Ichiyo Ikebana Bamboo Lesson

Green Bamboo used in Ikebana.

 Working with green bamboo:

Gaby with tools in hand.

Our Greater Chicago Ichiyo Ikebana Branch had our meeting this week. Our topic focus was bamboo. We were each given a 4 foot length of green bamboo to cut up, drill and design with. It was very fun since we got to use power tools!

Gaby has cut a section of bamboo and is cutting a slot in it
to hold plant material.

We used small saws to cut sections to be used as feet for containers, longer lengths to stand up as a holders for the flowers to be designed in, or longer pieces to fit across the top of containers either as a decoration or to support flowers.

Janet our instructor and Gaby are cutting in slits with a small saw.

Holes are drilled completely through the width of the bamboo in specific areas to hold plant material in the finished design.

Tess is using the drill to create holes.

Here are some of the finished results......

A length over glass with plant material inserted through.

A large hole can be drilled so the bamboo can be slipped over the neck of a vase.

Another is used as a strong straight line standing in the center of a footed vase with iris inserted through holes. The brown line in the bamboo shows where the dividing segment will hold water for that section.

This cool color themed moribana shows lots of  cool water, soft lavender allium and other purple tones.

My finally picture is a great use of vine in a design- Great Job Gaby!