Composing an arrangment in two-steps

We are encouraged in Book 5 to make an arrangment in two steps, the first step with dry material outside a container and in the second step put it together with fresh materials in a vase. One of this arrangments was made from my students in Germany with vines and one was made in Australia with materials we could finde in the back-yard. Both are very different, but both are interesting and fun to work with.

Composition with unconventional Material only

My German students worked with unvonventional materials such as wire, clothspins, styrofoam or straws. To make an interesting Ikebana without a flower, leave or a branch is allways a challenge, but all students mastered it with joy. Like Sofu Teshigahara said: if I am in a desert, I make Ikebana with sand.

My first Ikebana-Demonstration at the Sunshine Coast

We were invited to hold an Ikebana-Demonstration at the Coolum Womens Shed. The days bevore the event were filled with searching for materials in neighbors garden, in bush and fields and in the supermarkets. The Flower shops are way to expensiv here. My assistend Bernadette, the spectators and my self had a good time, everyone was happy and smiling. We are pleased that we could show our passion to Ikebana.

First Ikebana-Class in 2024

We managed to held our first Ikebana-Class in 2024 by 34 degree and a humidity from 91 %. A big challenge not only for the flowers but also for the students. We dont have aircon in my Studio, so we went upstairs workt in the livingroom with carfully chosen material, such as Rosmarin, Fern, Golden Candle-Bush, Zinnias and created nice table-arrangements with a lot of joy.

Happy New Year / Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu

We are on vacation, but we have of course provided a little bit of New-Years-Dekoration in the traditionell colors; red, green and white to your enjoyment. See you soon.

Merry Christmas

We wish all our Ikebana friends a merry and peacefull Christmas. We take a short brake and see each ather, to going on with our Ikebana jorney, beginning of 2024 totaly relaxt, refreshed and full of power . That is my wish for all of you, my dear friends. Our Christmastree is made from Flamboyant tree and Spinifex.

Ikebana zur Advents- und Weihnachtszeit, Teil 2

Wir ließen uns von den exotischen Materialien, die wir am Strand gefunden haben und die Freunde uns zukommen ließen, inspirieren, kreierten einen Sternenregen aus Spinifex, setzten Rückstände der Dattelpalme in Szene, sprühten Aspidistra-Blätter gold, ließen Zweige der Norfolktanne Weihnachtskugeln halten und erfreuten uns an den wunderschönen Strelitien, die hier gerade in fast allen Gärten in Blüte stehen.

Pre-Christmas-Ikebana

This week we did here on the coast and online in Germany our first Christmas-Ikebana of the year. We worked partly with completely new materials and used everything the wonderful natur has to offer, including coral tree, pine, Casuarina and Amaryllis.

Reflection BUGA Mannheim, July 2023

I just stumbled across the pictures of our demonstration at the BUGA Mannheim and would like to share some of them with you. It is still exiting to demonstrate in front of a large audience. Thanks to good preparation, a fantastic helper and a very intersted audience, all four arrangements were completet in the required time. And it was a great relief, that also the difficult Nageire stood propper in the Raku ceramic.

Gardenia golden magic

Eine meiner australischen Schülerinnen brachte Gardenien-Zweige mit, an denen weiße und gelbe, herrlich duftende, Blüten mit dem schönen Namen “Gardenia golden magic” zu bewundern waren. Um dieser Schönheit gerecht zu werden, arbeiteten wir mit der 4. Variarion, in der der wir ohne Soe auskommen müssen. Weitere spannende Arrangements entstanden mit bereits ausgeblühten wandernden Iris, deren frisches Grün und elegente Struktur immer wieder begeistern.

Only one kind of Material and Tsukimi

My German online students worked with one Material only this week. Most of the students used Ilex, which produced very nice berries at this time of the year. With this material good and interesting results were achieved. The other group, here we there, worked on a belated Tsukimi, with all the grasses we could finde.

Verschiedene Variationen

Präsenz- sowie online-Schüler erarbeiteten in dieser Woche die unterschiedlichsten Arrangements. Während einige ganz klassisch mit der Variation 3 arbeiteten, versuchten sich einige wenige Schüler an der Lektion ohne Kenzan nur mit Blättern. Herbstliche Tischdekorationen standen ebenfalls auf unserem Programm. Ich erfreue mich an der Vielfalt und hoffe, Sie tun das auch.

Book 5, lesson 4, green material only

We worked with different green materials, leaves, twigs, green ivy flowers and wild asparagus. The main challenge in this work is to make it interesting from every sides even without fancy flowers.

Ranken, Var. 2 slanting und ein Ausflug in die Floristen-Welt

Eine meiner australischen Schülerinnen brachte wunderschöne blühende und betörend duftende Ranken mit, die wir nach Buch 4, Lektion 6 gestalteten. Viele der wunderbaren Blüten mussten weichen, um den Charakter der Ranken besser zu zeigen. Zum Glück war die Schülerin äußerst kooperativ. das zweite Rankenarrangement besteht nur aus Tomatenranken, die hier so üppig wachsen, dass wir sie ohne Bedenken verwenden konnten. Meine fortgeschrittenen Online-Schüler erarbeiteten erfolgreich das Thema der letzten Woche Var. 2 mit Beerenzweigen. Ich selbst durfte in dieser Woche zu Gast bei der Nambour Floral Art Society sein, wo wir kleine Ansteckbouquets mit weihnachtlichem Einschlag anfertigten.

Variation No. 2 upright or slanting style Moribana

My students here in Australia and my students in Germany developed the same lesson last week, only 15.200 km away, but with different materials. The Australien students used bottlebrush plants, and the German students pearl bushes, or ornamental cherries. Var. 2 is particularly suitable for branches with small, colored fruits and for branches with some colored interesting shape.

Land Art Workshop in Kenmore/Brisbane

Zum heutigen Land-Art-Workshop mit Lily Karmatz, Land-Art-Künstlerin aus Brisbane, trafen sich sechzehn Mitglieder der Sogetsu-Brisbane-Gruppe auf dem großzügigen waldigen Gelände der kleinen Kenmore Kirche, um mit den mitgebrachten und im Busch gefundenen natürlichen Materialien ihre Arrangements im Einklang mit sich und der Natur zu erarbeiten. Der ganz persönliche Arbeitsplatz wurde schnell gefunden, sei es am Bach, an morschen Bäumen, an den erstaunlichen Wurzeln der Würgefeigen, in schwindelnder Höhe, oder ganz einfach an einem oder zwei grünen Büschen. Voller Freude an und in der Natur, entstanden ganz individuelle und sehr unterschiedliche Arrangements.

Experimenting with nativ Australian plants

During this week, the hedges, bushes and plants around our house were heavily trimmed. furtunately I was able to save some branches and flowers, so I could use them for experiments. Branches from beach cotton-tree where used for an Ikebana without Kenzan, I used havy branches with thick thorns from a hedge together with Spinnifex and big buds, which reminds me of corals, from a large agave bush as base for the beautiful white and pink amaryllis.

Sunshine Coast Australia

I´m back at the Sunshine Coast since a few days. Still a bit sleepy but happy to be here again. The Amaryllis are in full bloom! So my first Ikebana after arriving is made with such a beauty in a container with a red mark. The second is very simple made from yesterday, today, tomorrow, named so because the flowers from yesterday are slightly purple, from today dark purple and from tomorrow white. The scent resembles jasmine and fills the entire room with a good smell. And the best thing is, I provide Ikebana-Lessons in person and online from middle of Oktober again and look forward to your registration.

Tate no Soegi dome

Für unseren letzten gemeinsamen Ikebana-Abend in Kettwig besorgte ich wunderschöne Schneeballzweige mit roten Beeren, kräftige Standbeine und kaufte alle weißblühenden Blumen auf, die ich an diesem heißen Tag bekommen konnte. Tate no Soegi dome, Befestigung auf einem eingeschnittenen Standbein, ist eine bei den meisten Schülern unbeliebte Befestigungsmethode und sollte gerade aus diesem Grunde noch einmal geübt werden. Unsere frisch gebackene Ikebana-Lehrerin Ulla Steuter wird diese Gruppe während meines 8 monatigen Australien-Aufenthaltes übernehmen. Einige Schüler brachten Magnolienzweige oder Hagebuttenzweige mit, die sich ebenfalls sehr gut für diese Art des Arrangements eignen.

BUGA Mannheim

From the many wonderful arrangements of the most diverse Ikebana-schools, again I selected a few that particulary caught my eye, either because of their technic, of the material or of the location. Most of the arrangements didn´t have a calm backround, so the photos didn´t always turn out great. But it is certainly enough to get an impression.