Phils head disappears as the final touches are made to his juniper. The end of a busy workshop day with Peter Warren.
Monthly Archives: September 2013
Club Night Full Flow
Peter starting his talk at the club tonight.
Peter Warren Airport Run
Well, A bonsai packed weekend to come. I pick Peter Warren up from the airport in a few hours time and we have a club night and two workshops to look forward too. Of course I will keep you all up to date with our exploits 🙂
Arriving on Friday 13th!! Mmmm….
New Shohin Larch
I have acquired a very nice little Shohin Larch from a friend who is giving up bonsai for personal reasons. This tree was originally planted with this rock to create a nice little landscape. However the tree has developed well over the years and I feel the tree is too good to just be used as part of a landscape and I am therefore potting it up alone in the Spring. The bark on the tree has matured nicely and will be better appreciated when the rock is removed. The rock is also lacks the character that the tree has and I feel that together they are a mismatch. Again, more on this tree in the Spring.
Mini Maples
When we had Robert Porch over speaking at the club last year, he was talking about how a lot of the small maples we see from Japan are air layers developed on a parent plant and then layered off. One of the techniques that is used is to ring the tree with wire at the point where you eventually want to layer. Then while you develope the tight branch structure the wire bites in and causes the trunk to swell at this point. Then when you are ready to layer you already have a wider nebari to work with.
I’ve been meaning to do this all year on a maple in my garden but only got around to it a few weeks ago. Late in the season, but maples tend to bulk up in the autumn and I intend to leave the wire on through next year and layer off in 2015. I’ll keep you posted as to how this works for me. In the meantime here are a few of the bits I’m layering off. Some better than others but I want to do as many as possible on the same tree.
Sebastijan’s & Walter’s Fiarytale
Sandev Case Study Videos 7&8
Cedar Session
Last night I was working on a cedar with a friend in a one 2 one session. This tree was originally a garden centre tree chopped down to create the basic structure required to make a bonsai. It was sold by the original owner to Willowbog Bonsai and in turn sold to my friend. It has been worked on at a few workshops here over the last 2 years, getting deadwood created etc, but now was the time to get it wired and into shape.
October 2012 at Peter Warren Workshop
June 2013 at Willowbog Workshop
Shari added
Cut back after shari added
and now before work starts
And this is it now after last nights work. Not fine wired but starting to come together nicely. Shots from each side, a few close ups and a beer can for scale, also drunk on the night 🙂
And all together for comparison
Sandev Case Study Videos 5&6
I love the Ivy/Hedra in the first one and listening to Walter take on the candelabra Style Spruce was also thought provoking.
The intro music on the second one is also a step up 🙂
Bonsai Eejit 