​As you may have gleaned from earlier posts, the container is chosen to enhance the floral material.  Many traditional Ikebana containers are ceramic works of art.  Today, we use glass containers, clear or colored.  (You might want to look back through earlier posts and see what I mean.)  When you browse the Internet, you see more non- traditional choices in recent years with freestyle or contemporary arrangements. 
 
This post shows two containers from the Ichiyo School of Ikebana in which I am an instructor.  I have others that are Japanese, but I don’t know from what school they are. Additionally, there are those that I purchased at estate sales, consignment stores, or thrift shops; who knows their origin!  You will find that when a container catches the Ikebana artist’s eye, it has found a home.  

At a recent confab, someone asked why I have “Ikebana Artist” on my card.  First, I had to explain what Ikebana is.  Fortunately, it is easy to contrast this style of floral design with the traditional, European type bouquets of numerous blooms on the meeting room tables.  I explained that in Ikebana “less is more” and that we use negative space to contribute to the overall experience of the viewer.  Not every cubic inch of the arrangement needs a flower.  Sometimes, however, we use all flowers.  Using only flowers is the theme of this blog post, a Fuzion of Flowers.
 
You will notice in the images in the slide show below that one or more triangles dominate each arrangement.  Sometimes, there are several to many.  As you scroll through the series of eight images, linger long enough to find the triangle, a hallmark of all Ikebana.  Note also that the triangle may have a bloom or group of blossoms at its vertices or not.  In three cases, the most obvious triangle is the negative space.  (You say, “This is a blog about Ikebana, not geometry.”  Correct. However, this link should take you back to the definitions, postulates and axioms of your youth.  http://www.mathopenref.com/vertex.html.)
 
It’s mid-May, early spring flowers abound and birds are chirping through the open window.  In fact, there is a profusion of roses in my garden.  Will there be an inspired moment in which I use some of these for a few arrangements.  The next post will tell. 
 
Inside the orchid case are several blooming orchids, and a few outside the case.  This is the time of spring awakening with day length increasing and warm daytime temperatures.  One hesitates to cut an inflorescence from an orchid because getting them to bloom can be quite a challenge. When I do use orchids in Ikebana, I usually purchase them from the floral section of a grocery store, less traumatic for my orchid plants and for me. The blooming orchids are such a temptation. 

Welcome back to IkebanaFuzion.  May is a perfect time to think of flowers and Ikebana after a long winter hiatus. 
 
What inspired me to return to posting was a recent lecture and demonstration that I gave at the Fragrant Leaf, a tea boutique in Albuquerque, NM.  "SECRET GARDEN" AFTERNOON TEA & IKEBANA DEMONSTRATION, Sunday, April 17, 2016. A demonstration of Ikebana by Mable Henderson* Orndorff, certified Ikebana instructor.  Three lucky raffle winners took home materials for an Ikebana arrangement.
 
Each table was artfully set with teapot and a three-tiered serving stand on lovely linens.  It was a floral-inspired afternoon tea with two teas, magnolia blossom-infused oolong and iced lychee with a hint of rose water, and delightful edibles. 

In keeping with the concept of Ikebanafuzion, I demonstrated the components of a classical arrangement in a Chinese vase, a moribana in a low flat container, and a freestyle design in a contemporary 21st century container.  These spanned centuries of Ikebana with the fusion of forms from various eras.

The first arrangement was in a Chinese Cinnabar vase.  I chose this particular container from my collection because Ikebana originated in China and was brought to Japan by a Buddhist monk five or six centuries ago.  My vase makes no claim to be authentic or antique; however, it is evocative of ancient Chinese art.  (See https://www.realorrepro.com/article/Cinnabar, figures 2, 3, and 12.)