Ikebana Redux and Ikebana Wannabee

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In the last post, I showed the vase on the left sporting an Ikebana arrangement. This vase, which I created by fusing together two constructions, is taller than the vase on the right, which I threw all in one piece. The taller vase is wonkier by virtue of its composite construction (plus I think I dropped the top piece in the process…sigh), but I like it better than the more perfect left-hand version of this shape because I was able to create a taller top cylinder. It’s more pleasingly balanced. My goal is to be able to throw the left-hand taller version of the vase all in one piece.

Ikebana

I volunteered to do a Japanese Ikebana flower arrangement for the garden club I joined recently, even though I had never created such a thing. Why not? I like flowers. I make pots. I even made a special pot (the white one) for the occasion. I bought a book: “Easy Ikebana.”

I created Ikebana #1 a couple of days in advance using ranunculus flowers and a cutting from my jasmine plant. It looked pretty good! A day later though, the trailing piece of jasmine had wilted. On the morning of the presentation, I headed for the woods to find a replacement something and found an accommodating spirea bush. But I also found other interesting spring plants and made Ikebana #2 using wildflowers and some chives in very small pot.

The Ikebanas are still hanging in there a day later (although the small purple flower didn’t last long). The white vase was inspired by an historical Korean form. It doesn’t really have black designs on the sides–those are shadows. The surface design is white porcelain slip under white glaze. The small vase is a salt-fired creation from a couple of years ago.