Bamboo Revisited: Trial and Error

I was looking forward to this bamboo lesson. How shouldn't I? I have seen incredible, sculptural, over-sized Ikebana arrangements from Sogetsu School using bamboo in amazing ways lately and I was more than ready to get some hands-on experience. You can see a few examples here showing the masters' work.

One of the end results of my trials and errors can be seen in the picture. The bamboo I used was a little bit drier than ideal so I couldn't get the curves I really wanted and had to content myself with what I could achieve.

I put two photos below to show you the hand tools we use to cut and separate the bamboo.

In addition to my struggle with bamboo, the beautiful flowers of ginger I happened to choose for this week was proved to be a difficult one to use. Anyhow, I am content with the process and the arrangement. 

For other bamboo arrangements you can check this earlier post and this one from 2013.

Bamboo cutting tool and hasami

Bamboo cutting tools

Amazing Bamboo

Bamboo is an amazing material to use in Ikebana. This arragement is a simple one searching for the sculptural quality of bamboo.

Remember, it is not possible to put the bamboo directly to the kenzan. The stem is quite hard. Therefore, one should introduce an auxiliary branch within the bamboo to fix it properly. 

For another bamboo arrangement and the tools used to cut and separate the bamboo, you can check this post.

I also used bamboo in a more classical way in this earlier arrangement (post written in Turkish).  

Her Haliyle Bambu

Bambu, şakayık, süsen

Bambu üzerine söylecek çok söz var ama bu başka bir yazının konusu olsun. Şimdilik şununla yetinelim: 

Bambu İkebana aranjmanlarında her haliyle çok kullanılan bir malzeme. Taze dallar ve yapraklar, kesildikten sonra uzun süre dayanmıyor, hemen sararıyor. O yüzden, bu düzenlemede olduğu gibi yaprakları kopararak, ince dalların tek başına yarattığı etkiyi aramak mümkün.

Gövdenin uç kısmı sivri ve kahverengi kabuklu. Bu kabuklar kuruyup düşene kadar aranjmanda kullanılabilir, farklı bir dal hissi yaratıyor. Öndeki tam açmış, büyük beyaz şakayık düzenlemenin odak noktası.


Bambu konusundaki diğer yazılarım için buraya ve buraya bakabilirsiniz.