Friday, October 26, 2007

ikebana lesson 10/26/2007, free style (II)






Today I had a special guest came to my studio. Harumi is also an ikebana teacher. She chose the difficult sago palm as main line material. The arrangement (1) is simple, yet elegant. Well done.

After the class was over, I had a quiet moment for myself. There were still some materials left. Here are three arrangments (2, 3, 4) I did. (2) also used sago palm, but not as main stems, shin or soe, rather as jushi (supporting material). (4) was from No. 3 variation.

Ikebana lesson 10/26/2007, free style




Fall colors!

(1) Keeyen: Moribana free style, two kensans

(2) Weiping: Nageire free style

(3) Eileen: Nageire free style, two containers

ikebana lesson 10/26/2007, basic



(1) Jingmei's basic upright nageire

(2) Donna's 3rd variation, moribana

Thursday, October 18, 2007

ikebana lesson 10/18/2007, free style



These two were arranged by Wei. She has just finished book 1 regular lessons. These are free style study. Shin, Soe, and Hikae are clear in these arrangements. Excellent design. Well done.

ikebana lesson 10/18/2007, Basics







Welcome, Janet, Jingmei, and Rebecca.
Photo 1, 2: Basic upright by Janet. The first one was done on 10/12, Janet's first lesson. The shin was a little too short, so the whole arrangement was a liitle too tight. Since all the elements were placed at the right place/angle, the arrangement was successful. The second one was done on 10/18, her second lesson. This time was much better, though the picture didn't justify to show her arrangement. (It's always off in certain degree to use photo, 2 dimensional picture, to show 3 dimensional object.)

Photo 3: Basic upright by Jingmei (10/12). This was her second class. Good feel about proportion and space. Well done.

Photo 4: Basic upright by Rebecca (10/18). Her very first lesson. Good understanding, well balanced arrangement. Excellent job.

Photo 5: No. 3 variation, upright, nageire, by Donna. Nageire is always challenging. She tried soegi-dome (vertical type fixture) technique.Well done. Shin and Soe were very stable. The whole arrangement is well balanced. Because of camera angle, the hikae looked short, but actually not.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Wedding arrangements, 10/5/2007






The wedding of Michelle and Mark, 10/5/2007
Ceremony: Japanese Friendship Garden. A fusion of East and West.
Ceremony center piece: Roses (pink), Gypsophila (white), Bamboom (black) (color scheme per bride's request)
Hand tie bouquet, and corsages (western style, no pictures)

Reception: Boomjun Tree
Center pieced: Roses (pink), gypsophila (white), mitsumata (black)
Cake decor: Roses (ping), gypsophila (white), bear grass (green)

Sogetsu's principles are line, mass and color. Here, I emphosize mass with gypsophila, which creates volume, yet, light.