Last week I attended the monthly meeting of Ikebana International in Melbourne. The theme of the meeting was an annual event of the chapter: 'Japanese Day'. To celebrate a unique aspect of Japanese culture, some of the Japanese members of the chapter gave a demonstration of how to use furoshiki and, after the formal meeting, Japanese food was served. Furoshiki is the term for fabric squares of various sizes that have been used traditionally in Japan to wrap objects for presentation or simply as a utilitarian carrying device. The fabric may be cotton, silk or, these days, synthetic material. There are multiple techniques for wrapping that vary according to the shape of the object in consideration. Click on the blue text to see images of the activity and arrangements. I.I. Melbourne:Japanese Day.
In keeping with the activity, members were asked to use the idea of wrapping in the ikebana they made at the meeting. Many used furoshiki in their arrangements or around their vases. I thought it would be interesting to use some of the Coastal Sword Sedge (lepidosperma gladiator), that I used in last week's blog, to wrap around my vase. I chose an irregularly angled bizen vase for the purpose and because it was 'wrapped' I used a single camellia flower and one leaf peeping out from the vase's opening.
Greetings from Christopher
22nd June 2014 (mid-winter in the southern hemisphere)
You can see Emily Karanikolopoulos' latest blog posting by clicking on the blue text: Emily in Tokyo.
Lovely. I like how the bends of the sedge show off the angles on the container.
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