On our trip over to Willowbog and also on our way back we popped into Mike’s place for a look around his trees. Mike is an old mate from bonsai days past and after a break from the hobby for a few years, he jumped back in with both feet.
You’ll have seen Mike in the photos of the Sunday workshop. Hard to miss, a long haired biker covered in tattoos. Here’s some of the photos I snapped on the way out and the way home.
Ian Brought this Trident Maple on Saturday. Not much done, just a little structural pruning of branches to remove crossing or overly thickened ramification. A few tweaks with wire but that’s it.
I suggested a slight change of front from the one showing. With a slight turn the back branch comes more into view adding a little more depth to the image.
Before work
After
Slight angle change
Another one worked on with Ian on Saturday. A Zelkova that he has had for a very long time, from seed kit I think!
The before image looks great with lots of fine ramification but if left unchecked it will go backwards this year. We gave it a haircut removing some dead inner branches and thinning out the outer canopy.
Before
After
It’s in an old Lark Lane pot, if anyone remembers those. They used to be in every garden centre in the country about 20 years ago, some crap ones but I love this one.
Our dedicated club treasurer was at my house yesterday and we worked on a few trees, mostly minor tweaks and a little wiring.
This is his Japanese Larch that has thickened a little in a few places and we removed what we could replacing branches with a finer structure.
Before original front
Before slightly different angle
After
After getting my own larch sorted out, attention turned to Stephen’s one.
This is it sitting at Stephen’s house. When we worked it out, it hasn’t been wired in 8 years. The last styling was done by Marco Invernizzi back in 2004.
Photos from then can be viewed here.
It’s a big tree and we wanted to try and complete the wiring in one day. Phil collected the tree in his van and we transported it to my garage for a little space to work in. Stephen’s bonsai studio was only build for hobbits and I’m definitely not that size 🙂 This it is photographed before we started.
About now you are probably having a close look at the base of the tree. Yes, it’s a strange one, it’s hard to see but there is a strong root that runs directly under the trunk lying parallel to the ground. This will be exposed to help show stability. There is another option, but that’s for another day!
The three of us got to work and managed to get the wiring completed.
One area that was a problem was the apex. It had been created from a single branch curled around to make it look fuller at the time. 8 years on this has become a problem. It could have been hidden by placing branches over the offending bits but could not be removed totally and make a convincing apex. We discussed it and Phil was keen to make a change rather that it becoming progressively worse with time. He came up with an option and Stephen decided to go for it.
This is the offending apex.
Branch being reduced.
Keep an eye on him Stephen 🙂
A typical Stephen Coffee break.
Birds eye view.
Final tweaks
The final image. Stephen is considering a change to the top jin, what do you think? Remove, leave, shorten?
The new apex looks a great improvement.
A closer look at the base.
Side view
Back
Before and after side by side.
The 3 amigos for scale, and just for fun.
We did this work without looking back to Marco’s styling in 2004. It was interesting to compare now having looked for the original photo.
Ian B, are hard working Club Treasurer was with me on Friday night and I snapped a few photos of his trees while he was here.
His little shohin Kiyo-hime Maple
His Zelkova with the dregs of Autumn colour still clinging on. This tree has come so far from when I first saw it at the club many years ago.
Japanese Larch
His Scots Pine before and after. Nearly all the branches emerged from the one spot on the trunk and we had to removed a lot to stop this point swelling and create some proper structure on the tree. In some ways a step backwards, but better for the tree in the future.
I use FlickR a lot for storing and hosting my photos to use here on the blog. I’ve gathered up some great bonsai contacts there and it’s always GOOD to see what everyone else is up to.
A few days ago, one of my American contacts, Openeye , posted two before and after images of two trees that he styled in a workshop with Ryan Neil of Mirai Bonsai Fame. As I’m doing a workshop with Ryan myself in January, I was delighted to see the quality of what was produced. Great material always helps but still, look at these 🙂
Well worth checking the rest of Mike’s [OPENEYE] Bonsai set on FlickR
I have Mario’s Azalea for a few years and I like to keep him up to date.
This was it back in June in flower.
The canopy was getting too expansive and the apex was far too large. I opted to seek advice from Peter Warren about what was best for the tree and between us we reduced the foliage mass and I was able to open out the branches a little to start creating definition within the tree. This is it now.
Heavy wire was used to create a gradual bend in the branch. Peter advised that a heavier wire than you would normally use should be utilised in azaleas. This allows for greater support for a brittle tree. You can see that the apex is reduced and the tree is more open. More foliage could have been removed but as it was so late in the season we opted to leave some work until the Spring. Always do what’s best for the tree.
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