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

FERNY CREEK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

 

Hello all,

Our recent Ikebana International workshop was held at the Ferny Creek Horticultural Society. First we were given a guided tour by a very knowledgeable Keith Ross and, then, we went indoors for lunch and a demonstration by Lucy Papas. The theme was a 'Floor Arrangement'. 

The arrangement, above, was created by Lucy before the demonstration. On a metal stand, she attached a large piece of bark and used it as a container. She added fan palms, white lilacs and kiwi vine.

The arrangement, below, was made in a tall, glass vase. Lucy used two very tall, gymea leaves and two strelitzias reginae.

In another large, wide container, made by Graham Wilke, Lucy used a heavy stick, aspidistra leaves and arum lilies, in an arrangement designed to be viewed from above.

For her fourth arrangement Lucy created an arrangement for a corner. She used gingko biloba and red dogwood (cornus siberica alba) branches and rhododendron flowers in a ceramic container. 

For my arrangement, I used a structure that I had created in the past. It was made using tortuous willow, from which I had stripped away the bark, leaving a smooth finish. I then joined a number of pieces to create a kind of cradle, into which I could place the tsubo vase. I used some of my clivias and alstroemeria psittacina leaves for mass, then added the yellow strelitzias reginae (strelitzia Mandela's gold). 

Jenny used a piece of contorted hazel (corylus avellana contorta), arum lilies and leucadendrons in a ceramic container.

Back home, I've been anxiously watching the progress of my newly acquired peony plant. During my absence it had developed not one but two buds! When the first one finally unfurled completely, it took my breathe away. It required a very simple arrangement, so I selected the trough type container and, looking around the studio, I noticed the kiwi vine which I had used many weeks before and which I had sprayed black, had produced leaves. So, I put the two together.

Sadly, it only lasted four days. Despite its ephemeral nature, I felt it was worth the cost and the effort to produce such a flower. I tell you, it was the size of an entre plate!

When it died, I replaced it with clematis flowers, which are only a little bit less spectacular than the peony.

Our regular class was much reduced in number mainly due to people travelling. I had set the theme of 'A Spring Arrangement', wanting to take advantage of all the gorgeous materials available.

Jenny used an azalea branch in bud for her main stem and a white waratah and an orange haemanthus lily (scadoxus multiflorus)

Nicole used cottage gladioli, rhododendron and dendrobium orchids in a ceramic container.

Cymbie's main branch was white lilac (Syringa x hyacinthiflora), to which she added Queen Ann's lace and a snapdragon peeking from the back.

Mary's arrangement comprised red dogwood (cornus siberica alba), clematis and purple lisianthus.

Bye for now,

Emily