Day 11 of my 365 Days of Ikebana brought me a chance to have a “do over” of a piece I did earlier in the spring. I used the same purple vase and the Hana Dome (flower fixture) I had made of cherry branches for the original design, and chose some flowers. I have an interesting whorled leaf begonia that I have growing in the garden, so I chose a stem of that because it was beatiful and went well with the vase and branches. There isn’t much blooming in this mid-summer heat so I found some dried billy balls(craspedia) and the last pink hydrangea bloom left. This is the final version of the ikebana arrangement, after working on it for a while it became more of a horizontal design and much improved from the earlier spring version.
Keith;
how do you make a Hana dome?
I have now completed one year of learning Ikebana and love the design aspect of it all…and knowing that one can use less than perfect plant material to get inspirational results. My next assignment is to do a free form arrangement…..your wonderful work has accompanied me this last year and I will most probably just be brave and try a Hani kaburi piece.
Many thanks!
I start with my branch material, determining what shape at want or I just start piecing it together and see how the for progresses. Sometimes I have a specific container that I try to create a Hana dome for. it really is about examining the branch material that you have and developing it in a pleasing manner, and one that creates an interesting support. for thicker branches I nail or screw them together, just remember to use enough branches to make the form stable. It really is just experimentation and just heaving some fun with the materials and see where it takes you.