Journal archive
December 1, 2011
What do you get when you have no materials to make ikebana? A challenge! I meant to get flowers today, but I had too many other things going on and forgot. So for my arrangement I had to see what I could pull together. I had a nice branch of driftwood that my partner Frederick […]
Read story →November 30, 2011
Once again Buddah’s hand is making an appearance, but this time with some added “fingers” in the form of red peppers. Buddha’s hand or fingered citron(Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis )is very fragrant and is used predominantly by the Chinese and Japanese for perfuming rooms and personal items, such as clothing. The fruit may be given […]
Read story →November 29, 2011
The rose in this arrangment was the inspiration today, the variety name is “Amnesia” and it’s considered a lavender novelty rose. The outer petals are seemingly gray, and that’s where the other materials come in. A piece of sun bleached date palm and a dried sunflower seed head, both of which have a lovely gray […]
Read story →November 28, 2011
Bells of Ireland can be tricky to use, very often they are either straight or curved but they are unique in that they can be easily reshaped to get the shape you desire. I bent two of them and wove them together to form one large circular form, and then repeated that shape again. The […]
Read story →November 27, 2011
This was my chance to use the vase I bought a few months ago. It’s unusual shape and color never seemed quite right for an arrangement until today. The pale blue vase and light green fuji chrysanthemums were made for each other, and I added in a few bare Bradford pear branches and some stems […]
Read story →November 26, 2011
The last of the wild pink sweet peas, combined with green fuji mums and an aspidistra leaf in a freestyle arrangement. That combination of light pink and green really does go so well together. It has a lot to do with it being a complimentary color scheme, it’s a high contrast of color bbecuase they […]
Read story →November 25, 2011
My practice today was doing a cascading arrangement, and I did practice and practice. Not quite what I wanted, but I kept thinking about what pratice really is. It’s being willing to practice, even when you seem to be getting no where. One of the best books to read about pratice is Mastery: The Keys […]
Read story →November 24, 2011
This isn’t ikebana, they’re simply flowers for Thanksgiving Day. It’s my offering for the holiday table. A day for me to de-stress, relax, give thanks and to just be. I hope for those in the United States celebrating Thanksgiving (and for the rest of the world) you are having a relaxing day with family and […]
Read story →November 23, 2011
Back to the very beginning today, and by that I mean back to the very first arrangment in the Sogetsu ikebana curriculum. Basic upright style is the basis of Sogetsu ikebana. It’s where we learn to measure length of line, placement of branches and flowers and how they relate to each other. Even if it […]
Read story →November 22, 2011
Just a quick arrangement today, not easy considering the vase I used. I got this glass vase as a gift, and I just did not have any idea how I was going to use it. It seems simple enough, and that is the deception. You really have to work to be able to make something […]
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