Chieko Mihori brought many of the eight variations of Ikebana to life at the January 9 General Membership Meeting. Each of the variations started with a basic triangle shape, which she built upon to create unique and inspiring designs. She uses a kenzan rather than oasis, and water was part of many of her designs.
In fact, the containers she used were an integral part of her over-all designs. She used her containers as a starting point to influence the color of her flowers and over-all shape of her designs.
Since she doesn’t use oasis, she bends the stems of her plants without breaking them, so the stems brace against the sides of her container. Sometimes she would split stems to attach to a branch that sat inside her container and supported her design. She also used wire to attach supplemental plants and scissors to “improve” some of her plants. “In nature, all plants are not perfect,” she said. But when she finished her design, the plants were as close to perfect as one can get.
