Comments for Austin

Comment on Floral Foam – Environmental Disaster?? by admin

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:47:55 +0000

@Rosana – Thank you for your comment! I think it is really inappropriate to use foam in Ikebana. Part of the art is honing your technique in using the kenzan — how to insert a stem correctly and bend it to the correct angle. Also, floral foam is horrible for flowers! They die much more quickly, whereas with a kenzan, the spikes actually help the flower to soak up more water than they would have just sitting in a water-filled vase. It feels like cheating a little bit every time I used foam, but I really didn’t know another way to deliver such arrangements… I have given up on it though and now don’t compromise the art for deliveries. If someone really wants this style, then I have to do it on-site, and I have to come in a week or so and pick up my materials. For this reason, I have to charge a little more, but I haven’t found that any of my clients mind once they realize the work that goes into making one of these arrangements.

Comment on Floral Foam – Environmental Disaster?? by admin

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:43:37 +0000

@Andrea – I have really been searching! I contacted the florist in California, but I never heard back from them. I have just resigned to the fact that I have to use my ingenuity to keep my flowers up and in place when I can’t use a kenzan. My most successful attempts use coiled bear grass or other foilage, though it is impossible to get exact angles without using a kenzan. I don’t market myself for deliveries much for this reason, I am mostly doing weekly installation work where I come each week and change out an arrangement for someone. That way, my equipment is already there and I don’t have to worry about untrained hands getting poked and prodded by the pernicious spikes of a frog! =)

Comment on Ikebana Delivery by admin

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:39:13 +0000

Wow I somehow wasn’t aware of new comments to my blog! Thank you for commenting and for the compliment. =) I use a flower frog, or ‘kenzan’ in Japanese. You can order them on amazon, but they are a little expensive for the heavy ones. You want them to be as heavy as possible so they can hold up most anything. If you want to save a little money, you can find vintage ones on etsy. I have bought many a used one there! Just search ‘flower frog’.

Comment on Floral Foam – Environmental Disaster?? by Rosana Cartwright

Rosana Cartwright — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:50:43 +0000

Hi! Thanks for writing this article. I am an ikebana teacher from the sogetsu school. I learnt in Japan and moved to India recently and I was shocked to see an ikebana teacher giving a demonstration Using foam in EVERY arrangement.
This lady has been practicing for many many years more than me and the rest of the guests (all teachers and students) didn’t seem surprised to see this. Have you witness this ever?
I didn’t see not even one kenzan. Do you think that arranging using foam is acceptable when practicing ikebana?. I don’t want to seem opinionated and obtuse but even if the result is similar the fact that the process of arranging its totally different make me think that ikebana and foam don’t match. Like my husband said “playing guitar hero is not playing the guitar” What are your thoughts?

Comment on Floral Foam – Environmental Disaster?? by Andrea

Andrea — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 19:45:19 +0000

and is the non-toxic foam available?!

Comment on Ikebana Delivery by Pink Sun Drops

Pink Sun Drops — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:09:44 +0000

Found you from Tolly and have added you to my reader! Your arrangements are absolutely stunning. What do you use to hold the flowers up like that? You capture the balance visually and literally perfectly.