Autumnal Ikebana

Last night, I had the opportunity to celebrate with Big Medium as they kicked off the East Austin Studio Tour. The evening was a celebration and thank you to all the contributors and supporters of EAST, which allows artists around Austin and the greater Texas to share their work. For this dinner, I knew I wanted to created unique centerpieces that would both create impact and cause for discussion. The particular style of arrangement that I focused on was a modern ikebana. You can read a bit more about this style of floral arranging here.

In tying in with the theme of the studio tour, I wanted the centerpieces to be more sculptural in nature and to reflect the ephemeral seasonality of fall colors. Hues of bronze, golden yellow, and orange dot the arrangements in perfect autumn symbiosis. It was an amazing night shared with art lovers alike and I loved knowing that guests would take home their ikebana to enjoy for the rest of the season.

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AUtumnal Ikebana

20 Centerpieces + 1 Floral Installation

FLORALS + SUPPLIES

• 20 medium cast iron bowls

• 21 kenzan flower frogs

• 1 large footed pedestal vessel

• Floral sticky clay

• 2 bunches of medium oak foliage branches

• 6 bunches of jasmine vine

• 6 bunches of galex leaves

• 2 bunches of red-orange wax flower

• 1 bunch of orange safflower

• 10 bunches of yellow kangaroo paw

• 3 bunches of bullet allium

• 3 stems of cymbidium apple green orchids

STEPS

1. Secure the floral frogs to the cast iron bowls using the sticky clay. I like to use 3 to 4 small balls of sticky clay pressed between the frog and bowl to ensure a strong bond.

2. Begin arranging the ikebana using one focal branch (kangaroo paw or oak foliage) or a pair of bullet allium cut to different lengths. These arrangements are meant to be more abstract and interesting, so keeping floral elements lower to the vessel base and creating dramatic reaching branches and ivy will help.

3. Press each of the stems securely into the floral pin frog.

4. Layer in the safflower, wax flower, and cymbidium orchids.

5. For this arrangement, I loved the juxtaposition of the dried oak branches and the jasmine vine winding up the trunk of the branch.

6. Place galax leaves around the base.

7. Add additional branches of kangaroo paw to create additional body and intrigue.

8. Once each ikebana has been assembled, fill the vessel with water so the base of each stem is submerged.

9. Secure the last floral frog to the base of the pedestal vessel.

10. Take the remaining oak branches and arrange them within the vessel. I placed the arrangement against a column to build in natural support so not all the branches had to be secured to the floral frog.

11. Layer in the remaining kangaroo paw, jasmine vine, wax flower and galax leaves to create a bountiful and natural installation. The scale and wildness of the florals creates the needed impact to tie all the ikebana centerpieces together.

12. For one of the tables, I arranged a grouping of three ikebana. With this particular set, I arranged the branches and floral elements to interact with each other and the chandelier above. The assymetric jasmine vine that creeps up from one of the ikebana and winds around the chandelier added to the organic and sculptural nature of the evening.