Jackson Conn Ceramics

Last Saturday I organised for some of my study group members to visit the home of Jackson Conn a local bonsai potter who has been making bonsai ceramics on and off for over 20 years.  I am a firm advocate of supporting local business and I encourage all enthusiasts to do so when the product is right. Yes, sometimes you can shave a bit off the cost by shopping elsewhere, but when your local suppliers and artisans no longer are in business and you have to buy the same product as everyone else and pay through the nose for delivery, don’t complain. Jackson is a prime example of this and it was a pleasure to spend a few hours with him and see him giving the guys a guided tour of his set up and see so many pots going out the garden gate at the end.

 

New Pots From Ian Baillie

I was lucky to have access to a great collection of Ian Baillie pots at a club event this weekend past and I got my hands on some great pots. Sunday saw me repotting a few trees. Here are the results…

A dwarf Willow with a nice heavy base. This is it’s first time in a small pot and is in the first steps of styling this year. Tree is roughly 10cm tall.

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A great pot with stunning detail.

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This was the old pot and tree as acquired back in June last year.

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A shohin Rose

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A root over rock Rose. We had fun selecting a pot for this one. It’s a touch large as it sits but should make a stunning image when it produces pink flowers this year.

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This was it before and in flower last year.

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And a root over rock Cotoneaster in a new shallow pot adding to the drama .

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and here in the old pot last September.

Michael Ryan Bell – Bonsai Pots

Well worth a watch.

My New Magic Ceramics Accent Pots

As must you you following here know I’m helping my friend Maciej from Bray, Ireland, get his passion for making bonsai and accent pots turned into a viable business. The more he makes the better he gets, and that has to be good for bonsai and kusamono in general here in Ireland.

A perk for me is that I get first pick of Magic Ceramics pots. I find myself wanting one of every new glaze or design he experiments with just so I have one in my collection. Problem is, his experimenting has lead to a massive range of pots from the subtle glazes to the full on in your face pots! His bonsai pots are also coming on in massive steps and with a big kiln he’s able to turn out some great large pots, but more on that in another post.

I’m in the process of starting an Etsy shop for his pots and my accents and plants and I’ll keep you updated on that as we go. Bonsai for me is NOT about making money, I do sell trees and other bits and pieces, but only to ‘thin the herd’ and help finance this passion of mine for wee trees. As the passion grows so does the standard which I’m trying to reach, which usually means more expenses. I am all for supporting bonsai nurseries and bonsai professionals in the UK and further afield, indeed we work with them here whenever we can I I share there work on this blog. Support them or lose them! However Ireland as a whole is rather isolated from the rest of bonsai community in Europe. That’s a very expensive bit of water to cross by boat or plane. Therefore, offering trees for sale here can only be good for bonsai and growing our little community. For the last 3 years I have done all in my power to spread bonsai across Ireland and with the help of others we are seeing stead progression.

Well, showing you a few pots has turned into a bit of a ramble! How did that happen? :-/ Tempted to hit the delete button, but what the hell, I’ll leave it be. Below are my pots.

I love the glazes on this one, plenty of interest.

 

This is more of a rock image but I love the shape with the options for placing different plants.

This is a new glaze but this one caught my eye for the subtle blue patches. Photo doesn’t do it justice as usual.

Another blueish pot but the texture of this one with the volcanic type glaze is beautiful.

I liked this one for the glaze combo but also the split in the pot for planting options.

This one is just nuts! Hard to match up to a tree in exhibition but I’ll pop it on the benches between trees and add a splash of colour to the display area.

I have all the new batch of pots here with me and over the next few days I’ll be posting a link to where you can view them all. Well done Maciej, keep up the good work.

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.

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

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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.

 

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Talking of Sperling….

I’ve had some people asking me about the Sperling Keramic pots after my last post.

As most of the bonsai world, except me, seems to be heading to The Noelanders Trophy at the weekend, you can catch up with them there. Here are some of the pots making there way to the Exhibition.

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New Accent Pots & Tiles Added

I’ve just added some new accent pots and tiles to the Magic Ceramics page. Full list available here.

MC153 £10.00

MC153 £10.00

MC149 £10.00

MC149 £10.00

MC148 £10.00

MC148 £10.00

MC147 £10.00

MC147 £10.00

MC132 £8.00

MC132 £8.00

MC143 £12.00

MC143 £12.00

MC135 £12.00

MC135 £12.00

MC130 £8.00

MC130 £8.00

Absolutely Magic

These are my new accent pots from Magic Ceramics. This guy just keeps getting better and better! I’ll be adding some new pots to the sales page soon.

Loving these ceramic tiles, great to use as an alternative to the wooden jitta. All that he made have been snapped up but new ones on the way.

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My new favourite pot, which I’ve named ‘Alien Egg’. Lourve it!

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This bad boy gives a few options for planting with the split.

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Another great one.

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This one’s just nuts. No idea what to plant in it yet, but inspiration will come.

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This one’s got loads of layers to it, can’t wait to pot it up.DSC_0214 (2)

Magic Ceramics

I’ve just posted a sales page for accent pots by Magic Ceramics. Magic, or to be true to his real name ‘MACIEJ’ Targosinski is a great bloke who I met through the Leinster Bonsai Club.

He has a passion for bonsai especially mame but has turned his hand to ceramics. I asked him to make some more accent pots and well, things got out of hand 🙂 So here we are now with myself helping him promote his accent pots via my blog. He has a great range of ideas and sizes with glazes galore! He has another batch coming before Christmas which I can’t wait to see.

I’m not making money out of this partnership although I do get my pick of the pots which is a nice perk 😉 I think that it’s important to support new and local talent and Maciej certainly fits the bill.

If you are interested in any of the pots please note the reference number and enquire via my ‘Contact Me’  tab at the top of the page.

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