Tag: pink

A pop of sentiment

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Isn’t it funny how cyclical life can be? The last kitsuke coordination I did before leaving Montreal last time involved poppies, and now the last ikebana I’ve done before leaving California involved poppies.

Last weekend, Keith and I were in Palm Springs (doing an escape room – unrelated but super fun!) and I figured while were there we’d check out one of the local florists. I was running under the assumption they’d have more variety than the supermarket near home and typically I’d be right but they’d done a big event that morning and were running low on stock. I found this bundle of pink and white poppies in various levels of bloom and decided I could do something neat with them once I let the buds open up a bit.

Unfortunately, the following day I learnt the very important lesson of Don’t Put Your Hand In The Blender While It’s Plugged In. Thankfully I only pulsed one finger for a fraction of a second, and while there’s a fair bit of gnarly tissue damage it could have been so much worse. But I couldn’t exactly use my hand, or even hold the scissors I needed to cut the stems. I was worried they’d wilt before I had the chance to feature them.

So imagine my surprise when a beautiful set of proper wide-handled ikebana shears showed up in the mail on Tuesday, courtesy of my lovely friend Andrea.

I decided to just let the flowers shine, featuring them at different heights and different levels of open. I love the contrast, and how sculptural the stems are. A bit of foliage to balance things out, and the arrangement essentially put itself together. I could not be happier with it!

Beautiful Belated Birthday Blooms

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Last month on Sunday the 16th, I celebrated my 44th birthday. My husband and I go to pub trivia every Monday with some friends and the day after my birthday, our friends Kelsey and Emilie showed up with this beautiful bouquet of zinnias from their garden for me. I knew I wanted to make an arrangement with them as soon as I got home!

The colours they planted just happen to be the same ones in the lesbian sunset pride flag, (which we all had a good chuckle about) so I figured this rainbow-shaped vase would be the perfect vessel. It’s subtle but still quite thematic.

Rather than over-complicate and clutter the arrangement with separate flowers and foliage, I decided to focus entirely on the bright, blousy flowers themselves, arranging them into a gentle but somewhat architectural-feeling modern diagonal to contrast with the organic curve of the vase.

They lasted roughly a week and brought a smile to my face every time I saw them in our kitchen.

(Also if anyone is curious, our team is currently ranked first at our local venue and third overall in the regional standings. Go team Pet The Dogs!)

 

Autumn Fairy Tale

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Both this kimono and this obi are nearly impossible to coordinate. I’ve used the kimono before, but despite having had this obi in my possession for nearly a year now, I’d never found a good way to use it. Last night it came to me while I was soaking in the bath, as many great ideas do.

They both have a sort of fantastical, storybook, decidedly un-Japanese vibe to them. The kimono has always reminded me of The Moomins and other Scandinavian childrens’ books, and the obi has a vaguely Middle-Eastern fantasy feel to it that wouldn’t be out of place in One Thousand and One Nights. I also thought the green and brown would complement each other very well, and the gold accents would echo each other nicely too.

Was I right, or was I right? I’m over the moon with how these pieces look together. I decided go with pink accessories to make the pink trees in the kimono stand out a bit more, since they can get a bit lost against the white hill. They also help to add a touch of light and contrast between the kimono and obi, which are both quite dark. It worked very well, I think. From a distance they almost read as white, just like the trees do, but when you get close you get this lovely surprise. There are also tiny pink and gold botan on the haneri, which are decidedly out of season but the colours worked so well I had to run with it. Next time I might add a gold date-eri to break things up a little further, but I think it works fine without it too. It also just occurred to me that my pink lace haori would look amazing with this too, so I will have to try that sometime.

Another neat thing about this outfit is that all the items aside from the obijime are significantly larger than average, which means I might be able to wear it if I ever have the energy to dress myself again. Something to look forward to, maybe?

Items used in this coordination

Spring Fling

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I have a confession to make; I used to hate shibori. I suspect it was due to my aversion to certain textures and patterns. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve learnt to appreciate the beauty and incredible craftsmanship that goes into it, but it still wasn’t something I had much of in my collection (aside from some obiage). I also named my pet uromastyx lizard Shibori, due to the spots on his back.

This fully shibori beauty with pink botan and fans showed up on ebay, ending the same night as the rangiku piece in my previous entry. I found it with only minutes to go and only one bid. I threw out a ridiculously low bid and to my shock I won it!

It’s absolutely lush and gorgeous and I am completely in love with. What I was not expecting was how difficult it would be to coordinate!

The olive accessories were a given, they coordinate perfectly with the leaves on the kimono. However, this shade of warm salmon pink clashed with… basically every obi I could find. I settled on this silver one with tiny pink accents and it’s… fine? I guess? I don’t hate it, but it’s not as punchy as I would have liked. I’ll definitely have to hunt down the perfect obi for this piece and coordinate it again soon!

Have you ever changed your mind drastically on a colour, technique, or motif? Something you hated at first but have grown to love?

Items used in this coordination

(I haven’t had the chance to catalogue this piece either yet, but it will be added eventually!)

Delightful dolls, delayed

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Hina-matsuri (雛祭り, doll’s day) was this past Thursday. In the past, I’ve made my own dolls for display but this year I just didn’t have the time to do much of anything, since I work all week now. However, I did want to do a little something, even if it’s technically too late.

I knew I wanted to use this ningyo obi, despite the type of doll not being the typical dolls used for this festival. One day I will find a piece with proper hina dolls on it and I will use that, but until that happens this is what I’ve got.

This kimono may have seemed like an odd choice, but if you look closely there’s bright red accents in the beautiful embroidery. They actually coordinate quite well, I think. Also I think the pink, pastels, and adorable bunny are all ideal for a holiday that celebrates girls.

It’s been a long time since I’ve used my beloved blue and red shibori obiage or my mint and reddish-orange obijime so I was thrilled to have an excuse to pull them out again. A pretty floral haneri in shades of pink with turquoise foliage was a nice finishing touch. As well as featuring dolls, this outfit feels like a great bridge from winter to spring, perfect for early March.