A Levitated Bonsai Platform

wayne | 04/05/2012

After. A twin trunk Mountain hemlock that was collected, styled and placed on a very thin piece of plastic by Michael Hagedorn and friends.

It’s been a while…
…since we featured Michael Hagedorn (Crataegus Bonsai). This is partly because lately we’ve been focusing more on international bonsai than North American bonsai; and partly because if we do too much Michael, you might suspect there are kickbacks involved (Michael is way too clean for that; as for me…).

Mountain hemlock on levitated nylon board
I won’t say too much about the nylon board or the steps that were necessary to cause it to levitate. What I will do is show you three photos to whet your appetite and provide links to Crataegus Bonsai so you can satisfy that appetite.

 

Before. Collected Mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana).

 

What’s this?

Post-Dated is still the most enjoyable bonsai book I’ve ever read.

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Weekly Wire: Bodacious Bark, Bonsai Bliss, Viva Brasil & Slovakia Too

wayne | 04/03/2012

Bodacious bark. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen bark quite like this. Its uniquely patterned texture and color adds an abundance of character and age to this wonderful old live oak. Furthermore (and at the risk of excess word proliferation), have you noticed the pot? How much character it has (and how small it is for the tree)? No mention of who made it with the photo, but whoever did deserves some love. The tree and the pot are from the ‘My Trees’ section of Mauro Stemberger’s website.

 

Rocky Mountain bliss. The dates are June 17-20 21-24. Here’s the ABS link, and here’s the BCI link.

Our Stone Lantern warehouse will be closed the week of  April 16th
All orders received that week will be charged and shipped the following week on a first-come, first-served basis.

Overrun by spam
If you didn’t see your comment on a recent Bonsai Bark post it’s because our spam filter gave up on us and we were overwhelmed by spam for a few crazy days. We’ve got a new filter now and it seems to be up to the task, so things should be back to normal.

 

Suthin Sukosolvisit will be at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum for the Potomac Bonsai Festival, May 4 – May 6
Here’s the whole scoop, straight from the National Bonsai Foundation’s website: Co-sponsored by the Potomac Bonsai Association (PBA), the National Bonsai Foundation, and the U.S. National Arboretum, this unique festival features a show of PBA member trees, a new-talent competition and a vendor tent filled with bonsai trees and supplies. A juried exhibit of bonsai will be on view in the Special Exhibits Wing of the museum. Free demonstrations will be given by PBA members and bonsai master Suthin Sukosolvisit. There will also be fee-based workshops.


Smiling Suthin. We don’t usually feature photos of people in this blog, but I couldn’t resist. Suthin will be at the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum in May (see directly above).

 

Ficus review. I stumbled upon this Columbus Bonsai Societies review of the book, Ficus, the Exotic Bonsai while I was looking for the Society’s  reviews of our pine and juniper books (the good people of Columbus assure me that these reviews are coming soon).

 

Another masterpiece by Isao Omachi. Two distinctive features jump out at first glance: that strange round whirl at the top of the trunk, and the luscious crown. If you linger for a moment, you might also notice the web of small branches that support the crown and the negative space created by the trunk’s split shari.

Save the date! June 9th and 10th. The world bonsai community will be again enriched by the display of bonsai gathered from across the United States for the 3rd U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition. See you there!

 

World class bonsai books. Soon there will be three (and then four, and so forth). We have a limited number of these beautiful collectors’ books left. When they’re gone, they be gone; they won’t be reprinted.

 

Viva Brasil! This one looks good and there’s plenty of time to plan.

 

Bonsai Slovakia. This one also looks good, but you better hurry.

 

Delicious, delicate color. From the New Korea Bonsai Museum.

 

Capital Bonsai, Ryan Neil & Nature’s Way Nursery. We featured a post from the Capital Bonsai blog not too long ago. We’ve also featured Ryan Neil’s bonsai several times, but I don’t think we’ve ever featured Nature’s Way Nursery. Now, with a simple click, you can enjoy all three in one place.

 

Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird-and-Flower Paintings by It? Jakuch? (1716–1800) at the US National Gallery of Art until April 29th.

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Back to the Source

wayne | 04/01/2012

Tokonoma with a large pine bonsai and scroll. From Kunio Kobayashi’s Shunkaen Bonsai Museum.

Back to the Source
I think it’s a good idea to check in on Japanese bonsai now and then. After all, it’s one of the two most important historical sources for bonsai (the other would be China) and still produces a very large share of the highest quality bonsai in the world.

Kunio Kobayashi
Kunio Kobayashi is one of best known and most accomplished bonsai artists in Japan and beyond. He has received numerous prestigious bonsai prizes and has taught extensively throughout the world. He has also established the Shunkaen Bonsai Museum to display bonsai.

The photos
The two tokonoma photos in this post are from Kunio Kobayashi’s website. The others are by Antonin Ott.

 

A bird’s eye of part of Mr Kobayashi’s collection and the museum. This photo and the three immediately below are by Antonin Ott.


You say you like nebari and strong taper?

 

 

Another tokonoma shot. The tree looks like a camellia. I wonder why the figurine is so small. Is it to create a sense of vastness in the display? Or to bring humans down a notch in the scheme of things? Maybe the scroll explains it.

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Introducing Our Excellent NEW Stone Lantern Bonsai Tools

wayne | 04/01/2012

These new Stone Lantern stainless bonsai tools are truly remarkable. The quality is excellent the the prices are much lower than you would expect for such high performance tools.

We could easily call these Master Grade tools
I’ve owned a set of these for a year now, and can say with absolute confidence that these are first rate tools. It would not be a stretch to call them ‘Master Grade’ tools, but we already have Master Grade stainless tools and I don’t want to confuse the issue. Just suffice it to say that these are simply the best high quality bonsai tools for the price that I have ever seen.

Stone Lantern Tools
We are so taken with these wonderful new tools, that we’ve decided to put our name on them (by agreement with the manufacturer). Stay posted for our new Stone Lantern high carbon steel tools soon.

Individually, or by the set
You can purchase our new Stone Lantern tools individually, or by the set.

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A Walk on the Wild Side

wayne | 03/30/2012

A wonderfully convoluted Sabina juniper after a little taming by Gabriel Romero Aguadé. If you look at the before photo below, you can see that Gabriel did quite a bit to tame what started out as tree with a world of potential but also with a crazily unruly crown and a  trunk with poor taper. It’s not too hard to see how the crown was brought under control (some very detailed labor and some time for new growth to fill in). But the taper is a bit more mystifying; not much has changed, but somehow it looks much better. BTW, the lead tree in our last post also belongs to Gabriel.

Not much to add here
I’ve been gone for a few days and need to catch up on literal and figurative piles of paperwork, so this post will be a quickie. Just a couple photos of a uniquely wild juniper and a remark or two (above). It would be good to know where the tree came from originally, but I’m going to leave any further research up to you.

 

Before. A world of potential and challenge.

 

Speaking of Junipers, our immensely popular Juniper bonsai book is on special for only 19.95.

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Two Bonsai Firsts (at least)

wayne | 03/28/2012

A formal upright collected European olive? I’ve seen a lot of magnificent collected European olives, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any as perfectly shaped and stupendously gnarled at the same time. The artist is Gabriel Romero Aguade.

Noelanders Trophy 2012
The four trees shown here are all from the 13th Noelanders Trophy Exhibition, which was held in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium, way back in January. I borrowed the images from Bonsai – Living Art, the English version of the Slovenski blog (I recommend a visit, it’s a great bonsai blog, one of the best).

A couple firsts
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a formal-upright collected European olive (see above). I’m not even sure that everyone would agree that it’s a formal-upright because of the trunk’s uneven base, but if it isn’t, it’s pretty close, and either way, it’s an exceptional bonsai.

The other first (for me at least) is using a piece of driftwood as a companion. I’ve seen all kinds of plants and plantings, stones, figurines and even what looks like a human skull, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a simple piece of driftwood serving as a companion (it’s the second photo down).

 

I don’t think there’s anything more compelling in our wonderful world of bonsai, than a well done Bunjin (Literati style bonsai). This elegantly meandering beauty, that ends up almost where it started, is by Vaclav Novak. It’s a Sabina juniper.

 

The tree is powerful and wonderful, but it’s the companion that really caught my eye. Have you ever seen a piece of deadwood used as a bonsai companion? This Taxus (yew) and charming little piece of deadwood are by Mauro Stemberger.

 

Raw, rugged and very sweet. Another excellent naturally dwarfed, collected Norway spruce, with its small needles and ancient bark. It belongs to Nicola Crivelli.

Thanks to Bonsai – Living Art for all the photos in this post.

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Weekly Wire: Back On His Feet, Nature’s Deadwood & Keeping Things Up to Date

wayne | 03/25/2012

Remember Isao Omachi? Isao’s house and bonsai nursery were swept away in the tsunami. That’s the tough news. The good news is that hundreds, maybe thousands of people in our international bonsai community donated to help Isao and his family get back on thier feet. As a result of this effort (and Isao’s and his family’s determination) Isao is back doing what he loves. This is our good fortune; Isao is one of the featured bonsai artists at the Mid Atlantic Bonsai Societies 2012 Spring Festival.  This sweet colorful bonsai is from Isao facebook page. It looks like a Japanese winterberry.

 

Planning ahead. Like to take photos of bonsai? This is your chance.

 

Better hurry if you’re going to make this 2007 Ginkgo show. This photo may be ancient history by now, but I couldn’t resist. It’s not just the blazingly beautiful blooms and the thick thick trunk, though those are surely enough to warrant a look. But how about that pot? Have you ever seen one quite like it?

 

 

Sea of pines. From Jonas Dupuich’s six week apprentice experience at Aichi-en nursery (that’s where Peter Tea is serving his much longer sentence apprenticeship).

 

Nature’s deadwoood. I don’t think anyone could carve and age deadwood quite like this (not even Fracois Jeker). The photo is from the California Bonsai Society Exhibit at The Huntington Botanical Gardens. It was posted on the Internet Bonsai Club by alonsou. The photo is identified as QAkh61. Is the QA Quercus agrifolia (California live oak)?

 

The whole tree (from above) with companion. The leaves are too fuzzy to tell what it is (for me at least).

 

Today is the last day. Another tree from the CBS annual exhibition at the Huntington. This one belongs to David Nguy. The exhibit is going on right now (today, Sunday, is the last day).

 

While we’re on the West Coast. It’s always great to see bonsai clubs with up-to-date websites (I’d say less than half are, with some a year or two behind). Here’s your link.

Another one that’s up to date. Listed events include the Michigan All-State Bonsai Show (May 12 & 13), the Chicago Botanical Garden Spring Show (May 19 & 20) and Milwaukee’s own 42nd Annual Bonsai Show (Sept 15, 16 & 17). .

 

 

Barber pole bonsai. I found this unusual tree here. I’ll let you be the judge.

 

Mark the date. From the Columbus Bonsai Societies Newsletter. If you can’t make this workshop, you can learn a lot from Andy’s DVDs: Finding the Bonsai Within and How to Collect Wild Trees.

 

 

 

 

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Three Rare & Wonderful Yamadori Bonsai

wayne | 03/23/2012

Even the most jaded collector has to be amazed when they stumble upon a tree with this much character. It’s from Walter Pall’s conifer gallery. The tree looks a lot like a Ezo spruce, but then, if it was collected in Europe, it couldn’t be.

Walter Pall’s conifer gallery
The three bonsai shown here have been borrowed courtesy of Walter Pall. They represent a small sampling of Walter’s wonderful conifer collection.

Naturalistic bonsai
Walter Pall has long been a strong proponent of what he calls ‘naturalistic bonsai.’ To my eye, all three trees in this post speak with a strong voice to that naturalistic sensibility. If you’d like to explore Walter’s thoughts on this subject, all you have to do is go back a bit into our archives.

Just for the fun of it...
… I’m making semi-educated guesses at the varieties of the trees shown here. Now to be proven wrong once again (see comments).

A magical bonsai. I like the scaly bark at the tree’s base, a sure sign of age. And then there’s the deadwood root (how often do you see that?), the undeniable power of the shari/jin and just the overall natural feeling of the tree. I’m going to guess that it’s a small needled Norway spruce.

I like the powerful ancient looking base on this somewhat precarious looking tree. Even though the foliage is a little fuzzy and too far away to really tell, I’ll take a wild guess and say it’s a type of Scot’s pine.

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Taxus Time & Missing Comments

wayne | 03/21/2012

After. Mario Komsta with Pete Carino and Bonsais Del Sur. Here’s Mario’s website for those of you who aren’t facebook friends.

Mario Again?
We (that’s me) tend to go on rolls around here. A couple years ago it seemed like every other post was about Michael Hagedorn’s bonsai. Then it was Bonsai Tonight. And of course there’s always Robert Steven (I reckon he appears in more of our posts than anyone). Not that these folks are the only ones that reoccur; when you post exclusively about bonsai three to four times a week for over three years you, recycling is an absolute necessity.

Taxus time
There are at least four good reasons why we’ve returned to Mario Komsta once again. First, his bonsai are so damn good. Second, he keeps posting them on facebook and grabbing my attention. Third, this bonsai has a certain quality that you don’t see everyday (hint: that wild and wooly deadwood in the center of the trunk has a lot to do with it). And forth, it’s a Taxus and tax time is coming (sorry for the bad pun and sorry about tax time too – unless you’re getting refund, of course).

Missing comments
Over the last 24 hours or so, we’ve had some technical problems with this blog. It’s fixed now, but it looks like we lost some of your comments. If you placed a comment and you don’t see it, our apologies.

 

Before. Once again (see last post) it helps to start with good stock.


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Bringing the Magic Up To Date

wayne | 03/19/2012

After. From a demo by Masahiko Kimura at the 11 ASPAC. (Asia Pacific Bonsai & Suiseki Convention) in Takamatsu Japan. It helps to start with great stock. It also helps to be Masahiko Kimura. Photo by Jonas Dupuich (Bonsai Tonight).

Still magic after all these years
Just in case might think that the not-so-old Master has lost his touch. It does help to start with great stock, but taking that great stock to the next level requires vision and a deft touch. Especially when the next level is accomplish in a single demonstration.

Japanese demos and Western demos
The photos in this post are borrowed from Jonas Dupuich of Bonsai Tonight (with some cropping on my part). Here’s what Jonas has to say about this demonstration: “I’d been curious how demonstrations in Japan differ from the demos I’ve attended closer to home. It turns out they aren’t that different. Bonsai professionals took breaks from their work to talk about the trees while assistants kept busy. Kimura’s demo involved some minor carving and a few large bends that resulted in a pleasing silhouette.”

Cropping
I sometimes feel just a little guilty when I crop Jonas’ photos. His photos are so good, so why bother? The simple answer is size. Our format is 680 pixels wide. His enlarged format is 1024 pixels, so he can afford more space around the trees and still show good detail. In our case, I usually opt for a closer view and more detail.

Before. As already mentioned; it helps to start with great stock.


Kimura wielding the bonsai weapon he made famous. This close-up is cropped from the photo below. Kimura’s assistant is Shigeo Isob, a bonsai artist in his own right.


A panoramic view with a little behind-the-scenes quality. And then there’s the large screen in back.

 

The Magician, the Bonsai Art of Kimura 2. On special at Stone Lantern.


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