Journal archive
September 18, 2011
Autumn leaves called me today, and I collected them one by one. They were massed on a branch to create a hana kubari (flower holder) and a sinble sunflower was placed in it. The branch created a contrasting movement to the self made vase I used. It’s a simple arrangement really, but it captures the […]
Read story →September 17, 2011
My daily work keeps drifting back to leaf manipulation, it’s a really dynamic way to add an interesting and different element to designs. Today I started altering a banana leaf to see if I could make it work, but I was trying too hard to make it fit with the arrangement I had started. I’m […]
Read story →September 16, 2011
Miniature ikebana facinates me, it seem so simple but it is hard to do. It takes skill to make something so small look so good. I’m alsways on the hunt for small containers to work with, little vases and bottles of all sorts, they just fuel my desire to make these delicate gems. The late […]
Read story →September 15, 2011
Autumn blew in this evening dropping the temperature to more seasonal levels, and so I wanted to do an arrangement that echoed that change. I selected some burr oak branches that had been spotted during an walk earlier in the week. They have a great acorn with a fuzzy cap and I removed of the […]
Read story →September 14, 2011
Ikebana with flowers only is today’s arrangement. It’s Lesson 1 in book 4 of the Sogetsu Textbook, and of course is only flowers. There should be at least 2 or more types of flowers, and you should also vary the color and shape of the different flowers. Here I have used rust colred mokara orchid […]
Read story →September 13, 2011
This arrangement was inspired by one of the lessons from the Sogetsu textbook, it’s a newer lesson added when the textbooks were updated a few years ago. “Intertwining Plant Materials” is the lesson, and a bit of a challenge. It’s just not easy to get a bunch of vines to look “right”. My arrangement took […]
Read story →September 12, 2011
Some days I don’t have an abundance of floral materials, and today was one of those days. I got home very late and that wasn’t expected. Too late to forage in the garden for something to use for today, so I chose to use some unconventional materials. I grabbed some copper angel hair and a […]
Read story →September 11, 2011
Tonight my arrangement was done late in the day, a challenge since I was very tired. Trying to be complex or unique gave way to simplicity. A cluster of catalpa pods and a single “Free Spirit” rose provides a glimpse of the arriving autumn season, my favorite time of year.
Read story →September 10, 2011
My idea for today’s arrangement was using only items I could find on a neighborhood walk, and I thought it would be easy. Living in the city I often find discarded items that could be used for some interesing ikebana and I was on the hunt. So Frederick and I went for our walk and […]
Read story →September 9, 2011
At last the heavy rain has ended, and the sun came out this afternoon. It’s been along week of rain (some places in this area have received 10-15″ of rain this week) and now I can get out to find some things to make arrangements with. I did this simple leaf manipulation by cutting circles […]
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