explain it again. When the flower bud is quite soft and pliable, before it has had a chance to harden, I bend it and secure it somehow, either with a metal fork, or by tying it in place with some of the leaves of the plant. As it continues to grow, it naturally reaches for the sun, thus creating the curves.

I have had a fractious relationship with my wisteria from the very beginning. She has persistently disappointed me by being parsimonious with her flowering. This last winter I pruned her back very hard and she retaliated by producing only three flowers. She will be sorry because I went out and bought myself another one. This time a white Japanese variety. If the new one flowers better, the old one will go!

Anyway, I cut the measly, three racemes and made the wall arrangement, below, with my gorgeous, mollis azalea. (She is definitely in my good books).

The wisteria did not last very long, so I replaced it with stems from my viburnum opulus but kept the mollis azalea.

Then, the mollis azalea died and I replaced it with my favourite rose, the Altissimo.

In last week's post I featured my very first peony flower for the year. I was quite delighted with it and this week I have the second flower from the same plant. However, this second one is noticeably smaller than the first. Still, she's quite lovely. I placed her in a trough style container together with a stem from my kamo-hon-ami camellia. I, very reluctantly, pruned back my precious camellia because it was encroaching on the path which leads to Sam's office. He's been quite patient with me but he, finally, put his foot down. So I made a couple of arrangements with the cuttings. 

Below is the second arrangement. It is only one branch and, other than some judicial trimming and the removal of some leaves, I did nothing to it, just placed it in the container. I added some hippeastrum flowers which are just opening and some fragrant, Portuguese laurel racemes, which are also just staring to open.

Every year one or two of my hippeastrum stems are damaged, as per the photograph, below. I suspect snails. With so weakened a stem they are difficult to use. In this case I put a wire through the hollow stem to strengthen it and was able to use the flower.

I have a number of iris starting to burst into flower. The two in the arrangement, below are - on the left the flag/bearded iris and on the right the Louisiana iris. I arranged them in the traditional way in a large suiban.

Bye for now,

Emily