After some deliberation I have decided to miss out on the Noelanders Trophy next year. Just working out the cost and travel issues getting there from N Ireland was giving me a headache.
I have therefore opted to sign up for a workshop with Ryan Neil at Willowbog Bonsai instead 🙂 That gives me 10 months to try and find something decent to work on!!! I feel rather excited at the prospect already.
I plan on looking back at a few of the trees worked on over the weekend, as does Peter on Willowbog Chat. As Peter didn’t get a chance to work on this one, I thought it was safe to share.
This was a beech group that Ben had in a pot for 4 years. They are young trees but even still they can make a nice image. Ben had brought the group to a meeting and I suggested that they would look better on a slate. It just so happened I had one lying under a bench that was big enough, and gave it to Ben. I also suggested that a few thicker trees would greatly improve the image as well.
Ben took me at my word and brought it along on the Sunday along with a few Beech that were recently liberated from a garden.
If it was just a matter of lifting the existing planting out of the pot and popping it onto the slate, it would have been easy. No tie wires even needed as the trees were all meshed together after a few years in a pot already. Our problem was that a few new and bigger ones had to be added. I had 2 choices, split the whole group up and start again or fit the new ones in around the existing trees. I opted for a bit of both. I liked the positioning of the original trees but I split the group in two creating a gap for the new ones. I drilled the slate and wired these in place and also added a few tie lines for the original trees as well. The whole lot where then covered in keto and then moss.
Ben was pleased with the result and I feel the slate works far better than the pot in this sort of forest planting. Now he just has to keep the birds away from the moss 🙂
Here are a few photos of the action. Sorry no starting shot of the original group. I honestly thought I had one somewhere from the meeting Ben, ah well.
Ben me and Ovidiu doing a little manoeuvring.
My secret technique of using the force to position the trees 🙂
Ben checking that the work is up to standard.
Adjusting the heights of a few trees to make a better design.
The finished forest at the end of the day. The new trees are slightly darker bark for now but this will even out with equal exposure to the sun.
Ben emailed these photos taken in 2007 when he put the original group together. I believe it was his first attempt at a forest.
I’ll be going back over some of the trees worked on individually but in the mean time here’s another gallery for you to see the action.
It was a long day, workshop started at 10am and I think we sat down in front of an open fire at 8.15 pm.
I was seriously considering not posting at all to day but I can’t let a good run end so easily 🙂
Just spend a very busy 2 days hosting our Club Bonsai School and Workshop with Willowbog Bonsai. I’m shattered now and Peter is already away to bed. One of the main reasons was the wiring of Hugh’s Scots Pine. Phil helped a little with it on the day 😉
Before
After
Last night was club night and it was great to get out and de-stress a bit and play with trees.
A great bunch of folk and getting bigger by the day.
Ian B brought this Japanese Larch along on Friday past for a little thinning out and advice.
I felt that the image looked a little wrong as the tree seemed to lean back too far and gave the impression that it was unstable.
I suggested that tilting to the right would be a good option now. We only had to loosen the tie wires and shift slightly in the pot. This is the new position.
and this is it after we adjusted it.
Before and after side by side.
This is Hugh’s Scots Pine. I sold this one to Hugh about 6 years ago. It was originally collected in Scotland and was the first Scots Pine I ever owned. I was delighted to see it again and help with a restyling.
No after photo as yet as we didn’t get it finished on the night but we’ll keep you posted.
Out of interest, I looked up some old photos of this tree. This first one dates back to 1997.
This is it in 2002.
This is John’s raw material Austrian Black Pine.
This is young nursery stock that has a long way to go before it will be ready for any real work. However, this doesn’t mean we just leave it as is. The centre of the tree is of no use in the future of this tree as a bonsai. It is too straight and is without branches for some distance. We looked at viable branches with some ramification at the bottom of the tree and removed all the branches that were not needed in the future. This tree will now be left to grow and will be pinched during the year to encourage more back budding and ramification.
I see a lot of material like this and in many cases it isn’t suitable for bonsai or at the very best, it’s a long way off being ready for work. However, that doesn’t mean that people new to bonsai like John can’t learn from working on this tree for a few years, seeing how it responds to pruning and pinching.
Graham brought this Larch Forest to the garage night yesterday. It’s made up of young larch seedling and was put together by Graham a few years ago. It’s planted on a slate slab. This was the first time I had seen this planting as Graham had been hiding it in his back garden until now.
The photo doesn’t do it justice as the slab actual zig-zags a bit and adds interest to the composition. He had lost a few trees from the back and we discussed if they should be replaced. I liked it as is but felt that the tree to the far right might be better added to the rear behind the main tree. A few others where adjusted and shortened. This was the result.
Still a few tweeks to be made here and there but I think he’s made a fantastic job out of this using what was very young and cheap material. The slate was from the base of an old pool table. Here is Graham with the forest for scale.
This is a Beech that Stan brought along for some thinning out and general discussion.
This is the tree after thinning and with a slight change of front selected. It will need a slight readjustment in the pot and then it’s good to go.
Commiserations to Stan today, he’s a Manchester United Fan and insists on wearing his Utd top and scarf to my garage nights. Being a Liverpool fan this is somewhat inflammatory!! A pity the workshop wasn’t tonight, the jacket may have been left in the car 😀 Just for Stan, here’s a photo of Utd Goal Keeper today ‘Dylan DeGea’ lol
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