Day Three: Repurposed for Awesome

Earlier this week I was working on making a flower arrangement.  One aspect of this was a set of Oriental Lily's which was still pre-bloom (to give some longevity to the interesting aspects of the arrangement).  Unfortunately, one of the pods was barely attached and fell off when I began putting the arrangement together!  It seemed like such a waste to just throw it away though, because I knew it would bloom into such a beautiful flower...

When I was in high school, I took a course on floral design at Sno-Isle Technical Skill Center (taught by Gary McLaughlin), which was really one of the cooler classes I've ever taken, teaching a wide variety of floral techniques, among which was the art of Ikebana.  I still have a couple Kenzan (a heavy metal base supporting many sharp metal needles for supporting design elements of certain Ikebana arrangements) lying around from back then, and every once in a while I try to think of some way of utilizing them.

Image from the California Academy.

Though it wouldn't make a particularly great Ikebana arrangement, the Kenzan was a perfect way to support the broken pod long enough to get to enjoy the bloom!

Last night it actually bloomed!  See some photos of this after the jump:

Sony Alpha 77, 75 mm, ISO 800, f/11, 1/25

Sony Alpha 77, 75 mm, ISO 100, f/10, 1/2

Sony Alpha 77, 28 mm, ISO 800, f/11, 1/25

Sony Alpha 77, 28 mm, ISO 800, f/4.5, 1/400

Sony Alpha 77, 75 mm, ISO 100, f/10, 1/2