KSKeith Stanley

Journal archive

Journal

365 Days of Ikebana-Day 28

For the last few days I have had some boxwood clippings just waiting to be used. They are short and I thought they might be good for some type of ikebana showing mass.I went through several containers trying to find the right one and came up with this clear glass vase that I thought was […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 27

This has been the most difficult day so far, I ran out of steam and energy after a long day. It has really mad me realize what a difficult project I’ve begun, and how much momentum and dedication I need to keep it going. My hope was that a small power nap would revive me […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 26

Another try at manipulating leaves, this time with monstera leaves and a differeent technique for the equisetum. The monstera leaves I cut into “squares” to try to give them a different look and feel, the equisetum was curled at one end to given them an interesting look (almost like fern curls). Manipulating leaves is getting […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 25

A single bloom of blue clematis and some fantail willow made for a lovely ikebana arrangement today. I had a rock that I wanted to use today to make another “hana kubari” styled design and those waiting elements were perfect. The arrangements from yesterday and today were both in tune with my partner Frederick who […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 24

This arrangement is made using a technique called “hana kubari”, it’s basically a way of using natural materials as the fixture to hold a flower or flowers in place. The small melon is used as the hana kubari to hold the orange zinnia. This melon was a vounteer plant in the garden, and in fact […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 23

Again I was drawn into manipulating the equisetum, I had vowed to move onto something else this week but the enticement was still there. I tried a different technique of making a “fence” of five stems of tall equisetum, something that I had not tried before. It wasn’t hard to do, but still took a […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 22

It’s hard to believe that I am on day 22 of my project: a year of daily ikebana arrangements. One of our two banana trees provided me with some inspiration today, I wanted to so something with some leaves to show their surface. I cut two of the reddish banana leaves and shaped them in […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 21

Tired of waiting for the garden to start blooming again I went to the Dupont Circle Farmer’s Market today to purchase some flowers. Using what I’ve grown or collected has been a pretty good feeling, but after days of barely being able to glean enough worth while materials to work with I had to buy […]

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365 Days of Ikebana-Day 20

This little Polish glass vase was a nice find today at Ruff & Ready . It was half price since this “junque” store is going out of business this month. I’ve found some sweet Japanese ceramics there over the years and I am sad to see it go. The small opening was filled with a […]

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365 Days of ikebana-Day 19

My last day with the manipulation of equisetum, and I am ready to move on to something else. It feels much like I am phoning it in today, and that is a terrible feeling. This isn’t an easy project, and I knew that going into it. I’m doing for a reason, and that reason is […]

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