Kurisumasu keki
Leading up to the holidays, pastry shops all over Japan display their most beautiful creations. The Christmas cake, kurisumasu keki, is one of
the highlights of the Japanese Christmas, a time full of romance and lights. For this floral Japanese Christmas cake with two layers, the base is made of Kalanchoe leaves and moss. Sprigs of Callicarpa, Rosa ‘Country Blues’, Hydrangea, Pinus strobus and pink-red Zantedeschia are inserted. Touches of silver bush (Calocephalus) and champagne-colored Christmas balls form festive accents.
Stylish mantelpiece arrangement
The base is a robust trunk combined with curved branches of Ilex verticillata 'Winter Gold', old Larix branches, white coral berry (Symphoricarpos), white Zantedeschia, zinc fern (Phlebodium 'Blue Star'), Pinus strobus, bromeliad and Rosa 'Country Blues'.
Circled
Pine cones are attached to each other with black binding wire by making two wreaths around each other. This creates two rows of pine cones. An iron ring is incorporated in the inner row to create sturdiness, after which the whole is placed on a frame of black poken: the base for a hand-tied bouquet. The bouquet incorporates flowers in beautiful purple, brown, and salmon shades: Clematis (including C. Amazing Kibo), Helleborus, chrysanthemum, Scabiosa, Zantedeschia, lisianthus, Echeveria succulents, and Kalanchoe beharensis leaf.
Xmas twist
Within the golden ring – formerly a kind of tray
with a mirror – a silver shrub (Calocephalus) cut into pieces was placed first. All materials are inserted through this. The whole is placed on a vase so that the cut flowers are all in water: Clematis (including C. Amazing Kibo), chrysanthemum, Scabiosa, Zantedeschia, Rudbeckia and Phalaenopsis. Finally, the Christmas balls and the Echeveria
succulents are glued on.
Bowl Bouquet
An impressive autumn bouquet with a brown frame, handmade vase, and flowers in mostly orange hues. The base is made using the chicken wire technique with 1.6mm florist wire. Young shoots of fruit trees, pruning waste from the garden and therefore free, are woven through this. Together with the wire, these form a kind of basket. Woody mossy branches that blew out of the trees in the garden after a heavy storm are also incorporated into the basket. This old dead wood is not only decorative but also technical: they lend themselves well to incorporating the Physalis seed pods between them. The seed pods are individually wired and joined together to form branches. Beautiful striking flowers are placed between all the branches: Celosia, Gloriosa, Zantedeschia, Guzmania, germinis, chrysanthemums, and beautiful accompanying materials such as Talinum, Hypericum, and Sanguisorba.
Better together
A wonderful set of beautiful objects of which the base can easily be reused. The base is self-made from two decorative garden stakes in flower form – they were flat when purchased. The two stakes are drilled into the wooden blocks and unfolded to make them spatial. To create even more possibilities, thick aluminum wire is incorporated through and around it – so that tubes can easily be attached to it and flowers woven through it. Zantedeschia is perfect for weaving through the frame, with the stems also participating beautifully. Talinum ‘Long John’ is processed dry here – it always dries beautifully. Furthermore, Gloriosa, some orchids, and Scabiosa are beautifully in place in these autumn objects.