Visiting a Shimpaku (Juniperus chinensis)

February 8, 2011 in Bonsai Maintenence, Re-potting, Styling | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The tree below is one I worked on a couple of years ago. It is a large Shimpaku Juniper that had some great deadwood. When I was working on it, it was in the process of having some new roots grafted onto it. Because of this the styling was kept to just main branches, leaving the tips somewhat free so as not to stress the tree too much.

The tree before any work May 2009. There is a foam box that is holding soil for the grafts at the base. The layer was on the tree so that the deadwood would be brought closer to the soil surface and give the tree a more solid base.

After several hours wiring.

On my latest trip to Japan I re-visited Taisho-en and was reaquainted with this tree. The grafts had been a success and the tree had found a new home in a new bonsai pot.

It’s always nice to see trees you have worked on after some time apart. I get a similar feeling to that of  seeing an old friend. When I saw this tree in the nursery I took my time looking over it and revisiting the familiar curves and lines of the trunk and branches.

The tree as of January 2011. The angle of the tree is a little more upright now and the base appears much more solid now it is lower in the pot. If you look closely you can see a tuft of foliage at the base that is still attached to the root graft.

I wonder if we will cross paths again.

Evolution of a Radiata

January 31, 2011 in Bonsai Maintenence, Styling | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 comment

The following bonsai is one of the first trees I collected a number of years ago.

It is a radiata or Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). I quite like the species to work with but i am still trying to really get a grip on how to best grow and refine them. Perhaps i should make a future post on this subject.

Before it began its life as a bonsai it was located on the edge of a pine plantation where it had grown on a road batter. It had a very interesting curve in the trunk which was either from machinery running it over at some stage of its life or from it trying to seek the light through the long, tangled grass in which it was growing.

After collecting it took a couple of seasons for it to recover and become strong enough to be styled.

The tree before is life as a bonsai. It was needle plucked and readied for its first styling.

I styled is initially at a club night as part of a demonstration. At this time i wrapped the trunk in electrical tape as a substitute for raffia and put a second large bend in the trunk. The bend seemed quite severe to those watching at the time but the little pine bent easily. I then wired it fully and placed the foliage.

The first branch bent into position before the major bend was made.

A top view taken some time after the first styling. The dotted line shows the trunk line. The second bend is the one made during the first styling.

The tree recovered well and I lived with its style for some years while working on ramifying the branches. I didn’t mind the style but, I always thought there was something not quite right about it.

The bonsai was growing well after its first styling. It was un-wired and soon needed work.

The back side. I had often looked at it from this side and thought about a possible front.

The front after a re-wire. It was around this time that the shari seen in the next images started to develop.

Even after a re-wire the style still was not sitting well with me so, i decided to take it to a critique session by a visiting Japanese Professional, Hirotoshi saito. He suggested that we do re-style and stand the tree up roughly 90 degrees. So, a few days later the tree was styled. It was quite a dramatic change but definitely one for the better.

The results after the second re-style.

That was back in July. The tree was very healthy and had grown strongly,  as a result there were multiple places where wire was cutting in.

The pine after its spring growth.

A side view.

The back. From this view you can get an idea of the extent of the shari that naturally developed. Hopefully i can extend this over time to the front of the lower trunk.

It was time for some work. I plucked and cut needles to allow more light and air into the interior of the tree and also removed most of the wire. I was happy to see that most of the branches had set in position.

The tree after the work.

The tree is far from finished and i will need to re-wire it again this winter. Pines with movement such as this are common in collected pines in europe but you rarely see them in Australia.

Hopefully if everything goes to plan it will have a bright future in its new upright style.

Large Goyomatsu (Pinus Parviflora)

January 24, 2011 in Bonsai Maintenence, Styling | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I just thought I would add a quick before and after of a large white pine I styled while at Taisho-en.

It one of the largest trees i have worked on to date. It had quite a good canopy of foliage to work with and some nice features such as the shari on the lower trunk and the interesting kink in the first branch.

It was a big undertaking and took the best part of two days to fully wire. The planting angle was changed and the foliage was adjusted to suit. Some heavy bending was needed to compact the first branch as can be seen from the reenforcing bar next to the trunk.

Before

Working on large trees is a little bit strange. You have to work very closely to the tree in order to apply wire and position branches but due to their size you cannot get a true understanding of how it looks in connection with the rest of the tree. When working on smaller sized trees often all it takes to see the tree in the whole is just leaning back in your chair.
When working on larger material you end up regularly walking a few paces away to look at what you have done in conjunction with the rest of the tree’s form.

After the work

You can get an idea of the size of this tree by looking at my fingers at the top of the blue screen. I was holding the screen above my head with arms close to full stretch.

Gafu-ten

January 19, 2011 in Bonsai Shows, Nurseries and Events | Tags: , | 5 comments

The Gafu-ten exhibition in Kyoto was one of the first bonsai stops i made on this recent trip. Gafu-ten is held in the Miyakomesse Building, Kyoto. It is recognised as the highest level shohin bonsai exhibition in Japan. There are over 200 displays in the show and it also has an extensive sales area.

It was my first time to the exhibition and i was thoroughly looking forward to it. We arrived and were very fortunate to be given two free entry tickets by a very nice woman.

Me at the entrance

The exhibition was fantastic. The 200 displays were overwhelming. Although we spent the most part of a day at the exhibition it was not nearly enough time to take everything in completely. The level of trees on display was amazing and each tree was beautifully matched with some truly beautiful pots, stands etc.

Unfortunately the only places i could take pictures was at the entrance and in the sales area. I think i will probably have to buy the album as i would like to spend my time revisiting some of the displays that have stuck in my head.

After filtering through the exhibition we emerged in the sales area. We were there on the last day of the exhibition so i am guessing that the best items may have been sold but there was still a huge amount of things to buy, look at and wish for.

Many of the sales trees looked like they would not be out of place on the display benches.

More sale trees

One of the few tool shops

I spent the afternoon browsing, buying and wishing i had a larger luggage allowance as well as snapping photos. If you are interested in the full gallery of pictures they are located HERE

Home again

January 19, 2011 in General Bonsai | Leave a comment

I am back from a hectic 3 weeks in Japan.

Most of the other times i have been to Japan i have gone with the intention of cramming in as many bonsai related things as i could. This time was a little different. I went to Japan this time to get married. So needless to say, i had far less time to do bonsai things. That being said i did manage to fit some in.

I visited a few nurseries, the new Omiya bonsai museum and the Gafu-ten exhibition. It was getting close to the selection time for Kokufu-ten so most nurseries had there submissions out being prepared.

I would have liked to come home with a suitcase full of pots, but it was instead full of suits, shoes and my wife’s things (as she is relocating to Australia).

I did fit a few things in though, including some Bunzan and Juko pots as well as some tools and a stone that caught my eye. I was also very lucky to be given a very old pot in a kiri box.

Hopefully some of the things i brought back will become the topics of future posts. In the meantime while i sift through my pictures here is one from the sales area of Gafu-ten of to wet your appetites.

Gafu-ten sales area.

Hopefully by the end of the week i will have found time to make a full Gafu-ten post.

I’m off to Japan

December 24, 2010 in General Bonsai | 1 comment

I am about to leave for Japan. My trees are being baby-sat and my camera is charged. I don’t know how often I will be able to post  while away, but even though this trip is not totally bonsai related I should have a whole lot of images to add to this blog and my bonsai in Japan blog when i return.

I will leave you with a picture I took last trip on the island of Miyajima. A red pine growing in what could only be described as the bunjin style.

A red pine growing on top of Mt Misen, Miyajima.

Merry Christmas everyone and see you all sometime in the New year.

New Carp Pots

December 21, 2010 in Bonsai Pots | Tags: , , | 1 comment

I am a Landscape Architect and I am very lucky in that I work with many creative and talented people. One such colleague makes hand painted porcelain in her spare time. The first time I saw her work I immediately imagined how great it would work as a bonsai pot.

The pots shown below are a 3 pot set that i commissioned. I sent her some pictures that showed the pot shape I was after and then i chose carp motifs that I had seen on some of her other works.

When I received the finished products I couldn’t stop smiling. For a first try at bonsai pottery she had hit the nail on the head. They were exactly what I had wanted.

One of the pots.

Two pots from the 3 pot set.

The signature that appears on the base of each pot.

The detail in the painting is amazing.

Two of the 3 pots

I really like how the water has been represented in this pot.

These 3 pots are very welcome additions to my collection. Hopefully in the future I can encourage my friend to make some more.

The next big decision is what to grow in them. I am thinking a japanese flowering quince may work well. I think that the red flowers of ‘chojubai’ would go very well with these pots. Hopefully I can grow some worthy of the pots.

Patina

December 19, 2010 in Bonsai Pots | Tags: , , , , | 2 comments

I spent the day today looking at some of the pots I have collected. Two of those pots are in the photo below. They were both made in Tokoname but by different potters. What jumped out at me today was the differences in the glazes.

They are both cream pots and from what I can tell, they would have both looked very similar in colour when they were brand new. Where the difference lies is that the Yamafusa pot has the beginnings of a really nice patina forming on it. Neither pot is particularly expensive but the patina that has started to form really starts to give the feeling of age to the Yamafusa pot.

Hattori (Left) and Yamafusa (right)

What is patina? As far as I can tell, patina is a build up of grime and oils that attach themselves to the surface of pots. Once on, it is a permanent reminder of its past. Patina tends to form at the base of the pot and slowly creep its way up to the rim.  If you look at the image above you can see how the patina is really starting to darken nicely along the bottom edge of the pot.

I asked about patina and pots when i was in Japan and it was explained to me that the pot you use for a tree should appear a similar age to the bonsai.  If you have a 100-year-old tree, then you should find a pot that also has the appearance of being 100 years old. An old tree with a brand new shiny pot just doesn’t look quite right.

If you look closely through old Japanese exhibition albums you will see that almost every pot in the show will have a rich patina. Sometimes this is so pronounced that pots that were once cream are dark grey and look truly ancient.

I think I will have to get these pots back out under the benches so they can continue ageing and perhaps one day they will be a nice shade of grey.

I have tried a few ways to artificially age pots but none have work very well to date. If anyone has any sneaky techniques to create patina please share them in the comments.

The first branch.

December 13, 2010 in Bonsai Maintenence, Styling | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 comments

The below picture is of a branch I wired in Japan. It was actually the first piece of material i was allowed to place wire on.

When I first arrived at Taisho-en my duties were watering, sweeping/ cleaning and preparing hot water for the days tea. I did this for a few days as well as helping move the odd tree or other general task around the nursery. I also watched a lot. I watched people styling, pruning and working on a range of different tasks. I was actually enjoying the whole process even though i hadn’t really touched a bonsai yet.

One day Oyakata (Mr. Urushibata) brought me a branch that had just been cut off a white pine that was undergoing a re-styling and instructed me to ‘do wiring’. I was given a small space in the studio and was given some aluminium wire. I proceeded to wire that branch as well as i could. At the time it was the most advanced branch i had ever wired. Previously i had only seen pine ramification like that in books. Looking back at it now all i can see is errors in my wiring but at the time i was pretty happy with the result.

Oyakata was a little surprised.  He seemed pleased with what I had achieved, although he said i had wired the branch too flatly. He then proceeded to adjust my work and explained how important volume within a branch was. I learnt a lot from that one cut off branch.

The first branch i was allowed to wire.

I passed my first test and that afternoon i was given my first tree to wire. A small Ezo spruce. It was a tree that was hidden up the back of the nursery. It didn’t look like much to start with but i was excited.

The Ezo Spruce before the work.

The apex was pruned out and a lower branch was wrapped in cloth (we couldn’t find rafia) with the intention of bringing it up to form a new crown.

The Ezo Spruce after the work

The tree was wired to the tips and I positioned all the branches and foliage. I then showed the results to Oyakata.

He again adjusted my work and explained why he was doing so. This was how my learning was to progress through out my stay. I would work on a tree without much help and then Oyakata would adjust my work and explain why. I learnt a lot over the course of my stay and every new tree I worked on had less and less adjustments made by Mr. Urushibata. Sometimes he would lower a branch a little or adjust some foliage, sometimes he would cut off some branches and sometimes he would make me cut off wire and re-apply it. Some trees had a lot of adjustments made others had none.

This process of working taught me a huge amount and I am very grateful that I was able to do it.

The Spruce and branch above were the beginnings of a very steep learning curve. I look back at them now and see a few things that I would do differently now as I am sure i will do when looking back at my current collecting sometime in the future. Although i may not be on as steep a learning curve as i was on my first visit, i am constantly learning from those around me and from my observations of my own bonsai. Hopefully i can spend some more time at taisho-en in the future and continue to improve.

Chuhin Shimpaku (Juniperus chinensis)

December 6, 2010 in Bonsai Maintenence, Re-potting, Styling | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

The tree in this post was another i worked on while in Japan. It arrived at the nursery one day and was in need of a re-think and re-style.

The major change was to stand it up.

 

Juniper Before

Before the work.

 

I first wired the tree, keeping the small second trunk and then re-potted it into its new upright position.

 

Juniper After

After the work

 

As the tree had its angle changed so dramatically it needed time to re-establish a new rootball that could support it in its new position. In the mean time a bamboo prop was used to take the weight of the tree while the rootball became stable enough to support itself.

Unfortunately some of the lower shari had been buried in the previous potting angle and as a result had rotted. I feel that the base would have appeared much more impressive had it still had deadwood at its base.

It was a nice tree to work on, but at the time i guess it got lost amongst all the other high quality trees in the nursery.

This was by no means a top tree but looking back at it now I would kill to work on material such as this in Australia.

I guess I will have to sharpen the shovel and keep an eye open for urban junipers in friends gardens.

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