Hello all,

I say this every year but it bears repeating - spring in Melbourne is GLORIOUS! There are so many trees and shrubs flowering as well as annuals and perennials  coming up that I'm practically tripping over myself in an effort to cut and arrange them before they are past their best.

In the arrangement, above, I used the spokes of an old umbrella and rhododendron flowers from a plant that was a gift from my parents many years ago.

And, speaking of rhododendrons, the arrangement, below, required no other material than the vividly pink rhododendron. Sometimes natures just hands us a gift. Such is the case with this long, curved stem of the rhododendron.

Side view

Side view

I finished the arrangement with the addition of a single, curved, arum lily.

My magnolia liliflora nigra produced only a handful of flowers and I couldn't resist cutting them and placing them in a container. I couldn't decide which view I preferred, so I've included both. Sadly, they only lasted for a day but it was worth the effort as they are so lovely.

Side view.

Lucy's and my piece

Self made, bamboo container and camellias

Bamboo and leucadendron flowers

Contorted hazel and jasmine

Elm branches and clivias

Umbrella grass and Christmas baubles

Fruit and Vegetables arrangement

Contorted hazel, cymbidium orchids and alstroemeria psittacina leaves

Palm spathe and green goddess lilies

Palm fronds, strelitzia reginae flowers and statice

Agave and aeoniums

Dried, coloured branches and Dutch iris

Self made, metal structure with metal tubing, dried, coloured branch and rhododendrons

Bye for now,

Emily

Hello all,

Firstly I'd like to apprise you of an of exhibition coming up. Our Ikebana International group is exhibiting Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th September at Labassa Mansion, 2 Manor Grove, Caulfield North.

1) Saturday 16th September 

Session 1 - 10:00 am to 1:00 pm with a demo by Lucy Papas at 11:00 am 

Session 2 -  1:00 pm  to 4:00 pm with a demo by Lucy Papas at 2:00 pm

You and your family/friends can book tickets online. Ticket includes a demonstration. Select 'Ikebana members' when you purchase a discounted 

ticket via the link below.

 Admission:

 $15 for I.I. members 

 $26.84 for non-I.I. members

 $26.84 Bundle Ticket for I.I. members

 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/labassa-ikebana-demonstrations-2023-tickets-686339468827?aff=odcleoeventsincollection&keep_tld=1

 2) Sunday 17th September 10:30 am - 4:00 pm

You and your family/friends can book tickets online. Please select 'Ikebana members' when you purchase a discounted ticket via the link below.

  Admission:

  $10 for I.I. members 

   $15 for non-I.I. members 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/labassa-ikebana-open-day-2023-tickets-687040545767?aff=odcleoeventsincollection&keep_tld=1

Please note that our Lucy will be the demonstrator and I will assist her. I hope to see you there.

At Saturday's Masterclass I had provided all of us with large branches of silver birch. It was a lucky find after some trees had been pruned and the branches were to be mulched.

I set the exercise from Book 5 - 'Composition with branches - A Two Step Approach'. In this exercise we first create a free standing structure using cut branches. We, then, use the structure with a container and fresh materials to complete the composition. We use various methods of fixing, such as nails, screws and wire. I demonstrated for the students how to make angles by cutting the thicker parts of the branches diagonally and then rejoining them.

Once the structures were completed and critiqued, I instructed the students to select a container from the shelves and then go into the garden and cut whatever they wanted to complete their composition.

Below is my free standing structure and above is the completed arrangement. The large, ceramic container is doughnut shaped but I chose to use it sideways for this application.

And the final piece

Lei's structure

Jenny's structure

And her finished piece

Vicky chose to keep her long branches uncut and, instead, incorporated the finer, pendulous stems of the birch by intertwining them.

And with the addition of a ceramic container and arum lilies.

Bye for now,

Emily

Snow White - AKA Xavier

 

Rapunzel - AKA Aria

 Below is the side view of the arrangement because the curve of the stem, which is the main feature of the piece, can't be appreciated just from the front view.

In the philodendron patch I found other materials that were, also, suited to ikebana. I treated the leaf in the next arrangement the same way as the one above but, this time, I used two, unripened, philodendron fruit to complete the arrangement.

For class last week I had set a rather challenging exercise for the advanced students. It was a combination of two themes - 'In a Suiban without a Kenzan' and 'With Leaves Only'. I have to admit that we all struggled with our arrangements and some colourful expletives were heard but, in the end, we all managed it and felt a real sense of achievement.

 Nicole, also, used New Zealand flax, strelitzia reginae leaves and a single, shredded aspidistra leaf.

Lei's Curriculum theme was 'Jumonji-dome (Cross bar fixture). She used pine and Geraldton wax, which related beautifully to her ceramic vase.

Wendy's lesson was 'Using both fresh and unconventional materials'. She used polystyrene to create a geometric design, which she placed over a cylindrical vase and added, for the fresh materials, Japanese flowering quince and daffodils. 

Mary's theme was 'Miniature Ikebana'. Always a fun exercise.

Bye for now,

Hello all,

Last Saturday I conducted a workshop and demonstration organised by GAAD (Greek Australian Artists' Directory). I was assisted by Vicky, who's very experienced at helping to make my demonstrations run smoothly. We, also, had the company of my granddaughter, Hermione, who took part in the workshop and did a really good job.

Below is a photo of the three of us beside Hermione's arrangement.

I, then, proceeded to demonstrate seven freestyle arrangements.

In the first I used two haemanthus lily leaves and a single protea in a ceramic container.

In the second I used a branch of my stachyurus praecox, whose pendulous flowers were not as open as I would have liked but I used it anyway. I placed it in  yellow vase, which picked up the colour of the flowers. The Brushfield's yellow camellias seemed well suited to complete the arrangement.

In the third arrangement (pictured at the top of this page), I got the opportunity to use a couple of cymbidium orchid stems, which were given to me by my student, Bredenia. Much as I love them, I find these orchids rather hard to use in ikebana as they are very rigid. Placing them in a kenzan doesn't always work because they are quite heavy. In my arrangement I used some black coloured, spear grass for design but also, to act as support for the flowers.

When I cut the protea from my son's neighbours' tree for the first arrangement, I saw a couple of flowers with curved stems that, simply, had to be cut and arranged. Apart from trimming the superfluous leaves, my only other task was to choose a container. I tried a few before settling on this curved, ceramic one.

An Ikebana demonstration would not be complete without a basket arrangement. The materials used in a basket arrangement should be light for balance, both visual and actual. I've been watching these bromeliad flowers and was hoping they would be open in time for this demonstration. This bromeliad is called Queens Tears (Billbergia Nutans) and, with its pendulous form, it's ideal for a basket. The variegated leaves are from the plant Arum italicum pictum.

I grow jonquils very successfully because I go to the trouble of digging them up after each season and then replanting them in autumn. My husband, Sam loves them for their fragrance and I always have some in a vase on his desk. I, particularly, like working with their leaves. I wire them and then I'm able to shape them in interesting ways. I demonstrated this technique for the group.

For the demonstration of the next arrangement I used a much loved, stainless steel vase. I commented on how versatile a metal container can be because it is light and unbreakable. Ironically, when I got home the base of the vase had broken off. 

I had reset all of the arrangements when I got home so that I might photograph them against a plain background. I replaced the broken, metal vase with a ceramic one for the reconstruction of the arrangement. I used a single piece of pine (pinus radiata), to which I had attached a long stick to go inside the vase and hold the pine in place. I then added some brightly coloured camellias to complete the piece.

Mary' lesson this week was Miniature Arrangements. Everyone seems to have fun with this theme and Mary was no exception.

Bye for now,

Emily

Bredenia's condolence gift arrangement

Hello all,

The above arrangement was made by Bredenia. Instead of the set task for the Masterclass, she requested to make an arrangement to take to friends when paying them a condolence visit. In a tall vase she placed florists' foam and attached a dried, sprayed branch, then added cymbidium orchids and alstroemeria psittacina leaves.

Saturday's masterclass was quite challenging for the attendees. I had provided for each of them a large branch of pine (pinus radiata), which I left outside, as they were too big to work on indoors. After studying the branch, they trimmed it to manageable proportions and brought it into the studio. There they each selected a container and proceeded to create the base of their arrangements. Once they were satisfied with the placement of the pine, they went into the garden and cut camellia branches to use with the pine. This was an important part of the exercise because cutting the correct stems will make placing them easier. Camellias are not an easy material to work with and require some skill and experience to arrange them correctly.

Jenny kept her branch quite large and opted for a tall stove pipe container. To secure the branch onto the container, she used a vertical fixture onto which she screwed the branch. She was, then, able to place the camellias comfortably whilst maintaining the asymmetry.

As I was cleaning up after class I found a piece of pine that I couldn't throw away. The vase that I chose has three holes midway and upwards on either side. I fed the stem of the pine through one of the holes, then used a horizontal fixture to hold it in position. I, then, added the kamo hon ami camellias in the space that was created, being careful not to fill the whole space.

A small explanation about the direction of the pine needles in the various arrangements. The girls were very careful to make sure that all the stems were placed correctly, that is in the way that they grew on the tree. It is flowering season for pines and their clusters of flowers grow upwards, whereas the needles point down. In some cases, on the same branch, some of the tufts of needles will point upwards and some down.

Bye for now,

Emily

Hello all,

For last week's class, for the advanced students, I had set the theme 'Composition Expressing a Movement'. In this exercise it is important to differentiate between a verb and a movement. Although all movements are verbs, the reverse cannot be said. For example words such as sleeping, sitting, standing, thinking are all verbs, but they are not movements. Running, jumping, dancing, throwing, punching are all movements. That's what we are required to express.

My arrangement, above, was done with variegated agave and I'm hoping that the movement of 'walking' is recognisable.

Jenny's arrangement, below, expressed the movement 'Exploding'. She, painstakingly, curled strips of variegated flax leaves and added billy buttons and dianthus in a delightful, glass vase.

Cym wanted to express 'Swirling'. She used palm inflorescence and dietes leaves to create the movement. The vase is made of glass.

She, then, placed it on a tall vase and added queen's tears bromeliad flowers, leucadendrons and white lilly pilly berries.

Dianne's lesson was a 'Mass Arrangement'. She created three different groups of massed materials - euphorbia, hypericum berries and alstroemeria psittacina leaves in a newly acquired, ceramic container.

Emily

 

Hello all,

The arrangement, above, is made up of two stems of Banksia Lemanniana, which I had used at my demonstration for the Vermont Floral Art group.

I had some left over materials from the Ikebana International workshop last week and simply had to use them before they died. It was only after I finished that I realised they fell into the theme 'One kind of Material. The protea, below, is from my son's neighbours' garden. I had removed all the side shoots and leaves, leaving only the one stem with flower and revealing the curved stem. This is, also, a 'Simplified Arrangement'.

Dianne's class theme was 'Shape of the Container'. She started with a circular but narrow container with curved ridges running across it. She used brown cordyline leaves and dietes leaves to reflect those lines and miniature iris as a focal point. The arrangement was to be placed on a pedestal.

I leave you with this reworking of my arrangement from last week. I had used Japanese flowering quince branches with my prunus mume and salvias. Within a week the prunus and salvias had died but the flowering quince was fuller with the buds having opened. I removed the dead materials and replaced them with red and white camellias.

Reworked

Original

Bye for now, Emily

 RESCUED FROM THE RUBBISH HEAP

Hello all,

As I mentioned previously, we are in the process of preparing our house for sale. One of the most difficult tasks is to get rid of the clutter in my store rooms. Or, at least, decrease it. I had taken out and placed on the lawn a great number of dried and unconventional materials. Some were sold and others were to be thrown away. Do you think I could do it??? As I picked each one to put in the bin, I imagined what I could do with it.

The first one was a thick piece of dried, weeping mulberry (photo above). I brought it into the studio and balanced it on top of the ceramic container. I chose camellia branches because they are in flower and because they have a relatively thin stem, which could fit in the small opening of the container.

Then I picked dried, sprayed corky elm branches that were wired together in a particular shape. I cut away the wire and re-arranged them in a sweeping motion in a modern, lacquered suiban. My son's neighbours very kindly allowed me to cut some of their proteas, which were, then, added to the structure.

Emily

Hello all,

For class last week I had set a particularly challenging, combination theme. I hadn't realised quite how challenging it was until I attempted it myself. We were to make an arrangement 'In a Tsubo Vase' but, also, 'Emphasising Lines at the Base'. Ordinarily, Lines at the base is simple enough when using a kenzan, however, a kenzan is not used in a tsubo vase arrangement. Instead we use a number of different mechanics and we rely on resting one or more stems on the rim of the container. In this situation, we could not use a kenzan and we could not rest the stems on the rim. It made the exercise quite difficult. In fact, I don't think I ever heard as many expletives during class as I did on that day.

In my arrangement, above, I employed two parallel, horizontal fixtures, one higher than the other. I, then, split the lower part of my main stem of Japanese flowering apricot (Prunus mume) and fitted it over the top horizontal fixture and then rested one split half behind the lower fixture, thus holding the branch upright. I was able to work the rest of the materials around the main branch.

Nicole used camellia stems and crucifix orchids in a ceramic vase.

Vicky, after considerable struggle, created an elegant arrangement using Siberian dogwood (cornus Siberica alba) and gladioli in a ceramic vase.

Shaneen had the dubious honour of making the Japanese Narcissus arrangement in Book 5, which requires us to remove a small sheath at the bottom of the stem of jonquils or narcissus, rearranging the leaves and flower and, then, refitting the sheath back. It's a tedious process but Shaneen managed it and then arranged the materials in a vase with many holes. She added a little accent with a sprig of money tree (Crassula ovata).

Wendy's curriculum exercise was 'Simplified Arrangement', where we trim our material down to its very basic elements. She used a single stem of Pincushion Hakea (Hakea Laurina) and removed all but one flower, one leaf and one seed pod.

 

Having finished rather quickly, Wendy made another, smaller arrangement and placed the two together.

Lei's lesson was from Book 5 - Tate-no-soeji-dome - Vertical type fixture. She used holly (Ilex aquifolium) and Chinese lantern plant (Abutilon) in a ceramic container.

Bye for now,

Lucy and I after the demo

Hello all,

Last Wednesday I had the privilege to be the guest demonstrator for the Vermont Floral Art Group at a fundraising event. Proceeds were to go to the Cancer Council.

Lucy, my beautiful assistant, and I arrived bright and early at the venue and unloaded from the car materials and containers for eight arrangements. We were very warmly welcomed by the president, Marion Goldsmith, the committee and members. 

We began our demonstration at the completion of their meeting with the 'Basic Upright' arrangement, being the very first lesson of our curriculum. I haven't included a photograph of that for obvious reasons.

I was not able to take photographs at the venue without intrusive backgrounds so I reset them up at home and photographed them. With the luxury of time I was able to fine tune them before photographing. 

Below is a simple arrangement using umbrella grass and orange, cotoneaster berries in a ceramic container.

Hello all,

At Saturday's Masterclass I had provided the students with a different type of dried material each and one type of fresh material each. So they had only two elements to work with. The dried materials were all quite large and the students could decide whether to keep them large or cut them down.  As always, the selection was by lottery. Each student could choose their own container.

The arrangement, above, was done by Cym, who went through an interesting process. She initially picked her container and placed the large monstera deliciosa leaf at a perfect angle. She then agonised over the fact that it was too easy or too simple, so she tried adding another leaf, then tried pinning the leaves but, in the end, settled for her first attempt because it was the best. She used only a small piece of the large, palm inflorescence, allowing the leaf to be the dominant feature. And for a little bit of whimsy, she added a ceramic mushroom.

Jenny had a very large, dried tumbleweed which had been sprayed black. She cut side shoots and placed them in this large, ceramic container, making sure that movement was created with the branches all facing the same direction. She placed the two stems of amaranthus one in front of the other and hanging straight down.

Lucy had a tangle of red and black coloured wisteria, which she disentangled and used separately. In her first arrangement she used the red wisteria in a heavy container with splits on either side and placed two strelitzia reginae leaves horizontally.

With her left over material she made another, rather dramatic arrangement.

Vicky felt she had the most boring of materials but she rose to the challenge and created this spiderweb-like structure, keeping it monochromatic, except for the umbrella grass stems.

I must confess that, as a teacher, I'm quite impressed with the quality of the work produced in these classes. We comment on and discuss our work freely and learn from each other. Very satisfying.

Hello all,

The mahonia branch in the arrangement, above, was an offcut from an arrangement I did last week in the shape of a pinwheel. I removed all but two, parallel leaves and added a partially open camellia to complete the arrangement.

The arrangement, below, comprises of only one, long stem of chrysanthemums. I wanted to use this curve that was created naturally but it was too weak to hold the cluster of flowers at the tip of the branch. I removed 5 flowers to lighten it and then had to rest the branch on the top of the large conical container.

Emily

Hello all,

When I published my post last night, I forgot to add the information, below. I had added it as an update but, those of you who subscribe to my blog, will not receive it. Hence this supplementary post. My apologies to those who will receive it twice.

I'd like to let you all know that due to unforeseen circumstances, Sam and I have decided to bring forward our plans to downsize. This decision is a particularly difficult one for me as we have loved living in this house that we built ourselves and the garden that I have developed for 32 years. I fear my ikebana will suffer greatly without the resource that is my garden.

Hello all,

 Nature did all the work in creating the shape of the mahonia in the arrangement, above. All I had to do was trim it right back, removing leaves and leaving only the ones that create the pinwheel effect. The tall, thin, stainless steel vase was perfect to showcase the shape and the hydrangeas add the floral accent.

Inspired by the shape of the mahonia, I reused a piece of dry Japanese maple that came from a large, standard tree, which has died. This time I used it in a wall arrangement and added hydrangeas and cotoneaster berry branches.

The fruit in the next arrangement is an astringent persimmon. The one and only fruit produced by this tree this season.

Mary's class theme was 'In a suiban without a kenzan'. She used viburnum opulus branches, one strelitzia leaf and Dutch iris in a ceramic suiban.

Bye for now,