Last weekend I taught a Christmas inspired ikebana workshop to a small group of children. With Christmas just around the corner and travel restrictions in place, it was the perfect opportunity for the children to create something festive to decorate their homes for the upcoming holiday season.
The online ikebana classes by my ikebana teacher, Ilse Beunen, are filled with an abundance of creative ideas for Christmas. I enjoy creating my own arrangements using her creative ideas and also enjoy adapting them for children.
I modified Ilse’s most recent online class a little and used recycled plastic milk bottles to create a vase as a base. For each child, I cut the tops off two of the bottles and joined them together by inserting one inside the other. The bottles were placed lengthways on the table and two holes were cut in the top.
The children covered their milk bottles in festive paper and poked holes through the paper aligned with the holes in the plastic bottles.
To create a stand for the vase, the children scrunched up a length of aluminium wire. The wire was strong enough to hold the weight of the vase and flowers, while being soft enough for children to manipulate.
Once the children had finished their vases, they chose some flowers, arranged them in two separate floral tubes and placed the floral tubes in their ‘vases’.
Adhering to the principles of ikebana, they made sure to extend some of their plant material beyond the edge of the vase and ensured that there was asymmetry and depth in their arrangements.
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