After a long hiatus, moving countries, unpacking countless boxes, and slowly settling into a new life, my daughters and I are finally back creating weekly ikebana arrangements together.
This week we decided to embrace Christmas festivities and use brightly coloured baubles in our ikebana arrangment. A simpler version, with detailed step-by-step instructions can be found in my new book, "My First Ikebana".
For this arrangement, we added a mass of baubles to the bauble structure used in the book. Isabel decided on red and gold baubles, creating a brighly coloured festive 'vase".
Scouring our house and garden for ikebana materials, she decided to combine conifer with poinsettia.
She added the conifer to her bauble vase and then decided on where to place the poinsettia. After cutting the stem of the poinsettia in water, I showed her how to burn the end of it using a kitchen fire lighter. Burning the end of the poinsettia creates a seal. This not only enables it to last longer, but also stops the white sap contaminating the water.
After gently placing the poinsettia on the vase, she quietly whispered to her arrangment, "I missed you, it's good to be back".
More ideas for teaching ikebana to children can be found in my new book "My First Ikebana: Ikebana for the Young and Young at Heart". ISBN 9789058567161 currently available online
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