Flower arrangement with basket is one of a expression form of flower arranging art, with important function of formal flower arrangement, it has strong practicability and commercial value, also portable. As using a support of basket, it could create various unique art styles different from other kinds of flower arrangement; it possess creative features of itself as same as according with common rules of art creation.

There are many kinds of flower baskets, there are wicker, bamboo, grass, plastic and metal material baskets; Basket forms have turned to air and wall type included from floor and tabletop type, therefor flower baksets also include hanging baskets and wall hanging baskets. At present, there are high body basket, round flower basket, square wineglass shape basket, line shape basket, smooth mouth basket and broken mouth basket, handle basket or handleless basket, boat shape basket and crescent hanging basket, suspension single basket and ringer flower basket with several flower baskets infolded. In a word, the diversity of the flower basket provides most advantageous conditions for flower basket enriches people’s life and beautifies the enviroments. But we should admit, different flower baskets have different styles and various uses, such as wicker baskets, have rigid quality, heavy color, uninhibited bold style and usually have large engraved patterns in body; Bamboo baskets,

with fresh color and modest shine, are the most useful flower baskets presently; Grass baskets have soft quality, gentle colors and natural shines, embodied with bright colors and exaggerated figures, if them could matched with the enviroments well in the modern rooms.

The above three kind of flower baskets, all are flower baskets weaved by hand and are pure natural material basket commonly, thus comtain strong emotion elements. At this point, plastic baskets and metal baskets are inferior to natural material flower baskets.

With harmony colors and rich layers, flower arrangement with basket is natural and lively, can display flower arranging’s line beauty and a kind of rhythm sense. Regular flower arrangings with basket used on etiquettes, need shapely flowers, regular flower branches and full patterns; Lyric flower baskets used to decorate scenery and mood, should choose flowers with flexible branches and picturesque flowers, this kind of flower arranging could use your imagination freely, ramantic and changeble.

The adornments of the flower basket are very important, usually ribbons and greeting cards are familiar. Also we could choose different adornments for different celebration occasions, as we could choose ballons, toys and candies for childrens, and choose cakes, candles or greeting cards for birthday greeting.

Along with the stand levels of people’s material and cultural life improving, the flower basket will welcomed by more and more people, it will play a more and more important pole in people’s life beautification.

Flower Arrangement with Cylinder

Flower Arrangement with Cylinder is a kind of flower work which use cylinder and tubular flower vessel. There are metal, glass, ceramic, plastic and bamboo materials cylinder receptacles, but during the history of flower arrangement in our country, the using of bamboo canister for flower arranging are more popular. In Japan’s flower arrangement ikebana, flower arrangement with cylinder has taken a very important place. It is said that the flower arrangement with cylinder was introduced into Japan from China in 8th century to 11th century.

The flower arrangement with layered cylinder can adopt a two-layer bamboo cylinder with a hole upside and a window downside, which having unique features and natural flavors. Also the flowers could be arranged in a “downing” shape upside and a “uping” shape downside, smaller upside and larger downside, it called “two-layer flowers”. So it could not only display the dynamic balance beauty between the flowers’ size and wave of up and down, also show the features of the flower vessel. In order to match the height of the bamboo cylinder’s up and down layer, hanging shape flowers and vine shape flowers are used commonly, but it’s unnecessarily to use two or more kind of flower materials with flowers on.

It’s should be noticed that the flower branches upside layer and downside layer should sprayes out to the right and left side separately, also attentions should be paid on the control of flower materials’ quantity, length and directions, as to achieve a balance between up and down, thus make the whole work brisk and interesting, also balanced.

Except for the flower arrangement with layered cylinder, there are single-cylinder, combined cylinder(also called high-low cylinder or vertical-across cylinder), hanging pattern and boat pattern flower arrangement.

Potted Cut Flower

Potted flower arrangement refers to assemble potted plants and flowers with branches art and make them as a harminious whole, it’s a larger type of plant artwork decorated in yards and gardens, it could be placed on the two side of the garden aisles, or putted on the balcony, wall corner and sidewall, it’s natural and beautiful. For example it’s very suitable to deck our indoor halls with a cut flower setted with a small foliage potted plant.

For one hand, potted cut flower could saving the time of scissoring branches and leaves through the using of the various plants planted in garden, afterwards matched and interspersed some flowers based on the composed picture, so as to make it into a finished whole; Second, the viewing time could be extended much as long as to replace few fresh flowers; Thirdly, based on seasonal, holiday and guests welcoming demands, new works could be recreated by the recombination or partly adjustment on the original potted flower, in this way materials and time could be saved, also could break the singularity of flower varity in family, and creat surprised episodes constantly.

When we plan to arrange a small potted flower, we usually put the small potted plant in a untransparent container, aside from a beauty exterior, the container should contains water and have large mouth thus an amount of flower branches could be arranged in. If a larger potted plant adopted, pls notice that there should have a shelting piece for the flower pot, thus make the whole work natural and attractive.

The picture above named “My Beloved Hometown”, the golden pachystachys flowers in which is a potted cut flower.

Source: articlebase

The Flower of Life Symbol in Japan Report
by Lyssa Royal Holt

In July 1998 I completed my eighth year of conducting seminars and private consultations in Japan. Each year my Japanese friends take me to sacred power spots that they feel guided to visit. I have traveled from the southern tip of Japan (the Hiroshima area) to the northern tip of Aomori and so much in between.

This year my interpreter, Ms. Kazumi Hoshina, took twelve friends including myself to Kamakura - a well known tourist spot because of its huge statue of Buddha and many temples and shrines. Instead of visiting these tourist areas, we went to some lesser known Buddhist temples that Kazumi felt were ancient ceremonial sites of significance. She has an uncanny Higher Self that continuously tells her exact locations to visit which later prove to be intense power spots that profoundly affect those of us who visit.

Our first stop was Goryo-Jinja, a Buddhist temple away from the throngs of tourists in Kamakura. As we ascended the steep steps to the temple at the top of the hill, I wondered what exciting adventures and discoveries we would have that day. Upon walking around the grounds of the temple, it seemed at first to be typical of the many thousands of temples in Japan - impeccable architecture that evokes a deep sense of spirituality and reverence. The Buddhist priest was performing a ceremony for a newborn child and his family. Other than that, we were the only ones present.

Kazumi asked us to walk around, feel the energy, and use our intuitive perceptions to access any esoteric information about this site. My guides directed me to a certain spot near some lion statues. As I stood there, my guides told me that this was an ancient ceremonial site of ascension well before the Buddhist temple was built. It took a moment to realize what I was staring at as my guides were telling me this. There, under the paw of the mythological lion figure, was the Flower of Life sphere! [The photo accompanying this article was taken in July 1998 at Goryo-Jinja. Though the vesica pisces and petals of the flower are obvious in person, it is difficult to see clearly in the photo.]

For those of you not familiar with the Flower of Life, it is a sacred geometric template that contains the blueprint for all other geometrical forms and thus for consciousness itself. In ancient times (most specifically in Egyptian mystery schools) initiates learned sacred geometry as a path to spiritual awakening and the Flower of Life symbol was known to be among the most sacred because of what it represents — the unity of all consciousness and life within the universe.

My husband Ron Holt (Director of the Flower of Life Research Organization) and I enjoy traveling the world looking for the Flower of Life symbol in temples. Other than in Egypt we have thus far found no temples with this sacred symbol. However, there it was in front of my eyes…in a location my guides had told me moments before was an ancient ceremonial site of ascension.

Excitedly, I relayed this to Kazumi and she translated it into Japanese for the group. When she did, an amazing thing happened. I said the words, “This was an ancient ceremonial site of ascension and the Flower of Life symbol is frequently found in these sites.” As soon as I completed the sentence, the temple priest suddenly began playing the ceremonial drum in a perfectly timed gesture that gave each of us goosebumps. Once we understood the importance of that statement, the priest stopped playing the drum. It was one of those synchronistic experiences that are difficult to explain, but powerful to experience.

Later that day we made a visit to Hokoku-ji, commonly referred to as Take-dera (”Bamboo Temple”). This temple sits on the grounds of an amazingly pristine bamboo forest. The bamboo trees have an average width of about 6-8 inches each and are perhaps 50 feet high at a minimum. This place was an old Zen Buddhist temple from the 14th century. As you walk into the bamboo forest, a tea house sits amidst the trees and serves traditional green tea. Visitors sit staring out at the trees in hushed silence. The beauty of this spot is nearly impossible to describe.

As Kazumi and I sat drinking our green tea, I heard a male voice loudly to my right (in perfect American English) say, “Flower of Life.” I quickly looked to my right but there were only three Japanese tourists seated there. They were all speaking Japanese quietly or sitting in silent contemplation. Thinking I must have imagined it, I shrugged it off. However, a few minutes later my curiosity got the better of me. I told Kazumi what had happened. She looked incredulous. She said she heard the same thing, only she heard a female voice rather than the male one I had heard. Since this was “impossible,” we realized that perhaps the experience at Goryo-Jinja earlier was one that had a deeper significance than we realized.

Perhaps as we begin to remember more and more of our spiritual heritage on Earth and begin to embrace our connections to all life, the Flower of Life information as taught to the ancients will begin to resurface in sacred sites all over the world. This experience still remains a mystery but seems to be a piece of an even greater puzzle. It is very possible that even today’s Flower of Life initiates do not yet realize the significance of the information that they have learned. Only time will tell.

Article and photo by Lyssa Royal Holt, Education Director for Flower of Life Research