DRIED MATERIALS

The last week has given us several days of perfect autumn weather. Warm sunny days with little wind after cooler night time temperatures. Because Torquay is on the south coast of Victoria we are subject to salty winds, particularly when the sea is rough. One of the consequences of this is that northern hemisphere deciduous trees rarely do well. Although our garden has sheltered areas we cannot successfully grow more delicate autumn-colouring plants like maples.

In spite of this issue I set my Geelong senior students the exercise of making an Autumn Ikebana.

Ellie approached the exercise by focusing on the colour of a single yellow flower of one of the prostrate Banksia hybrids. She added some fine wispy pale-yellow dried material. The colour of these light materials was complemented by the gold patterning on the single-footed black vessel.

Jo used Pomegranate Puncia granatum, branches, with fruit attached. Some of the fruit had split, exposing the seeds within. Her vessel had a bottle shape with a double opening which enabled her to create some space within the ikebana.

Maureen used a large branch of Manchurian Pear Pyrus ussuriensis, with a strong, interesting line. Some of its remaining leaves were beginning to change colour. Three unidentified yellow fruit were added at the mouth of the vessel for their colour.

Maree used some stems of beautifully coloured Smoke Bush Cotinus, arranged as rising in a vertical movement. Three small white Chrysanthemums, were set as a low focal point. The open bowl is made of glass, the colour and translucence of which complemented the Smoke Bush leaves.

My ikebana this week is arranged using the Hydrangeas from last week's ikebana. The flowers had dried naturally, changing over a six week period from this...

...to...

...this.

I was amazed at how much of the faded red remained and also noticed that it harmonised beautifully with the blues and pinks in the vase by Pippin Drysdale. To extend the vertical movement of the Hydrangeas mass, I added a dried Agapanthus stem. Its lighter colour also brightened the ikebana.

Greetings from Christopher
17th May 2026

 

 

AUTUMNAL HYDRANGEA

At my Melbourne class I asked the students to make an ikebana using "Colours in the same tonal range". This exercise creates a richness of colour through the variation in the tones of that colour.

Jacqueline used a small Sunflower Helianthus, as her starting point. She then created a slanting mass with orange-tinged, yellow Alstroemeria and added three striped Canna "Phasion" leaves.

Eugenia used a glass vessel in which she arranged dark maroon Aeonium arboreum, succulents and a small mass of red Geraniums. Two variegated leaves with maroon, pink and green colouring were placed as lines rising to the right.

Aileen used stems of Virginia creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia, and a cluster of pink flowering Eucalyptus to create a horizontal ikebana arrangement.  

Four weeks ago I noticed that the cerise Hydrangea was beginning to develop autumnal tonings. These flowers hold their form well and become a little more firm while their colours deepen and change in this season.

I chose them to make a simple, naturalistic ikebana placing them unevenly in the trough-shaped vessel to create a space between the middle flower and the flower on the right side. Between these two flowers I placed a small piece of dried wood with interesting curves and surface texture. 

Greetings from Christopher
10th May 2026

 

 

THE ADELAIDE WORKSHOPS WITH MASTER MORI SAIRIN

Last weekend I attended two days of workshops with Master Instructor Mori, whom I referred to in last week's posting. I really enjoyed the workshops. The themes were interesting and Master Mori's critique was instructive.

On the first day, the workshops were held at the Ukaria Cultural Centre at Mt Barker, in the hills east of Adelaide. The first workshop theme was "Using dried materials". Among the supplied materials and vessels were some good lengths of bark and two curious boot-shaped vases.

I chose this length of bark because it was naturally doubled on itself, and was long enough to brace between the two vessels. I inserted two bright pink Leucadendron stems within the curl of the bark. On the right-hand side the bark is just touching the bowl of the vessel and held in place by the tension of the material. Master Mori's critique was that I should have had a small amount of material on the left side of the opening of the left vessel. 

In the afternoon, the theme was "Using various locations". We were encouraged to work outside the building or in the sloping garden below.

As I walked around the garden I noticed a Lion's tail flower Leonotis leonurus, and realised that it would closely match two splashes of colour on a vase I had brought with me. I also slotted together three sections of curled bark to make the long line. Then a single dried Aspidistra leaf and a branching stem of Leucadendron were added.

This photo shows Master Mori's critique in progress, with Ukaria's main building in the background.

The second day's workshops were held in the suburb of Windsor Gardens. The theme for the afternoon was "Using seasonal plant material"'. We were invited to "...express the beauty of Autumn in Adelaide...". Unfortunately, there was not much traditional (northern hemisphere) autumn material around, as Adelaide and Victoria have both had something of an Indian Summer this year. So very few of the northern hemisphere plants have changed colour yet. I decided I would try to put an Australian slant on the exercise. Probably not wise.

At the beginning of Master Mori's critique of my ikebana, I commented that, when they  settled in Australia, the first Europeans observed that the seasons in the southern hemisphere occurred at the opposite time of the year compared to the northern hemisphere. Also, Australian trees did not shed their leaves in winter but, perversely from the European point of view, the trees shed their bark. 

The only cold climate, winter deciduous tree in Australia is the Deciduous Beech Nothofagus gunnii.

I decided to gather some bark in the nearby park, hoping that its orange-ish colouring in some places would meet the criteria.  I also added stems of Eucalyptus leaves with tiny flowers that were beginning to open. I think Master Mori was not convinced the work met the subject that had been set. Neither was I, unfortunately. This is the back view of the work during the critique, and the only photo I have.

The morning workshop on the second day was titled "Using Fresh and Dried Materials", with the interesting addition of "Its in the bag". The added challenge to participants was "...to bring any kind of bag and to use it either within the ikebana or as the vessel...".

Before I left home I remembered that I had bought an Ikat woven bag in Kanazawa a couple of years ago. It seemed like the only visually interesting bag that I own. I developed the idea for the ikebana above in advance of the workshop. However, I did not try it until then. I used a box-shaped ceramic vessel in which I fixed a dried branch, with multiple small side branches, that I collected at the site. The stem was fixed within the right side of the vessel and leaned upward toward the left.  I placed the bag over the smaller side branches so that it was then held open by them. Next I inserted two stems of Cootamundra Wattle Acacia Baileyana, so that they were hanging down in a line toward the opening of the ceramic vessel. Master Mori's comment was that I should have filled the vessel with water so that it could be seen at the top of the opening.

The vessel is by the Canadian ceramic artist Leta Cormier.

Greetings from Christopher

3rd May 2026

This photo is of the participants on day two, with Master Instructor Mori Sairin, David Shields the interpreter for the workshop, and Ray Bywaters, Director of the South Australian Branch of the Sogetsu School, centre front in the photo.

You may find photos from the workshops on Instagram or Facebook.