> Amelia's b-day arrangement 2012

去年に引き続き、アメリアちゃんのお誕生会を彩るお花をアレンジしました〜。
今年はクリーム、黄色、グリーン、ライトパープルの淡い色合いです。

I was asked to make arrangements for Amelia's b-day party. 
This year's color theme is cream, yellow, green, light purple.

horizontal arrangement on a fire mantle

柳の線がバックの壁の色に隠れてしまって目立たなかった事と、チューリップはやはり太陽の光で動いてしまう為イメージとずれが出てしまう事が反省点です。。。
でもアメリアちゃんのママは喜んでくれました！

Sad to see the curly willow's graceful lines weren't popping out against the dark back ground color. Tulips are hard to use because they move toward the sun shine and change the shape of the original  arrangement. But Amelia's mom loved it that's all I care!

i love this color combination.

届きたてのお花はフレッシュで良い香りがして気持ちが癒されます〜。
普段はお家のベースメントで作業します。自然光が入らないので悲しいですが。。。
この後子供が寝てから深夜過ぎまで作業です。

I love the moments when I treat just arrived flowers.
They smell so good melt my heart and sole.
I usually work in my basement.
I worked until past midnight after my kids were asleep.

>Stamford Sakura Matsuri

Piony, hyacinth, eucalyptus leaves

hyacinth, iris, yellow colored kiwi vine, big green leave

The cherry blossom festival was held in Stamford Mill River Park yesterday.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so nice but it seems like quite a few people showed up for the festival.

I volunteered to make two small ikebana arrangements as a member of the Japan Society of Fairfield County. Top one was for the Japan aid desk and the bottom one was for the sumie table. It was a bit windy outside so the leaves fell down and flowers were moving around in a container...things were falling apart. I guess I need to keep in mind these factors when i make an arrangement for outside display.

> teacher's certificate!

Sogetsu Kanban

Finally my Sogetsu teacher's certificate and Kanban is here!
My flower name is "Yuka."
In Kanji Yu can be translated as "kind" and Ka can be translated as "gorgeous, flower."
I would like to thrive to create beautiful arrangements as a Sogetsu teacher.

> Happy New Year 2012!

spray roses, myrtle,
eucalyptus leaves, gold painted dried straw

明けまして、おめでとうございます。今年も皆さんにとって良い年になります様に。そして、東日本大震災で被災された方々が立ち直られ、町が一日も早く復興しますようにお祈りしています。

相変わらずお花を生ける時間はありませんが（涙）、スーパーで手に入る花で生けてみました。
ああ、NYの花マーケットが懐かしい！あそこでいろんな季節の枝ものや、花達を買って来て生けたいものです。

左と右を対照的にでも全体的にバランスよくなるよう仕上げました。
右のラインは写真ではちょっと見難いですが、勢い良く動いていて見ていて元気が出る感じにしました。

> 2011 holiday season

This year I am not hosting a Christmas Party because I'm 7 month pregnant right now but I decided to decorate the house with some sort of flower arrangements to add festivity.
Trying not to spend too much on flowers, i used silver painted birch branches as a main material with some Christmas ornaments. If I could find white dendrobium instead of mums that would've been perfect.

Tulips were on sale this week at Whole Foods, so i bought 3 bunches.
I love how they move freely to the direction of the sun. Together with their leaves, that curvy lines create the interesting rhythm and mood.

Right after Thanksgivings, we stayed in Manhattan one night.
This giant hanging ornament was very pretty in 5th avenue.

halloween arrangement

I haven't had a chance to do ikebana so long, I feel like I am forgetting about the basics.
This is the variation No.4 Upright style.

I checked my daily schedule if I can managed to have even one day to practice ikebana in our busy life, but i don't know, it would be hard.... I guess it will be a good practice to make arrangement in a short period of time though. But I kind of like the therapeutic quality of ikebana, when I can completely focus my attentions to flowers and allow myself forgetting everything else.

My intention was to make a Halloween arrangement, but it's not so spooky.

> Ikebana with an Ice Container

Sunday June 26, 2011

Mrs. Fumiko Allinder's flower class visited Okamoto Studio in Long Island City for ice container workshop. Mr. Okamoto is a very talented and well-known ice sculptor who works for a big client like Tiffany, Channel, and NBC etc. in New York. (Please check out his website. His work is amazing!!!)

It was my first time to make something out of ice.
First we draw a design of the container. Then, Mr. Okamoto shaped the ice with his chainsaw according to our designs. After that, we started adding textures on the surface or curving lines to create different effects.

Ice was melting as we work so every minute it was slightly changing how it looked. In a way, it's a nostalgic process...
Flower arranging is a same kind of art that it changes its shape as the time goes by but it's a much slower pace compare to the ice sculpting. You can't worry about the detail design because it smooths out in a few minutes anyway. I learned you have to make deep and clear cuts or lines to create a definition on the ice.

Few of my friends' works can be viewed in here.

Mr. Okamoto's tools..











Work in progress...











Mr. Okamoto using chainsaw