Journal archive
October 22, 2011
Autumn and flowers from the garden were the inspirations today. The Japanese toad lilies with their speckled blooms were my first choice, and I experimented with many other materials before settling on chrysanthemums, hydrangea, blackberry lily pods and a begonia leaf. The base of the desing is a piece of driftwood, and my thought was […]
Read story →October 21, 2011
My arrangement started out very flashy and, very honestly, overworked. I think I may at some point post selections of the ikebana pieces that got a thumbs down, just for fun. For today it was better to be simple and work in a small ikebana vase. The materials are black calla lilies, a begonia leaf […]
Read story →October 20, 2011
Today I tried to so a variation of a floating arrangement, and it is not working for me. I like the elements, chinese lanterns and palm fronds. It’s just not hitting the mark for me. Great color and a bit of movement, but you don’t see the water element and I used way too many […]
Read story →October 19, 2011
When I do my daily ikebana arrangements I often start with one idea and it progesses into something else, sometimes along the same thought/design process or something altogether different. So here is a glimpse into one of those ideas. I have these lovely gloriosa lilies and I wanted to use them in mass, an easy […]
Read story →October 18, 2011
It’s my first time trying to manipulate palm fronds, they’re simply leaves tied two together at a time. Semi successful, it just needs some more practice, but not bad for a starting point. Like anything it takes time and exploration and experimentation. The handing of the leaves is very zen, and just relaxes me regardless […]
Read story →October 17, 2011
This is the arrangement I did in my Sogetsu Ikebana class tonight. I was given three stems of “hairy balls” (Asclepias physocarpa) and told to do the lesson “Using only one type of flower”. It can be a difficult lesson or easy lesson depending on what type of floral material you get. I thought that […]
Read story →October 16, 2011
There are some materials that I am drawn to over and over again, two are in this arrangement. The trifoliate orange with it’s spiny thorns and shape, and the yellow craspedia so small and round. I love them both so much, and I am finding more and more ways to re-use and get more familiar […]
Read story →October 15, 2011
Disassembling and rearranging the materials, I changed the appearance of a stem of papyrus and a chinese lantern to make my own composite flower. It’s a great exercise to see what you can create by taking the materials apart and and seeing how you can alter their appearance. Creative and a great way to get […]
Read story →October 14, 2011
My freestyle ikebana arrangement for today with green china berries, whorled begonia leaf and plumosa fern. The berries were the starting point for the arrangement and I realy wanted to so something that could use them in. Adding in the whorled begonia leaf(from one of my begonia plants) and the plumosa to make it a […]
Read story →October 13, 2011
Simple and easy tonight, I wanted to show the shape of the opening of the black vase. Using the yellow calla lilies was a perfect fit in shape of flower and strong color to play off the black. It shows off the odd opening on the side of the vase and uses it to a […]
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