Rewind about two years and I was taking photos of an Auckland interior store when I saw that they sold Kokedamas. I was so excited because I fell in love with this Japanese plant art way back here, yet nobody in New Zealand seemed to be doing it. It seems that Coraleigh, from Pickled Whimsy caught on and was making them in her Tauranga studio, about two and half hours south of Auckland.
At the time, she was conducting Kokedama workshops on the weekends as part of a massive project for the Tauranga Garden and Art Festival. She was in charge of creating a huge forest made totally of suspended Kokedama. It was a bit of a working bee where attendees got to learn the art of these beautiful moss balls, creating some for the forest and of course they got to take one home.
Coraleigh invited me to take part and even offered to put up my entire family for the night while we were down there. I couldn’t believe it; I mean who really wants a family of five staying with them unless you’re bound by blood right? I put it on my “thing to do” list (without the kids) and then life went on as it does.
Last week I got an email from her inviting me along to an Auckland workshop that she was giving. I of course jumped at the chance! On meeting her, I realised how truly genuine she must have been with that offer to put my family up. She is such a warm and easy-going person, putting anyone at ease, which was handy because not many of the attendees knew each other.
The workshop was held inside the Friday Store, a super cool warehouse studio space that worked so well with Coraleigh’s set up. More of that store in another post!
Coraleigh is also an event stylist, which was evident when I walked in and saw the beautifully styled benches full of the tools of the trade we’d be using. We had an apron that we got to take home, along with a selection of succulents to choose from, all of them she’s grown herself, a selection of twine, dried moss and scissors. We were ready and told that we could make as many kokedamas as we could in the timeframe.
We watched the expert make one first, and then we got to it, following step-by-step and starting with a mini one for ease.
Below is the first one that I made, which turned out to be a hostess gift for my friend on Saturday night. With Coraleigh’s guidance, it was reasonably easy. Okay it’s not perfectly round, that will come with time, but it’s still cute. The hardest part was getting the firmness with the string. After our first attempt, we made one a little larger, and then larger again. From there, we got to make a couple of extras for our confidence.
Above are my five creations from the evening that I got to take home in a box along with my cute apron! Feeling rather proud of myself, I was excited to try out my new found skills at home, so I bought some of her sphagnum moss so that I can get started. Coraleigh got us to make them with succulents because they are really so easy to look after. I think I’ll move onto something like this ivy next time, and certainly a mini Christmas tree come the end of the year. Watch this space! One of the attendees tried her hand at an orchid and with beautiful results.
Not only was it a fun and productive evening, it was actually rather therapeutic and I feel a new hobby on the horizon. Watch out friends and family, Kokedama gifts coming your way this birthday or Christmas!
You can keep up to date with new workshops on the Pickled Whimsy website.
Mel xx
13 Comments
Leave a Reply to shinjumin Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Fabuloso, gracias por esta idea tan sencilla y hermosa, justamente cultivo suculentas y quería piezas para presentarlas, pensé en vasijas de cerámica pero se tarda mucho por el proceso de hornear la arcilla pero ya con esta técnica tengo la solución. Mil gracias. ! Bendiciones.!
Hello from Singapore
I love kokedamas and have tried my hands at them. The only problem I have with them is that small bits of the sphagnum moss will drop off when the ball is dry and mess up the house now and then.
Is this normal or anything wrong with the way I am doing it? I used dried moss so it is not completely in nice sheets.
Thank you in advance for your response
Should a potting plate be placed beneath the kokedama to prevent water damage from whatever is underneath it?
Hello. I am shin ju min living in Korea.
I am not good at English. So I’m using a translator. Understand me.
I was impressed by your Kokedama workshop. I’m making Kokedama in Korea, but it does not come out like your Kokedama.
So I’d like to ask you a few questions. Will you contact me with my comment?
I’ll be waiting for your contact.
I’m sorry if I was rude. I desperately need it. I want you to answer my comment.
Korea is coming winter. I will take care of the cold and wish you health.
Hello Shin Ju Min. Thank you for your comment:) I attended this workshop as a student. Coraleigh was the teacher and you can find the link to her website here: http://www.pickledwhimsy.co.nz
Good luck with making your Kokedama!
How cute are those aprons? Hoping to make some this coming holidays. Thanks for the post.
They are the sweetest gifts! Thanks Vasha:)
Gracias por compartir tu experiencia, me inspiras para llevarlo acabo lo voy a disfrutar gracias y un abrazo
Thank you and you’re welcome:)
Thank you for the introduction to Kokedamas, maybe I’ve been living under a rock, but this is the first i’ve heard of it. They are very neat! I’ll look for them here in the states.
Or maybe it’s because I’m so interested in plants and the urban jungle bloggers thing. A friend from France introduced me to them in the early days of the blog and I was hooked! I guess that they’ve been on my radar ever since. If they’re not there, you can start the trend!!
I’m holding a workshop in the area of San Francisco, Ca this month of July.
By the way your work is amazing!!! I hope to meet you one day.