Ikebana Lesson #4-Variation #1- Upright

Okay, so now that I have the basic upright and slanting down, it is time to start moving into the variations.

Once again the measurments for this arrangement are the same as those for the basic upright, length of suiban plus depth of suiban times 2 is the Heaven. Earth is 2/3 of Heaven and Mankind is 1/2 of Heaven. Supplemental flowers are 1/2 of their respective main counterparts.

In this case, the kenzan (frog) is centered in the suiban (shallow container) regardless of season. The Heaven, Earth and Mankind Main are set up in a triangle in the kenzan with Mankind being centered in the kenzan and forward. The supplemental flowers are then triangulated inside the Main's triangle.

In this one, we used a reddish Enkianthus, and yellow Chrysanthemum. Both lasted forever and came out looking really cool.

Now for the angles...the Heaven is set at 20 degrees Left Shoulder Forward (LSF), the Earth is set at 45 degrees Right Shoulder Forward (RSF) and the Mankind is set at 60 degrees Center Forward (CF). The supplements are inside of those angles.

We were taught a few tricks of the trade during this class as well.

If you are going to be placing items that have too narrow of stems to really sit in the kenzan as they should, you can cut a 1 inch piece off the end of a mum stem and slide the narrow stemmed plant into it as an anchor.

The water will still get absorbed.

All flowers should face upright towards the sun when placed in the arrangement.

Woody stemmed plants can be cut at an angle but the fleshy stemmed plants should always be cut straight across the stem.

Tape can be used around bunches of stems or just around one to strengthen them up.

This was a big arrangement and took some finagling to get in the backseat of the car for the trip home.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Chatan Summer Carnival