An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Our lavender apples will keep you smiling all day!
Hand-made apples stuffed with Nova Scotia lavender. Wouldn't those look and smell good on your desktop? :-)
Red Delicious...
Granny Smith...
Hand-made in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Available at the shop or online.
(All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
Two-day window exclusively for our online customers.
We are trying to give our online shop a little boost with a short promo, exclusive to our mail order customers.
We'll take $10 off from total purchases with value over $50 (before shipping & applicable sales taxes). We must receive your order between Mar 8th & Mar 9th, 2013.
If this works, we'll dream up of other short-but-sweet deals for you! Please help us spread the word and share with your friends. Thanks!
Visit our online shop here.
We are a proud sponsor of Horizons, the 2013 exhibit of the Ikebana International, Ottawa Centennial Chapter 120. Please visit if you are in the area!
We got ourselves a bagful of lavender from the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market here in Nova Scotia.
...and we had some Japanese cotton fabric in our hands.
Put two and two together...we came up with these miniature happi coats.
Sewn around the tummy area is a "pouch" filled with lavender.
Put in your drawer, closet, car etc. The fragrance of lavender will freshen up your space.
There is a variety to choose from!
Fabric from Japan. Lavender from Nova Scotia. Hand-made in Nova Scotia, Canada. Available at the shop or by mail order. $3.50 CAD each plus HST where applicable.
(All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
Miyako and one of her students, Jean, were featured on a short radio documentary that was broadcast last February 7th on CKDU 88.1 FM in Halifax NS.
Here is the clip, which we put together as a slideshow. It was too bad we were not able to take photographs during the actual interview. (In fact, during the interview, we were not even sure what kind of piece would come out!) So we just used some images from our archives to complement the presentation.
Many thanks to Emily Kitagawa, a student in the School of Journalism at University of King's College, Halifax NS. You did a splendid job!
Erratum: The 80 variations that the narrator talks about actually refers to the 80 lessons of the basic curriculum of the Sogetsu School of Ikebana.
Did we mention we liked cats?
We made these by hand. First, we shaped them and then let them dry.
Then we added some colour!
We mostly did it for the fun of it... Aren't they cute?
But they are also for sale at the shop.
$8.50 (Canadian dollars) each plus HST where applicable.
Hand-made in Nova Scotia, Canada.
(All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
The Japanese believe that each person is bound to his/her soul mate by an invisible red string. No matter where they may be, soul mates will be brought together by the Red String of Fate (akai ito).
This pair of netsuke charms are made with beads of pure sandalwood. (You'll know by the fragrance of the wood!) The gold bell for her. The silver one for him. The bearers are entwined together by the Red String of Fate.
They come in a beautiful paulownia box.
Have you found a Valentine's gift for your soul mate yet?
Available for purchase. Click here.
(All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
Recent windy days afforded me the opportunity to pick up interesting branches that fell from the trees around Halifax. Thank you to the snow for providing some cushion!
The dried moss gave an extra flavour to this branch. Using it together with a thick piece of driftwood, I found a strong framework for the arrangement.
The arrangement needed a bit of colour so I unobtrusively inserted a few stems of red roses.
Since last year, I find myself creating arrangements that are more artificially "sculptured" (as opposed to using the natural shapes of the plant material.) In this arrangement, I used the flowers not as "flowers" (i.e. not trying to show the beauty of the roses) but rather as a tool to add colour to the work.
I hope you like it! --Miyako
(All photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
The temperatures in Halifax are still mostly below zero but we thought we'd hurry spring up a bit by making our own cherry blossom branch!
It's not a real cherry tree branch. Probably maple.
We made the flowers using Japanese watermark tissue. It's very light, just like sakura petals. Looks delicate but actually the tissue is quite strong.
Each petal was hand-cut. The flowers were formed by rolling and twisting the petals together.
Then, the blooms were glued onto the branch!
It's hanging on our shop window. Please come and see. Hope you like it!
We have a selection of Japanese watermark tissues available at the shop. Perhaps for your next project? :-)
(Photos by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
As of today, Feb 4th, the Royal Canadian Mint will start phasing out the use of the penny. The coin will no longer be distributed. This means sooner or later, we are going to run out of pennies.
The penny is still legal tender and we will accept them indefinitely...so don't throw them away just yet! We still have a small stash of pennies left so we will be able to give exact change for cash transactions in the coming days. However, once we run out, we will not be able to get new supply from the bank and so we will adopt the rounding guidelines as recommended by the Government of Canada.
The total purchase amount, including HST, will be rounded up or down to the nearest 5-cent increment. This is applicable to cash payments only. Credit card and debit transactions will continue to be charged the exact amount as usual.
For more information: http://www.mint.ca/store/template/default/pennyinfo.html
(Photo and infographic by the ikebana shop. All rights reserved.)
