Here is Yoshi Sakamoto and his partner and assistant Ron
Ron is showing off the Sweet Pea branches
Silk arrangement
O design Yoshi made at the Spring Workshop earlier that evening.
This was the sample design used during the workshop
The spiky round thing in the bowl is called a "frog". This item helps to keep stems straight and in place. As a general rule, you cut stems diagonally, or at an angle to help stems suck up water and to pierce floral foam. However, when using the frog, you should cut the stems straight across.
Here are some of the books Yoshi uses!
It is usually traditional to not use floral foam for Ikebana styled designs because Ikebana usually consists of natural and simple mechanics except for vases. This day and age, you can sometimes cheat! :) Yoshi did use cut rose stems and placed them inside the vase to help anchor the floral foam instead of using floral anchor tape.
