Jun 11 2016

You learn Something New Every Day

looks great

bonsai eejit's avatarBonsai Eejit

Well, you should strive to at the very least. When I was offered the chance to review Bonsai Empire‘s latest joint effort with Bjorvala Bonsai Studio, ‘Bonsai Intermediate Course’, I was keen to learn and intrigued as to what the course contained.

Is there a place for this on-line learning concept within bonsai?

Would I learn anything new?

Is it good value for money?

The course is available here  from today, but I’ve been able to check out the content over the last couple of days and form an opinion. The deal was I’d be honest in my review, this isn’t a free promotion and Oscar was happy with that. After all the hard work put in by Bjorn and him, they are  probably confident in their product.

I think the best way to describe the course is to walk you through my experience of using it. I had already…

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Apr 11 2016

Juniperus communis 10 years collected first styling

I collected this Common Juniper (Juniperus Communis) 10 years ago and today it had its first styling. The trees are VERY difficult to collect, establish and style, so much so that most collectors simply do not dig them as yamadori as the survival rate is so low. I learnt from Peter Thali in Switzerland that the only way to collect these successfully was from a particular rock type and a short window in the year. I collected this single tree as per his advice and the tree has thrived. Styling Juniperus Communis is notoriously difficult as you cannot wire any new growth, wire can only be applied to branches that have bark, this gives a first styling that can look somewhat untidy as you can see… but the framework is there.

I love the thin live vein and the twisting around the deadwood, the foliage will fill out but this will be done with scissors and NOT pinching. The lovely Duffet pot is only temporary until I find a suitable pot.

NO carving by machine has been done on this tree, all the deadwood has been worked by hand stripping and burning the flaky ends.

Here is the tree 4 years after it was collected

deadwood detail on Juniper first image Communis Juniper

 

Apr 7 2016

Utah Juniper (aka “Big Sexy”)

Great Progress of a Yamadori Juniper from Peter. Worth a read

Peter Tea's avatarPeter Tea Bonsai

Utah Juniper (aka “Big Sexy”)

Now that I have settled back in California, it’s time to rebuild my Bonsai collection!  For the past 6 months, I have been slowly rebuilding the Bonsai business I left behind and have worked with many terrific people.  I have study groups that have formed throughout California and even in other States!  You can say that I’m living the Bonsai dream!  I hope to play my part in helping the promotion of bonsai in the United States and get good information out there to those that want it.  My other goal is also to build a quality bonsai collection for myself and not just enjoy the final development of the trees, but the journey as well.

That brings us to the tree that you see below, known by some (mainly the collectors) as, “Big Sexy.”  There is no doubt that this tree is big, though I didn’t buy it just for the size…

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Apr 6 2016

Workshop with Taiga Urushibata at British Shohin Bonsai

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During the British Shohin Bonsai exhibition at RHS Wisley Gardens in the south of England that was hosted by Sutton Bonsai society I attended workshop led by Taiga Urushibata. So much time can be wasted at workshops simply wiring your tree, so I pre-wired my pine before the workshop, I also took along another pine to work if time allowed.

I could easily have styled this tree but I wanted Taiga’s ‘take’ on the tree, there were so many option available… what was his idea for the tree, how would he style it? I believe that you are never to old to learn no matter how many years you have been working with bonsai.

The tree is a ‘natural’ cascade as the base of the tree has a sharp bend bringing the trunk more than 90º also the base and nebari are very interesting displaying deadwood and deep fissured bark. There is a VERY old shari running almost the length of the sweeping curve trunk.

After a short discussion Taiga agreed that this was the best option and the styling began. I wanted to bring the crown of the tree closer to the base, this meant a very severe bend. The tree had raffia in the area to be bend. Taiga told me that such a bend was not safe however I was confident that it was OK as the tree was strong and Scots Pine are very flexible. A tourniquet was applied to a temporary steel bar; this tourniquet was later replaced with a shorter one attached to a dead branch nearer the base of the tree. Taiga expressed that a bend such as this would not be possible with a Japanese Red pine as the branch would snap in two.

The final design was more or less as I envisaged. The other trees worked by Taiga included a few Junipers, a Yew and pines.