My first attempt at Ikebana

My first attempt at Ikebana.
I have finally been able to try Ikebana - Japanese flower arranging. Now this may not sound like the kind of thing that I would do, but it was actually something I really wanted to try - and I loved it.

In the week I received an invitation to a short introductory course which runs for 3 Saturdays, two hours each class. So, I signed up right away. There are two more courses, one starting in November and then one in the new year which I also hope to do.

Today was my first class. We are studying the "Ohara" school of Ikebana. Apparently there are many many different schools. The whole idea is to choose your flowers very carefully and then arrange them perfectly. The focus is on simplicity, which brings out the beauty in the flowers. It's very different from western thought, that in my opinion is a question of putting lots of flowers together in nice combinations, though I must admit I don't know very much about western flower arranging. In Ikebana everything is important and all the minute details are taken into consideration. For example, you have to think about the colours, shapes and sizes of the flowers, leaves, stems and other parts of the plants you use. You must also think about the bowl or vase they are being arranged in. You must also think carefully about the whole composition as well as the individual flowers. Everything must be perfect!

Yesterday we started with a "standing" arrangement. The plants used were: 3 pieces of decorative okra (which is a reddish colour rather than the green one you can eat), 3 pale pink carnations and 2 bits of green fern. We were given a special ikebana bowl that has like a nail-cushion in it which you gently push the stems into. Then, carefully, you cut and place each item. This sounds simple but even though we had an example to follow, and the teacher drew the correct positioning of the stem and the angle on the board, she still corrected most of what I did!! I wasn't too sure I could see much difference but I took 2 photos - one of the first arrangement that she corrected and then one of my own creation and they are different - it's subtle but it's amazing how a slight variation in angle changes everything. Having said that, I'm still pretty happy about my first creation and left feeling that I'd really achieved something beautiful. I also felt nice and relaxed, which was great too. Second class next Saturday morning.

Posted Saturday, 2 October 2004