Journal archive
October 27, 2011
My busy vacation day included looking for flowers, no flower shop nearby so I had to resort to the grocery store. I kept telling myself that it is a challenge and that ultimately I should be able to produce ikebana with any material. I chose the football chrysanthemums for color, seasonal relatabilty and the fact […]
Read story →October 26, 2011
One thing I like about being away from home is being able to visit new sources for containers. Thrift store are still a big favorite, as well as different art galleries and craft shops. I spotted this vase in a Goodwill store, a handmade piece(with a small seal signature one the bottom) with a great […]
Read story →October 25, 2011
Hooray, it’s a milestone day for me. Day 100!!!! Only 265 more days to go. Today I did a moribana with grasses that I collected, and I also found some bay berry and small bradford pears. I combined all those materials with the reamining black callas and some red rose buds. Simple but it worked, […]
Read story →October 23, 2011
My freestyle moribana for today, just trying to not think about it too much and just do it. Easy to do with such lovely materials. The pink dahlia is courtesy of my partner’s mother, Phyllis, and the white freesia and monstera are from the florist. I’m taking this week to decompress a bit and re-group […]
Read story →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 […]
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