>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

> Haran, Aucuba, & Rose

Haran (aspidistra) looked so beautiful that they turned their colors from green to bright yellow. I think they were left in a bucket for few weeks. I find it's so fascinating as they coming close to die, once again they shine with this bright yellow. I wish I could shine like that again when I'm coming close to my death.

Because they were not completely dried yet, I could make shapes in anyway I wanted.

ハランがグリーンから何とも鮮やかな黄色に変化していてとても綺麗でした。何週間かバケツに置き去りにされていたものと思われます。枯れて死が近づいているにもかかわらず、ここでもう一度と言わんばかりに美しい黄色で輝くその姿、とてもすごいなと思います。私も死が近づいた頃そんな風に輝いていたいものです(o^^o)

完璧にまだドライになっていなかったので、すきな形に作る事ができました。