September Arrangement: Slanting Bells
Ikebana principles in this month's lesson:
Enhance the beauty of each stem and the arrangement by trimming your materials. Trimming your materials helps to emphasize the lines of your taller stems, and to highlight your focal flowers. Not trimming enough off your stems will leave your arrangement looking heavy and messy, and trimming too much will leave your arrangement looking bare. Visualize how your arrangement will look without a certain leaf or flower to help you decide what to trim. Begin with a light touch, as you can always take more off.
Flower care:
Spritzing your arrangement with water will help keep it fresh, as many plants absorb water through their leaves and petals.
Pro tip:
Insert soft stems (like Bells of Ireland) directly into the kenzan at the desired angle. If a stem becomes weakened from repeated insertion into the kenzan, resnip the bottom and reinsert.
Insert firm stems (like Chrysanthemum) vertically into kenzan, then push into desire position.
