EMILY IN TOKYO: MASTERY IN BLOOM #1

Hello all,

As I mentioned in my previous post, Lucy and I have been in Sydney, where we attended a demonstration and workshops conducted by master instructor, Misei Ishikawa. The event, run by Sogetsu NSW, was called 'Mastery in Bloom'. There is an enormous amount of work and planning involved in such an event and we were all very grateful to the members of the Sydney chapter for their efforts. We, the guests were able to enjoy sensei's demonstration, the dinner, the workshops and, very importantly, the socialising.

The photograph, above, is of Ishikawa sensei demonstrating on the stage. She made a number of interesting arrangements, each one different from the rest, culminating in a large, floor installation using heavy, white branches, tortuous willow, delphiniums, thryptomene and some other fresh materials in two, large, ceramic containers. Sensei, had previously prepared a paper banner on which she had painted patterns in black, gold, purple and silver and then draped over the installation.

Photographing arrangements against a busy background is always disappointing but I did my best with this large one by climbing on a chair to get a good shot. Sensei had secured the large palm leaf base into the large, ceramic container, then added the Japanese maple, double oriental lilies and alstroemerias.

Below are the rest of sensei's demonstration pieces.

Looking closely you'll see a small bell hanging from the branch and a gold leaf hanging from the bell. The fan was to create a breeze to move the leaf and ring the bell.

For the first workshop, sensei had brought from Japan gold and silver leaf and demonstrated how they can be used to embellish some parts of an arrangement. She used a glue stick on the surfaces of leaves, on to which the gold and silver leaf could be adhered.

Below are sensei's two demonstration pieces.

Gold leaf in centre of rubber tree leaves (Ficus elastica). Gerbera.

Monstera deliciosa leaves, gerbera and gypsophila

There were materials provided for all the participants and Lucy chose two fan palms, the stems of which she partially covered in gold leaf. She, then placed the leaves up side down in a container with two openings. She added a gerbera having, embellished half of it with gold leaf.

I, two, had chosen two palm leaves. With each one I curled all but the two outer leaves into a balloon shape. I, then, added gold leaf on the remaining outer leaves. I had brought with me the tall, metal container and was able to use the height to drape down one of the ‘balloons’ and place the other upwards. I added two gerberas and a sprig of gypsophila.

In the afternoon workshop sensei demonstrated how wax paper can be used in an arrangement to create depth. She had two different coloured wax papers, which she scrunched to create volume and depth, then used tortuous willow branches on to which she attached the wax paper. To complete the arrangement, sensei added two, small, monstera deliciosa leaves and chrysanthemums.

Lucy also used tortuous willow in a small, ceramic container. She caught the wax paper high on the willow, with the two colours diagonally opposite each other. Ishikawa sensei picked this arrangement as her favourite.

I, too used the tortuous willow for this exercise, as this material was in abundance and was ideal for giving height to the arrangements. I pinched the wax paper from the centre creating a rough cone shape and placed the green in front of the pink. I then fed the chrysanthemums stems into the centres of each paper.