May 4 2016

Jim Doyle Workshop

Better late than never!

I had the pleasure of attending a workshop with Jim Doyle organised by the Munster Bonsai Club back on the 23rd April.

Jim was visiting Ireland and the guys got a rare opportunity to to work with one of America’s premier bonsai artists. Jim began with a presentation about yamadori and collecting in the States. Some interesting stories shared and proves that if you want the best yamadori you have to go to great lengths to get it.

Jim then did a run through of the trees that were to be the focus of the workshop followed by some work Photos below capture the day.

We finished off with a great meal in a local pub finishing in the wee hours 🙂

May 3 2016

Kusamono Workshop – 4th June 2016

After the success of last year’s Kusamono workshop I am pleased to announce the first of 2 workshops in 2016. In an effort to further the knowledge and interest in kusamono I’m holding a workshop on Saturday 4th June starting at 1pm in Newtownards.

The session will look at accents in general and specifically kusamono, shitakusa and kokedama (mossballs). We will look at examples of kusamono, how they are displayed and how plantings work when displayed with bonsai. Participants will be able to select their own plants on the day, indeed the workshop cost of £30 includes 5 plants (to a max value of £25) from a large selection available! Can’t do better that that!! Feel free to bring your own plants to supplement your options and any pots you want to try. I will also have a selection of Magic Ceramic Pots available for anyone keen to add to their collection. One training tray will be supplied as part of the workshop with others available to purchase.

Last year we found participants also swapped and shared plants that were being split during planting, so you might go home with more than you bargained for.

The workshop open to all, tea and coffee available all afternoon, sign up via bonsaieejit@gmail.com for a fun informal session and walk away on the day with your own special creations.

Here are some photos from last years workshop.

The mucky hands part of the session.

An example of the kusamono created on the day.

Mossballs kokedama created on the day.

All the final pieces.

Magic Ceramics available to buy

May 3 2016

Image

Accents 2016 : Clematis Pixie

Apr 27 2016

In Making

Magic Ceramics

Just uploading few photos of 3 pots, that i started making. They still need feet to be added just waiting for clay to stiffen a bit. More photos to follow.

Best regards,

Maciej.

DSCF4885 DSCF4890 DSCF4891 DSCF4892 DSCF4898 DSCF4902 DSCF4907 DSCF4909

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Apr 19 2016

magicceramics.com

In case you haven’t noticed my friend Maciej Targosinski makes accent pots as well as an expanding bonsai pot portfolio. I believe in supporting local talent, yes, I count anyone based in Ireland as local! I have been helping Maciej get off the ground by selling some of his beautiful pots and now we have created a blogsite for him to share his ceramics journey with you.

Please pop over to Magicceramics.com and give it a look and follow his exploits. There is also an email sign up option in the sidebar for you to receive notification of any new posts. Just click on the image below to visit his site. Feel free to comment when there and show your encouragement.

Magic Ceramics are now on Facebook, click on the image below to visit his page and give him a like.

Apr 18 2016

Experience Japan in Dublin

Had a great day with friends in Dublin on Sunday at the ‘Experience Japan’ Event.

Together with members from 3 bonsai clubs in Ireland we displayed a few bonsai and had a catch up. The trees were from a wide range of people all with different levels of experience. It was great to catch up with a few old faces as well.

For more photos CLICK HERE and visit the Bonsai Ireland site.

Apr 14 2016

Big Difference Between ‘Decandling’ and ‘Breaking’ Pine Shoots…

Michael Hagedorn

There’s a storm of confusion around these two techniques…and it’s one of those things we don’t want to get wrong. Pines take a couple years to get back on track, once off track, and so they make us look at our mistakes for a long time.

I’ll try to make this short and sweet. For starters, how do we distinguish decandling from breaking/pinching?

Breaking/Pinching means taking part of the shoot off, usually with fingers, as the shoot is extending in early to mid-spring. This is before the needles have come out.

Scots pine candles, before pinching.

With the fleshy part of the fingers, pinch the candle according to its strength, taking more off for stronger ones, less for weaker, none for weakest.

Right candle pinched approximately in half.

Left candle pinched.

Decandling means cutting off the entire pine candle off in late spring. Often the new needles have come out already.

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Apr 1 2016

Post 701 – Kimura’s creations

Mar 31 2016

More Magic Pots

I’ve just uploaded a new selection of Magic Ceramics accent pots to my FlickR Album. Some fantastic pots from Maciej Targosinski including some Kusamono dishes, tiles and even bonsai pots these days. It always pays to support local talent. Prices are given on each photo description. Give me a shout via Contact Me if you are interested.