END OF YEAR CLASSES CONTINUE

My Torquay class celebrated the end of the year with an "Ikebana at Home" event at Coralie's house. As with my Melbourne students' class shown last week, the students brought ikebana materials and food to share. The visiting students were able to borrow vessels from Coralie's collection. The house features some Japanese decor.

Pamela was allocated a tokonoma space at the end of a short corridor. Beside an ink painting scroll of bamboo, she arranged a stem of Garden nasturtium Tropaeolum, and some stems of Jade plant Crassula ovata, in a modern red vessel.

Róża selected a trough-shaped vessel in which she arranged some dried Callistemon stems, chosen for their graceful curves. The inclusion of Grevillea that was in flower provided some fresh green and a red floral focus. 

Lyn's ikebana was arranged on a low table that divided two spaces. This meant that the work could be seen from all around. Here the arrangement shows against a shoji screen. The long stems on the right are Olive branches in flower that have been stripped of all their leaves. The massed flower material is Persian Lilac Melia azedarach.

Coralie set her materials in two matching red ceramic cylinders. Her theme was Christmas, which was suggested through colours of red, white and green, and the inclusion of coiled dried vine suggesting a Christmas wreath. The green branches are Pomaderris and the flowers are white everlastings Xerochrysum bracteatum. 

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Yesterday I was given a large bunch of Leucospermum by some neighbours who have a densely planted garden. The bunch included two different varieties of leucospermum. Three of the flowers were yellow and the rest predominantly orange. This afternoon I had the opportunity to arrange them, taking advantage of the particularly long stems. 

Two of the longest stems reach toward the right. The three yellow flowers had shorter stems and are placed left of the centre point of the vase. A short stem with only leaves extends to the left, providing a counter movement to balance the principal line. The vessel, which has a deeply grooved surface, is by Graeme Wilkie.

Finally... 

...this week I created what I think of as an Australian Christmas tree, using the large bare branch of my previous week's posting. Perhaps I should really call it a large Christmas decoration. The  large wood fired vessel is by the New South Wales ceramicist Ian Jones.

The mask on the wall was brought back from Papua New Guinea by Laurie in 1973, after working there for two years.

Season's greetings from Christopher
21st December 2025