Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Hata Sensei class in April - Japanese Narcissus (lesson1) and composition with Curved Line (lesson2)

Lesson 1): Japanese Narcissus ( book 5 )
How to do Hagumi: "Rub the Narcissus sheath to soften it and pull out the flower stem, the inner leaves and outer leaves to part them. Then rearrange these parts with due attention paid to getting the height difference between the flower stem and the leaves as well as the direction of the leaves".
So, Sensei brought Narcissus to everyone, $5 dollars a bunch. She taught us how to do Hagumi.
I also brought some daffodils from my garden. Miniature and regular kind, see below:
My arrangement
Hata Sensei's domo arrangement
midoli Sensei's arrangement

Lesson 2): Composition with Curved Line - Sensei show us how to bent the pussy willow
Hata Sensei's demo arrangement 
My curved line composition
 Sensei's comment: change brighter container will be perfect

Two or More containers- Lesson 3

Lesson 3): Two or More Containers
I thought it would be unique! A white, tall ceramic Japanese vase and a black, moon shaped metal  container combined together as a whole arrangement that was my first idea design.
The materials for both containers were Japanese quince and Japanese white pine. I cut them from my back garden. 

Friday, April 19, 2019

Free Style Using Japanese Quince

The container has a wide open mouth. I used a piece of tree root as a fixing structure in order to put other materials in place without difficulty.
Material: Japanese quince, daffodile, pine and black painted branch
Container: Red and black ceramic vase

Composition of Surfaces by Using Leaves

There are five Magnolia trees in my yard. Their leaves have two colors on both sides, front and back. They are evergreen, and their leaves are shiny all year long. Their big white flowers are very pretty and fragrant, but short lived. I use the leaves for my arrangement, "Composition of Surfaces by Using Leaves." and the flower is a daffodil.


Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Hata Sensei's Class in March

1) Jumonji-dome (Cross- bar fixture) : Azalea, Alstroemeria, mum and Japanese quince / ceramic vase (3/18/2019)



 2) Composition of Straight Line :Alstroemeria, Siberian dogwood and pine /ceramic Suiban



Burning bush and mum / ceramic vase

Sensei's Straight Line demo



3) Composition of Mass and Line (Straight or Curved)
 
Sensei's mass and curved line demo


My Mass and Straight Line ( wax flower and quince)

classmate's mass and straight line
classmate's mass and straight line

classmate's mass and curved line

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

My arrangement at the Philadelphia Flower Show

When I was given an assignment for the Philadelphia Flower Show, I was excited and a bit worried about what kind of arrangement it was going to be. My platform size was 4'x4'x1', the background wall was 9' tall. It was one of the largest locations. The theme behind my arrangement was about spring time and naturalistic scenic. As soon as I knew my platform size, I brought out my tree root from the garage which I collected a long time ago and a big Japanese vase, they matched so well together. Also I started forcing Azalea and Japanese quince to flower, it took 6 weeks to bud and flower. My husband helped me to cut a few tall Siberian dogwood and a friend from our garden club let me cut her Camellia branches. All of these materials were used for my base.
Thanks to my husband for helping me the whole way, from finding the materials (many I decided not to use), to transporting the materials to setting up.


This arrangement should be viewed by three sides.

Saturday, March 16, 2019

PFS - Ikebana

The Ikebana section at PFS is a small potion of the whole show. But it drew a lot of people coming to view the Ikebana display. There were 16 pieces for each rotation*, the pictures I show here are only for the 1st and 2nd rotation, the 3rd one I was not there, so it's not showing here.
* During the PFS the Ikebana exhibition we usually divide into 3 rotations, because it requires freshness of flower and plant materials. It usually is displayed only for 3 to 4 days for each person.
My arrangement was displayed in the 2nd rotation. I received a lot of good compliments! It would show in my next blog.

Wall arrangement










PFS - Blue Ribbons Award

Plant-pressed arts and window arts and jewelry arts, they are all made from plants, flowers and natural sources.