My birthday was actually last weekend, but as hubby and I went away, I didn't get to see many friends. For tomorrow, my dear friend Natsuki has organised a temakizushi, (hand-rolled sushi) party. It should be fun. Natsuki, as do most of my friends, lives in a different city to me, about an hour's drive away. I was surprised then when she insisted that she needed to come to my apartment today to give me my birthday present.
Upon arriving at my door, she quickly hid something behind her back and handed me a large, heavy bag, instructing me to open the big box inside it first. I did as I was told and found a gorgeous wabi-sabi ikebana bowl. A small packet inside the same bag contained a spiky ikebana thingy. With flourish, Natsuki then whipped out bunches of flowers and told me that she was going to do an arrangement to christen it for me.
This is her at work....
As she was doing each step, between talking to herself in Japanese, she was instructing me on what to do. I have to confess... I don't remember a lot of it. What I did get was; the first piece has to equal the diagonal width plus the other diagonal width plus the depth of the bowl. The branch should have the essense of being forward (not necessarily angled forward).
The next piece should be a third shorter than the first piece and the third piece a third shorther than the second. The should be kept somewhat in the centre line of the spiky thingy. Mmm.. can't remember the angles though....
From here on in, it all gets fuzzy.. I was just having a great time watching Natsuki hard at work and listening to her talking to herself in Japanese.
And in come the flowers....
Getting them just right....
Stems all in a row...
From here, she started doing the Japanese humble thing and was insisting that it wasn't very good. It looks great to me!
All finished! The artist and the artistry. She did make me promise that if I put these photos on my blog that I would say that she's not a professional and that really, she's just like a beginner....
It's now going to be exciting watching it change as the lilies open.
Thank you so much Natsuki! It was such a wonderful birthday surprise!
4 comments:
Happy Birthday for last week! Wow!!! Ikebana is very high on my list of things I would like to learn. That is just such a special gift. You have a lovely friend, and that arrangement looks very professional to me!
I'm looking forward to hearing about your temakizushi party. Sounds like such fun. Cheers!!!
Amazingly beautiful and your friend makes it look so easy! Have fun with the continued birthday celebrations!
Wow!! What a lovely lovely present. Natsuki is certainly being far too humble when she says that she is a beginner...the arrangement is gorgeous! x.
Lovely arrangement! Is that Australian gumleaf/wattle?
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