Fall is for Ikebana

This is one of my favorite Ikebana attempts, for two reasons. First, I like how it turned out. Second, I had fun finding the maple leaf branch, which involved me traipsing about my town's local park with Ikebana shears and looking for a tree that wouldn't miss a small part of itself. Thankfully, people in my town are used to the odd goings-on of their local foreigners; otherwise, I believe most people would have called the cops on some strange white person wandering around with a sharp, pointy object.

Blue Baby's Breath

Yet another Ikebana attempt. I actually really like this one, but I guess it's more a normal flower arrangement than an Ikebana, as traditional Ikebana has rules and math (yes, math, ugh!). I found out only recently that there are fairly strict rules where the subject flower has to be at a 45 degree angle from the main flower, or some other such number/angle depending on which shape or style the Ikebana arrangement is in. Boo for math, but yay for blue baby's breath and lilies, although I don't know if the blue is natural or sprayed on. Either way, it's pretty!

Little Yellow Flowers

 

This week's Ikebana is... okay. I like it well enough. Not terribly interesting, but not bad. Plus, while I don't know the name of the little yellow wildflowers, I do know the pink and orange ones! They're roses... that's why I know them. On a side note, I just realized I'd never seen orange roses before this. Huh.

I Really Need a New Ikebana Vase

I realize, looking back on these pictures of Ikebana I've done over the past few months, that I really need a new Ikebana vase/container. Quite possibly a few different ones. With the one I currently have, I think there's only so many shapes and arrangements I can do. Sorry then if this is familiar to something you've seen before, but here's another arrangement I did. (I'm still catching up on all the pictures I have of Ikebana and whiteboard doodles.) I'm kind of... indifferent to this one. I don't hate it, but I don't really like it either. It's just sort of there. I do, however, wish I knew the name for all these flowers. It's starting to bug me a little. Perhaps, in addition to some new Ikebana vases, I will also invest in a book of some sorts to identify all these flowers I'm using.

My Favorite Ikebana

Or at least one of my favorites, at least. It's super simplistic, but I admit I really like that. How well this turned out is mostly due to the beauty of the main flower (which I'm pretty sure is an Orchid... right?), but I'd like to think that by this point I've maybe gotten a little better at the whole flower arranging thing.

Did I Mention Lilies are Awesome?

Apparently I liked using lilies so much, right after the last arrangement I made, I immediately used them again! Different color and arrangement this time though, with different supporting flowers. I wasn't lying when I said I really liked lilies, so I'm warning you now they show up many more times in my Ikebana attempts.

Lilies are Awesome

Back to Ikebana attempts, I have to admit that I've found lilies to be one of my favorite flowers to use. They make almost any arrangement look super dramatic, without me having to have any actual amount of real skill. The variety of lilies available here is also appealing, so even though a single stalk can cost me up to $15 depending on the type, I still buy and use them on a regular basis. The above photo is just after I made this one, and the below is a few days later, when the last flower bloomed. Yay for lilies! (Although I don't know what particular type of lily this one is... I really should start studying flower names as I make these.)

Roses are Red

At least for a while, they are. This was the first time I used roses in one of my Ikebana attempts, and I wasn't too thrilled. They don't live as long as other flowers, so they were dying while the rest of the arrangement was still perfectly fine. It could also have something to do with this being my absolute least favorite arrangement out of all I've done thus far. I have used roses again since this one though, so at least they fared better than the Bird of Paradise in that respect, I guess.

I Actually Know the Name of This Flower

It's called a Bird of Paradise, and the only reason I know that is because my husband was super surprised when he saw some in our local flower shop and explained them to me. I guess they are native to where he grew up in California. I was a little hesitant to use such a dramatic flower in an Ikebana arrangement, but I ended up doing it as a little gift to him. I liked how it turned out, but I probably won't ever use them again; my husband sort of forgot to mention that there's a particular gnat-like bug that loves them, and there was 20 billion of their eggs inside that hatched a few days after the flower fully bloomed. Thankfully, they were so enamored of the Bird of Paradise that they all stayed right on the flower, so I could throw it into the trash and run shrieking out the door to try and burn it. Still, it is a really pretty flower.

I'm Back, With Flowers

So, it's a new year. A new chance to blog correctly, but we'll see how that goes. Sorry I disappeared for a few weeks; I was back in the States visiting family. I'm back now though, with another Ikebana attempt. This is one of my least favorite, composition-wise. I like the weird red flowers though (I have no idea what their name is; I asked the Japanese florist and he said something that I swear was over 20 syllables long, which I promptly forgot). I'll have to try something using them again, but as this was only my third Ikebana attempt by myself, I wasn't able to do them justice.

Plastic Flowers

It's time for more Ikebana attempts, as I'm still trying to go through the massive amounts of pictures I've taken over the last seven months. These flowers are not actually plastic. They are in fact quite real; they just look like they're made of plastic. Also in the picture: one of my many Japanese textbooks and my little moving 'Welcome Home' Totoro motion sensor. He's actually made of plastic.

More Adventures in Ikebana

So, a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I wrote about going to a little old Japanese lady's house and learning the traditional art of Ikebana, or flower arranging. That was about, oh, 7 months or so ago, and my promise of posting and sharing any other attempts at this ancient Japanese art with all of you went unfulfilled. The promise was not, however, forgotten, and I have diligently photographed each of my attempts over all this time. They are not all that great, but they will all be put up here regardless; with any luck, I might even get better over time. The one above was my first ever attempt by myself, without little old Japanese ladies fluttering about me giving advice. Below is the same arrangement a week later, after the lilies had fully bloomed. I am fortunate that my little tiny town has not one, but two really awesome fresh flower shops to utilize (one has even hooked me up with a discount). Look for more soon!

Adventures in Ikebana

Ikebana is the way of traditional Japanese flower arrangement. Recently a friend of mine, a retired English teacher, invited me to her home to participate in her Ikebana club. I admit, while I was a little curious, I was mostly hesitant; I was convinced that an ancient art of arranging flowers was going to be the most boring thing in the world. I ended up going anyways though, to both appease my friend and at least say I gave it a try.

I'm so glad I went. While I admit that there were some really, really serious members of that Ikebana club (I literally watched one older lady think and debate 20 minutes over where to place a single flower), I ended up having a blast. Granted, I think I finished before everyone else (ah, the impetuousness of youth), but I think I made something pretty nice-looking for my first attempt. The picture above is when I first made the arrangement, and the one below is about a week later, when it started blooming. I enjoyed it so much, in fact, I've since bought my own Ikebana vase and tools (the ones in the pictures are loaners) to use and play with at home. I'm definitely intending to continue this new-found hobby, and while my next attempt might not be that great without the advice of little old Japanese ladies, if it's any good at all I'll be sure to share it with all of you.